Natalie Kuldell (00:03):
Hi Melissa.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (00:05):
Hi, Natalie. How are you doing?
Natalie Kuldell (00:07):
Oh, good. I’m so happy to get to talk to you. Thank you for joining for this conversation. I’m so proud of you and so excited for you to tell a little bit about your story. How about you introduce yourself and say where you’re a student and what you’re studying?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (00:22):
Of course. Yeah. So currently I’m a junior at Wentworth Institute of Technology, majoring in biomedical engineering with a minor in chemistry.
Natalie Kuldell (00:32):
That’s not an easy path. Well, congratulations. That’s amazing. So, let’s see, Wentworth Institute of Technology. I know a little bit about it, because it’s a local school here in Boston. They are a very cool program. They have great classes and then they also have a co-op. So do you wanna talk a little bit about your experience there at Wentworth?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (00:54):
Oh yeah. So I’m actually juggling a few things right now. I’m currently a resident assistant here. So luckily I get housing for free, but of course that also comes with its duties as well. I also like just taking the amount of classes here. It’s very different now that the biomedical program is still relatively new. So seeing this progress and especially during COVID when a lot of things occurred and lot of things have shifted too and it’s still shifting right now, we’re switching our meal plans too, but the overall process of it is very nice. They try to keep you informed. Communication is still something that they’re trying to do. So everyone’s still aware of what’s going on.
Natalie Kuldell (01:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it sounds like you like it there. Have you had interesting classes, great professors, you know, boring classes, bad professors? I don’t know. What do you think about your classes so far?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (02:03):
I really do like my core classes more than I would probably say my humanities or social science courses, but that’s just depending on me because I really enjoy my own major. So doing my first design, I decided to do a neonatal monitor or monitoring system, which I had no idea how to use. So I had to do a lot of research into doing that as well as 3D modeling a whole human bladder, which I also had no idea how to do.
Natalie Kuldell (02:38):
Wow. So you are a person able to do a lot of self teaching and a lot of learning on your own, which I’m sure serves you well. That’s an impressive project, especially given the different parts that had to come in that maybe you weren’t so familiar with.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (02:57):
Oh, very much. Especially in the biology and chemistry side.
Natalie Kuldell (03:02):
It’s a very integrative major that you are in.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (03:07):
Yeah. I mean, honestly just before or when I was starting to do college searching, I wasn’t really sure on what I really wanted to do because during high school I decided to take your program, but I also was doing another program called ACE, the Architectural Construction Management and Engineering. And that was just so I could give myself a relatively good idea of what I really wanted to do, what options there were for me. And if I like them enough or if I think they were good fit for me for just my long-term career.
Natalie Kuldell (03:45):
Yeah. I had forgotten that you were doing both BioBuilder and ACE. You have always been a person that can juggle many, many things. I had forgotten that those were two things you were juggling while you were in high school. Yeah.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (03:59):
Yes. I still continue to juggle things as of now.
Natalie Kuldell (04:02):
Yes, for sure. For sure. So you are local to Boston. Where did you go to high school?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (04:10):
I went to high school at Melrose High even though I lived and grew up in Malden, I decided to go to Melrose High School. But before that, from as long as I can remember from K to ninth grade, I went to Prospect Hill Academy, which was in Cambridge. So I knew how to commute long distances at a very young age.
Natalie Kuldell (04:33):
Yeah. That is a superpower. I will tell you, for all the folks that aren’t around here in Boston — to be able to navigate the public transportation to get to all the programming that’s available, that’s pretty important and pretty impressive.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (04:48):
I mean, with that, I was able to time manage better depending on what I was doing, whether that was the end of class, if I would be able to make it to a program on time, whether it was yours or ACE or if I wanted to do an after school activity or something like that, like knowing how, in average of how long the train or bus might take me I would try to see if I would be able to make it. If not, most likely take a taxi.
Natalie Kuldell (05:15):
Yeah, yeah. Or an Uber these days. Right. So, learning on your own and time management, and independence. All of those things, I think have factored in to your tremendous success and where you are landing now. Obviously a lot of curiosity and a lot of talent in a field that you clearly like a lot. Were there people along the way that encouraged you: teachers, friends, family, people that you just looked at and thought I could do that?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (05:48):
Yeah, actually right before I was choosing my major, I still wasn’t sure on what I wanted to do because I really enjoyed the biological and chemistry side and as well as the medical, but at the same time, I was very good with numbers and mathematics and physics. So just more of the engineering aspect. And I remember one of my teachers in high school encouraged me to go towards the engineering side because I decided to take a computer aided design class with her, and I’ve been doing that the whole duration of my high school. But she was trying to convince me but the same time I still wanted to do those other things. But Wentworth actually kind of had a recommendation for saying like, why don’t you just merge all of them together? And that’s where biomedical engineering was.
Natalie Kuldell (06:47):
Isn’t that awesome? You know, it’s like, sometimes people think they have to choose, right. I need to do this or that. But in fact, many times there is a way to bring all of those pieces together. Not easy but it definitely allows you to draw on those different interests and talents that you have for sure. So, I’m so glad that you found the place that could let you do that now. Wentworth also does a very nice job of encouraging their students to do co-ops, which I think you’re currently doing now, do you wanna say a little bit about your co-op program and what you’re doing?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (07:23):
Yeah. So whenever someone’s in order to graduate from Wentworth, they implement two co-op semesters. So you can get that on hands and ongoing experience. So everything you learn from Wentworth will most likely be applied when you get that co-op when you’re working with another company. It’s also good because when you graduate, you at least say you have years of experience, you have a year of experience. So, it becomes more you become more hire-able, you know, like companies will be like, she has a year of experience. I like that one. And just a better really showcasing that you’re able to do the work. Especially since you have that experience, you’re able to apply what you’ve learned. And not even just that, but in my current co-op, I’m also learning a lot of things from them. Because I feel it’s very difficult to go to the classes you’ll be able to do the math, but you don’t know what the answer means. So being able to understand and actually apply that math into something was very helpful for me because now I understand what I’m doing and what it means.
Natalie Kuldell (08:37):
Yes. I think putting all that content into context is exactly what working in a company can do for you. Right. You’re like, oh, that’s why I needed to learn what this does or how this works or how to calculate this, that or the other, it actually gets used for something. And it actually helps really solidify it too, I think. That’s amazing. So what company are you working for?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (09:05):
Yeah, I’m working for Kytopen Corporation. They’re still a startup company. They’re still freshly on the market, but they’re very interesting. I really like what they’re doing, because what they’re doing is they have a tech they’re a biotech company. And what they’re trying to do is have this Flow-tech technology, which is basically an electro mechanical technology that allows people to have viable cells. So really implements and enhances the gene therapy side of just the world in general. So, once that happens and once it’s ready on the market, there’s gonna be a lot of different change, more affordable changes where people are actually going to be able to have access to gene therapy.
Natalie Kuldell (09:56):
That’s amazing how cool to work on one in a startup, which is just such an interesting environment, cuz you do so many different kinds of things and then, oh yeah. One that has so much application to do good things in the world and help people. Right. You know, that’s the nice thing about working in biotech is that you can imagine how the work you’re doing is going to pop impact people. So I could not be more proud and more happy for you. It’s amazing. So have you had people in your family as bio technicians, as, as people doing science and, and you sort of always knew this was your path or this is something that you sort of forged on your own or figured out as you go.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (10:41):
It was more of figuring out. My father is or was an accountant in Peru. That’s what he did for college before moving here. My mother always wanted to be a flight attendance. But instead she currently stays here doing massage therapy. My sister, she is a medical sister in the emergency room. So there’s still more of that. He leaning towards the health industry, but but the end engineering side was something I chose.
Natalie Kuldell (11:19):
Awesome. It’s very brave and it’s very hard path, but it sounds like you are just knocking the, the cover off the ball as you go here. So congratulations. So let’s see if there was one thing you, if there’s one piece of you could have given yourself when you were back in high school, do you have a piece of advice for yourself now that you’re further along in your education?
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (11:46):
Absolutely. one thing I would probably tell myself is also enjoy the time that I have as a high schooler and as a college student. As much as I continue to pick up more stuff, I feel like learning how to balance that work to life was something I was not good at, but I have learned to really appreciate my own personal time as well as my own mental health. Yeah. Yeah. But I would also say that I wish I knew my resources beforehand. Wow. That there’s still resources that either Wentworth provides my parents provide and even my
Natalie Kuldell (12:34):
Yeah, yeah. Surround yourself with, with good people, know that they’re there to help and give yourself the time and, and space to be present and to, to appreciate the moment that you’re in. It’s, it’s very important. It’s very hard to do and recognize, but boy, you are wise, you are wise, Melissa. It’s so good to see you.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (12:55):
It’s so good to see you too, honestly. I feel like it’s been a while since I last seen you, even though the last time I seen you was during the opening in Seaport, your new space. It was really nice. I really wish I got to see more of it.
Natalie Kuldell (13:15):
You are always welcome. Our BioBuilders never leave our flock. You are always part of our community. I would love to have you come by sometime. Sounds like you’re mighty busy, but maybe you can come by and, and be a mentor for some of these next students in our program now. So. Well, thank you. You’re just amazing.
Melissa Aguirre Pinillos (13:37):
So are you honestly, I wouldn’t have gotten this far if it wasn’t for your program as well. Oh, thanks. And also your guidance and assistance.
Natalie Kuldell (13:45):
Thank you.