Addio Pittsburgh, Buongiorno Italy!

My name is Emily Hearty, and I am currently a freshman studying Biomedical Engineering and Studio Arts at the University of Pittsburgh. My specific concentration is in Medical Devices, and I hope to achieve a certificate in Innovation, Product Design and Entrepreneurship. I was born and raised in Arizona, but for the past several years, I have lived in Doylestown, a small town forty five minutes outside of Philadelphia. My family and I enjoy traveling and cooking, and I love to draw, paint, swim, tend to my plants, play ultimate frisbee, and try new restaurants in my free time.

If I’m not trying a new place to eat on Forbes Avenue or visiting the gardens at Phipps, you’ll find me keeping myself busy with Pitt’s BMES (Biomedical Engineering Society) chapter, at The Pitt News at the Online Visuals desk, or being involved with ResLife around campus. As a member of ResLife, you’ll be seeing me organize programs and events around campus for residents in the campus residence halls. I am excited to announce that I am serving as a first year Resident Assistant in Brackenridge Hall for the 2019-2020 year, and I look forward to telling my residents about my experience abroad!

I am excited to be heading to Milan, Italy with the Plus3 program to learn more about industrial engineering and supply chain economics through visits with Italian industry leaders. My peers and I will be learning and experiencing the process in which fashion industry passes through by visiting factories and companies to ask them questions about how they operate, their goals and standards, and their business model for sustainability and/or success.

I am excited for this program to not only develop my interest and passion in engineering and industry, but to immerse myself in a different culture while I learn. I am passionate about art and architecture, and Italy is one of the finest places in the world to experience the rich European history of both arts. Visiting Venice, in particular, will be very interesting to me, as I find the architecture of the city fascinating. As the city is facing structural dilemmas as it struggles with its supports sinking into the sea bed, I hope to learn more about how architects and engineers are making efforts to preserve this historical treasure trove of art and culture. Speaking professionally and academically, I hope that I will be able to really develop my knowledge of how products pass through the supply chain to improve my knowledge of industry. Considering that I will be working with medical device design, it is important to understand what it takes to develop a product for the mainstream through mass machination and how raw materials must move through a delicate web of processes to become a finished product.

I can not thank those who helped me to get to this point in my life, and I am so thankful to be a recipient of the Swanson School of Engineering Study Abroad Scholarship. I am already counting the days until we get to Italy. I can not wait to share my adventures through this blog and through pictures of my journey!

Hail to Pitt!