Michael Kunelius ‘00
Business Manager
Description of your current position:
Currently, I work with existing and prospective clients to help facilitate
my company’s services.
Necessary education or experience
for your current position:
Generally, an MS in a related field or an MBA is required for this position.
On MSOE and Biomedical Engineering
Do you think a degree in BE is a good choice?
It is a good choice depending on what you want to do with it. It was my
impression that compared to other engineering disciplines at MSOE, the BE
program by nature was geared more for students that planned to continue
their education beyond a BS in BE. I think that this is somewhat representative
in the backgrounds of the instructors in the program. Unlike other majors
at MSOE, very few of the BE instructors come solely with a Bachelor’s
or Master’s degree and/or industry experience. In effect this makes
the program much more challenging, which is fine as long as it is recognized
by those outside the school when you go to find a job or go further in your
education. I also think that sometimes because of the structure of the BE
program, some students have to face a gap where they are much more valuable
than they look and feel coming out of the program.
Do you think MSOE is a good choice of college?
The choice I made to go to MSOE was a choice given certain information and
circumstances at the time. It’s hard to say whether a different choice
would have been better or worse. It’s not a choice that I regret but
it was a struggle at times to stay in the program. I was happy with myself
that I stuck with it and finally finished. I think that I would also do
it all over again just to take a couple more face-offs.
Why did you choose MSOE's
BE program?
I chose the BE program at MSOE because it sounded more interesting than
the other programs offered. It combines most of the hard core electrical
and mechanical engineering disciplines and also includes courses in life
science.
What did you like about the
BE program?
Besides that I finally finished! I liked that the BE program eventually
forced me to become a better student. It also helped me become much more
professional. The instructors always seemed to put in the extra effort and
really brought their own enthusiasm, professionalism and high expectations
day in and day out. I don’t think that you will find too many undergraduate
programs that offer a PhD as your daily instructor for every course, especially
when there are only around 17 students in the class.
What did you like about MSOE?
I liked that there were so many ways in which I could participate in extracurricular
activities at MSOE. I played hockey and participated in just about every
intramural sport and extracurricular organization that I could. From softball
to the KHK fraternity I tried to do everything.
Now that you are in graduate school, are
you happy with the education that you received in the BE program at MSOE?
Part of the way I measure my education is how much it helps take me where
I want to go after school. In some respect the BE program actually made
it harder for me to find a job. In the BE program it is harder to carry
a high GPA because grades are usually given out in relation to your classmates
like medical school rather than in relation to a predetermined level of
excellence. This system can make you less sellable to an employer because
you have a relatively low GPA, even though you might be more valuable than
a student from a comparable program. I remember the program head at the
time, Dr. Canino saying, “a 2.5 GPA in MSOE’s BE program is
like a 3.5 GPA anywhere else.” I can tell you from experience that
he was right but that didn’t help me when I was trying to get an interview.
Why handicap your students from the start? This situation was compounded
when I tried to find a position in a school-saturated market like Boston,
MA where MSOE isn’t a large player.
That said, it is easier for me to recognize now how much more work and
time was necessary to complete the BE program at MSOE in relation to the
other schools and programs my associates have graduated from. This makes
me more confident because I can actually see that I am more prepared than
my colleagues. I also currently rely on the software engineering experience
that I gained from Dr. Tritt and Dr. Milkowski’s courses, courses
that were only offered in the BE program.
In the end, am I getting as much in return for the hard work and high
tuition I put in? And what proportion of who and where I am today is a
product of the BE program at MSOE? It’s hard to say.
Early after graduating, I definitely did not feel like I was as valuable
as I should have been. I also do not feel like I received the same level
of guidance from my advisor as others did throughout the program. This
was of course in contrast to the individual attention that I was normally
accustomed to at MSOE.
Key skills that are necessary
to be successful in your position:
I have to constantly learn new technologies. I have to be able to handle
rejection. I also have to communicate on varying levels with people across
industries and disciplines.
A descriptoin of your path
to your current position:
My path started with school. Then there was the senior design project!
Then there was more school. That was followed by a little waterskiing in
Germany. Then there was school again and the night job as a waiter. Finally,
I moved into my role as a business manager.
Good and bad aspects of your current position:
Good: I get to travel and work with exciting new technologies. In the last
four months I’ve spent two in India and one in California. I am also
in a position where I get to contribute to product development in some of
the most technically and scientifically advanced fields. For example, let
me describe an average day. This past Thursday I spent the day in meetings.
My first meeting was spent discussing the latest in genetic and genomic
microarrays and how my company could help make them better; the second meeting
I had was spent discussing how statistical software could be used to determine
whether a clinical trial would eventually result in success; and the third
meeting I had involved implementing processes that could be used to improve
the latest design of a particular company’s digital imagery. It is
pretty energizing to be involved with so many cutting edge technologies
and the passionate people that help produce them.
Bad: I have to travel and I have to be up to speed on several different
sophisticated technologies. This means that I’m spending more time
traveling and learning and less time with my friends and family. | For information about MSOE's B.S. in Biomedical Engineering program, contact interim program director Dr. Charles Tritt at (414) 277-7421. |