Profiles of 2004 Graduating Students

Sharon Chow: Music and science and the human heart

By Emily Posner '04

"One of my biggest fears is to be like everybody else," said Sharon Chow, a native of Hong Kong with a passion for music and science, who as a junior explored the intricacies of the human heart.

Sharon Chow, a biological and environmental engineering major, has combined her passions for science and music. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

As a child, Chow dreamed of attending college in the United States. She achieved her wish when she was accepted by Boston University, and she moved to New York City with her parents and younger brother.

During her sophomore year, Chow transferred to Cornell -- and instantly, she recalled, she experienced culture shock. "In Hong Kong, life is really fast-paced and the buildings are closer to each other. There is also no such thing as the snow," she explained. "Ithaca is different." But Chow quickly adapted to the Cornell environment, making friends with students who had grown up in other large cities, as well as on farms and in small towns.

Chow said she appreciates her major in BEE (biological and environmental engineering) because it gives her the ability to study science applications that will save lives. In the fall semester of her junior year, she interned at Abiomed in Danvers, Mass., the company that developed the first self-contained artificial human heart, which was first implanted in 2001. She found her decision to work at Abiomed to be one of the best choices she made during her undergraduate career.

She also has involved herself in activities outside of her major, such as singing in the Cornell Chorale, which performs in Sage Chapel every semester to an audience of more than a thousand people. "Music is a really big part of my life," said Chow, who is a soprano.

In between study sessions, she also can be found jamming on the piano in one of the practice rooms at Lincoln Hall.

Immediately after college, Chow will move to San Francisco and work as a consultant for IBM. In this position, she will be the intermediary between engineers and their non-technical clients. She values the opportunity to apply engineering principles in the business world. Chow also is considering the idea of attending medical school in the future.

Regardless of what field she pursues after graduation, her curiosity and passion for learning will remain strong. "I really want to know everything -- which is impossible," said Chow. "But I am trying."