ALUMNI SUPPORT: JAKUB TRUTY

INSPIRED to give

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE IN THE RESEARCH LAB MADE A HUGE IMPACT ON 2014

BMED ALUMNUS

Jakub Truty was barely familiar with San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly before a door opened to a professional career. For the then-freshman biomedical engineering student, that door was to Professor Kristen Cardinal’s research lab, where she studies how living cells interact with various materials.

Born in Poland and raised in Southern California, Truty said his first impression of the lab was memorable.

“It was exciting,” he said. “The prospect of working with human cells and tissue engineering made me think, ‘Wow, how neat is that?’”

A faculty member of the Biomedical Engineering Department since its inception in 2005, Cardinal had a quick impression of Truty, too.

“From the beginning, Jakub was always interested in learning,” she said. “He wasn’t one of those students who was there just to check a box. He always wanted to engage, listen and discuss. And then when he joined the research lab, he was always really into it.”

Truty, who graduated with a biomedical engineering M.S. degree in 2014 and currently works at Endologix Inc., in Irvine, California, is still into it. After reflecting about how his four years of work in the lab were instrumental in guiding his career path, he recently made a gift dedicated to Cardinal’s research.

“As I know from my experience, Dr. Cardinal does a fantastic job providing students with experiences that will prepare them for their professional careers,” he said. “In my career, I have worked in the production and development of cardiovascular devices, including guidewires, coronary stents, and currently, aortic aneurysm grafts. The skills that I practiced in Dr. Cardinal’s lab

2014 biomedical engineering alumnus Jakub Truty has taken the critical lab skills he learned in a Cal Poly research lab to Endologix Inc. in Irvine, California.

have directly translated into my job. Knowledge in vascular physiology, creative engineering, interpreting journal articles, project management — and being selfdriven — are all skills I continually lean on.”

Cardinal said the gift to her lab was welcome and meaningful.

“As a faculty member, to have a young graduate give back specifically to what you’re doing is the most validating thing you can ever imagine,” she said. “And to me, that means they felt the experience made enough of an impact that they want other students to have that same opportunity.” n