CHEPS Pulse: Hello to Fall 2019, September 2019

In This Issue

Hello to Fall 2019
Recent News
Where in the World is CHEPS?


Saying Hello to Fall 2019 in CHEPS

The fall semester in CHEPS is all about hellos. It’s a lovely antidote to the see-you laters (We don’t do goodbyes in CHEPS!) of the summer. This fall, we welcomed nine new CHEPSters and twenty-five returning CHEPSters! The week started off on Monday, September 9th with a visit from CHEPSters past. George Tam, who graduated in 2015 and now works for Delta Airlines, gave a Lunch and Learn to a crowd of twenty-eight, made up mostly of CHEPS and Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) students. He discussed his career path and how to prepare for a career fair or corporate info session. He also offered advice for first jobs and deciding between entering the workforce right after undergrad or going directly to graduate school. It was informative and helpful for both new and returning students.

George Tam’s Lunch & Learn

Fellow CHEPS alum and Delta employee Sanjeev Muralidharan was also visiting Michigan since he and George were holding a recruitment event for Delta later in the evening so we got two CHEPS alums for the price of one! The pair spent much of the day at CHEPS and, in addition to George’s Lunch & Learn, made time for some one-on-one chats with current students from both CHEPS and IOE.

It was fitting to have alums visit on the first official week back at CHEPS. CHEPS Associate Director Amy Cohn said, “One of the most important things about CHEPS is the sense of community and the relationships people build, including the professional network with alumni.” She mentioned that in the past month, she’s had the opportunity to catch up with multiple CHEPS alums both in person and over email. For her and all of us at CHEPS, it’s a treat to speak with alums and learn about what’s going on in their lives! Current students especially value the willingness of our alums to share their knowledge and advice.

Return visits to CHEPS are an enjoyable experience for alums too. George echoed Professor Cohn’s point about the CHEPS network saying he keeps in touch with engineers, nurses, and more from his days at CHEPS. “The beauty with aviation and healthcare is there are transferable skills and concepts. I know that I can always reach out to the CHEPS community and vice versa,” he said.

George was also excited to find that some of the projects he’d worked on while at CHEPS were still ongoing. He had the chance to speak to current CHEPS students to see how those projects had evolved. And he was able to share his insights and experience with the students, a process said he truly enjoyed. “They are just as smart if not smarter than I was when I was here,” said George. “I could really see they are passionate about what they do.”

CHEPS ended the week with another exciting event, our kick-off meeting on Friday, September 13th. The CHEPS suite was bustling with activity from Friday morning and well into the afternoon. Kick-off started with lunch and a viewing of this fantastic video put together by Simran Malik and Harini Pennathur this summer.

Next came the best part of the kick-off, introductions! In addition to the standard introduction of name, program, and length of time at CHEPS, each attendee shares one fun fact about themselves. Any returning CHEPSters who tried to repeat a fact from a past kick-off heard about it from their fellow students and CHEPS Associate Director Amy Cohn. Facts ranged from having just learned to make pancakes from scratch to having dual citizenship. This semester there was also a trend in plant collecting among students which led to staff member Julia Warner volunteering to bring in some plants to share since her new kittens are terrorizing her plants.

After introductions, new students learned about CHEPS policies and procedures while returning students got a refresher. New students were also paired up with returning student mentors who will help them learn the ins-and-outs of CHEPS in the coming weeks. And, finally, we recognized students returning for their second semester by awarding them their CHEPS fleece!

Here’s to another productive and enjoyable semester at CHEPS!

Group photo from the Fall 2019 CHEPS Kick-Off

Recent News


Where in the World is CHEPS?

Theodore, a recent CHEPS alum, is pictured on the Great Wall of China. He’s in China pursuing a graduate degree in Management Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University.

See more Where in the World is CHEPS? at our webpage.


Center for Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety | University of Michigan
[email protected] | cheps.engin.umich.edu