About Me

Hello World! My name is Hasson Shakor Harris Wilcher and I thank you for taking the time to get to know me. Here comes the detailed exposition of my life.

I was born and raised in Albany, NY. I went to public school at Montessori Magnet school for elementary school, where I found my love of music. Afterward, I went to the Doane Stuart School (DS) as a conscious choice to challenge and engage myself both academically and personally. There I opened myself up to a number of new opportunities and perspectives that I would not have had otherwise. I spent 6th through 12th grade at DS. 

Throughout those years I engaged in Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, and Track & Field on the athletic side of things. I learned how to take control of my body, mind, and spirit through grueling practices, games, and situations. All the while strengthening bonds with my schoolmates and coaches. 

At DS I was engaged with the community by joining a few clubs, joining student government as Senior Class Co-President, and being a Student Ambassador during my time. Being a Student Ambassador was one of the most important accomplishments at my time at DS. I was able to represent my school as well as myself in a positive light where I was responsible for bringing some amazing students to the school. Upon my graduation from DS I was honored to receive the Student Ambassador Award, and the Doane Stuart Award. 

After Doane Stuart I traveled outside my hometown into a new state and brand new experiences. I went to Worcester, MA to go to school at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) where I began studying Biomedical Engineering (BME). My love for BME arose when my grandfather had undergone double knee replacement surgery, during my high school days at DS, and I read the literature on the procedure. I had found a major that bridges my love of medicine, and engineering. From that point I knew where I wanted to be and how I needed to get there. WPI was the first step to realizing this dream of mine.

At WPI I engaged myself academically, professionally, and personally. I delved into multiple subjects that expanded my knowledge, thinking, and problem solving skills that are very important in today’s collaborative, technological world. DS afforded me the ability to understand, respect, and incorporate different perspectives that bring more solutions to the table. At WPI I was in an environment where that type of thinking and collaboration was encouraged and valuable. The projects and classwork pushed me forward as an engineer. This work was largely team based, which developed my ability to adapt, collaborate, contribute, and lead. 

Starting out broadly in Physics, Math, Chemistry, Biology, and Humanities which built up my knowledge and understanding. All of which build upon each other to be the basis of engineering. As I progressed through the BME curriculum, I began to dive into my concentration of Instrumentation. Learning about the biological signals, the principles and concepts, the electronics, and computer programming that powers these powerful medical devices. Laboratory classes dealing with Bio-materials, Cell Culture, and Bio-instrumentation to have a practical interaction with and understanding of medical devices as a whole. BME 3300 sparked discussion of Biodesign and entrepreneurship all the while creating a prototype device to meet a need in the Medical community. All of which helped to solidify my knowledge and practical uses of the broad amount of medical devices on the market today.

My extracurricular activities fulfilled my professional and personal needs. Personally, the social aspects of all of these clubs and organizations is why I plan on staying a part of them for the foreseeable future. However, the professional growth, and opportunities are what drew me in. The Student Alumni Society (SAS) wad a great way to be engaged with the WPI community both on campus and off. To be able to hold an officer position, to interact with the Alumni office, to uphold traditions, and to host a conference of 200 people were a few of the accomplishments SAS afforded me. SAS and other organizations at WPI kept me busy, engaged, and productive during my time at WPI.

WPI afforded me the opportunity to travel abroad to Moscow, Russia for my Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP). In Russia, my team worked with local Russian students to deliver a working demo for PwC Russia’s careers website. This project was not directly related to my major but was related to engineering as a whole as it was about problem solving. To meet the need of PwC Russia and deliver a product that was exactly what they needed and a little bit more. To think of myself as a global thinker, and allowed me to gain perspectives not just local to the USA. I am extremely glad that I had that opportunity and was ready to meet the challenge.

Outside of WPI I have had some great jobs that have challenged and engaged me. One of which was working the same hospital that I was born in! St. Peter’s Hospital where I served as the Clinical Technology Intern, in which I learned a lot about the operation of medical devices, and the hospital/healthcare environment. I serviced a number of medical devices ranging from temperature sensors, ER lamps, ultrasound devices, IV pumps, and more. Each device had its own purpose and repair/maintenance procedure. Understanding the electrical, mechanical, and medical purpose was necessary for diagnosing the problem. Some of the devices had their own literature to read that walked you through the process, others required your own analysis to determine the solution, and some devices were to be sent back to the manufacturer. These nuances made each assignment new, complex, and interesting. Each device I worked on had an immediate impact to the hospital and those that I returned back to service served the medical professionals well as they saved lives. I accomplished this in my Sophomore  and Junior years at WPI.

I graduated from WPI with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and am currently looking for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Device related jobs. I am also interested in Business Opportunities in Machine Service, Consulting, and Public Speaking/Presentations. Currently, I live in my hometown of Albany, NY where I am the Owner/President of my own business, H W Solutions, Inc. 

This has been an abbreviated version of my journey so far, and I will continue to push forward step by step to make my dream a reality. Thanks 🙂