From Bucknell to Frontiers of Medicine

All engineers solve problems. Some dare to tackle grand challenges.

David Lundy '21, a chemical engineering and economics double major from Freehold, N.J., landed a coveted spot in the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges Scholars Program. Offered at just 74 schools in the United States, the program has a laudable but lofty goal: Use engineering to conquer 14 of the world's toughest problems.

Lundy chose the challenge "Engineer Better Medicines" because he's fascinated by the journey a vaccine takes from 200-milliliter beaker to 200-liter bioreactor.

His involvement with the program inspired Lundy to seek out and secure a summer internship at Merck, the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company. During the virtual internship, he got an inside look at the small-scale chemistry and large-scale engineering behind every successful vaccine.

At Merck and in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program at Bucknell, Lundy has discovered how to learn from success as well as failure.

"Every time you're failing, you're gaining information about where to go next," he says. "I think it's really cool to let your research guide you and have an open mind."