Kelsey Snapp, Lawyer to PhD student

Kelsey Snapp’s road to a PhD program was unexpected and unusual. Kelsey was interested in math and science in school, but decided to go to law school. He earned a law degree and worked for a legal aid organization providing free legal services to low-income clients. In his free time, Kelsey enjoyed building, researching, and tinkering. He was looking for a path that was more collaborative than litigation, where for one side to win, the other side had to lose. This led him to consider engineering. Kelsey knew it was time for a career change— and that’s when he found BU’s LEAP. 

“Engineering felt like the perfect fit for me. After being out of school for seven years, it helped that I was with other people who were in a similar situation,” said Kelsey. 

As a LEAP student, Kelsey began volunteering in the KAB Lab. The lab focuses on nanocombinatorics and autonomous research, which was a match for his interests. He had been considering a PhD program. He applied and was accepted into BU’s Mechanical Engineering PhD program. Acceptance into a PhD program is very selective and marks the impressive quality of a student’s work.

Kelsey is currently in his first semester of the PhD program. Kelsey believes his hands-on learning experiences in the KAB Lab, during his foundational LEAP year, have eased his transition into the PhD program and simultaneously molded his interests. In the lab, Kelsey works with robots and 3D printed structures. The goal of these lab experiments is to analyze force displacement curves of a wide variety of structures.

“We do a lot of autonomous research. The computer algorithms will pick an experiment to run based on parameters that you give it. The computer then prints a structure — picks it up, weighs it, tests it — and decides what experiment to run next,” said Kelsey. 

Thinking back on the most rewarding part of his BU experience so far, Kelsey cites that BU has given him the space to immerse himself fully in his learning.

“I’ve never really had the time to focus on learning about mechanics, programming, machine learning, and other engineering concepts. This program has given me that opportunity.”

After graduation, Kelsey plans to work in the industry. He dreams of heading up the research division of a small start-up company, especially one that focuses on innovation and cutting-edge technology.

“I want to take an idea and push the boundaries of what’s known,” said Kelsey.