Senior Jose Zarate Diaz has taken a leave of absence from his studies at USC for the Fall 2024 semester as he was recruited for a paid position at Abbott Laboratories in Sylmar, California. The job at Abbott began on June 24th. With this opportunity, he will now be graduating in Fall 2025. At Abbott, Jose will be using 3D software in developing medical software.
Jose’s major at USC is in Biomedical Engineering with a Cellular-Molecular Emphasis in USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.
He was part of the Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI) at USC. He continued his relationship with NAI during his freshman and sophomore years as a Saturday Academy Health and Science Teacher’s Assistant and Math Teacher.
Being very passionate about acquiring new skills within his major, he learned soldering circuits and worked as an undergraduate research lab assistant in the lab of Dr. Chung where his duties included preparing nanoparticles and purifying solutions through an HPLC. Another part of his work as a research lab assistant, was learning how to image what he put under the microscope
As a member of USC’s Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering, he made connections with people within different institutions like the medical school, and a biotech company. As Jose explores future career paths, he hopes to improve medical care and solve medical problems.
Jose was recently accepted to the CURVE program, which provides a resource for undergraduate students in Viterbi to explore research opportunities early in their educational career. As part of the Viterbi Curve Symposium Fair, Jose presented research on analyzing the efficacy of therapeutic autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).
Jose continues to explore his creative side by making videos and recording his own music. Lately, he has found inspiration in “the biking trails and nice-looking apartments in the neighborhoods” near Abbott for future film locations. He also has taken up playing pickle ball.