Eric Haas, Biology to Biomedical Engineering to Business Entrepreneurship

Eric Haas has been drawn to the field of Biology. Throughout high school Eric was interested and looking at different college’s undergraduate engineering programs. Eric has loved to build and tinker, his passion is to understand how to create and build. “I am a big builder and tinkerer. I like to figure out new ways of doing things. It’s actually my creative expression. I’m not really artistic but my creativity comes out when I am building things,” said Eric.

During Eric’s undergraduate career, he studied biology. Eric originally planned to complete his Bachelor’s degree and then attend medical school to become a doctor. Once he realized how long that process would take, he quickly shifted towards biomedical engineering. “ It takes a total of 15 years until you are a full fledged doctor. So I thought of a different route, engineering, which is a profession I felt that I could have a faster path towards having an even larger impact,” said Eric.

Eric began to look for biomedical engineering programs that could fast track him towards a master’s in engineering. Because of Eric’s undergraduate background in the natural sciences, he needed to apply to LEAP. Eric was also drawn towards Boston and Boston University because of his wife’s acceptance to BU’s law school, as well as Eric being offered a job in a Dana Farber lab. “I immediately was looking for my next step and what higher degree I could work towards because especially in science and especially in Boston, you need a higher degree just to have the credentials to push you into your field,” said Eric. While Eric was attending Boston University part-time and working at Dana Farber, he quickly took over as the leader of the Dana Farber lab. He began to get lab leadership and research experience with complicated medical technologies.

Eric started his own company, Ionic Cytometry Solutions, once he decided to leave his job and become a full-time master’s student. His company’s goal is to combine Eric’s research and technology expertise to help other researchers. As the first mass cytometry consulting company, Ionic Cytometry Solutions strives to combine practical, technical experience with advanced data analytical skills enabling researchers to employ mass cytometry with confidence throughout the entire experimental process. “A lot of people don’t have the balance that I have through both real world and educational experiences. There’s a need here for people to be taught how to use the technology to conduct the experiments and also the data analysis correctly. I have always wanted to be my own boss and have my own company,” said Eric. As Eric approaches graduation, Eric has been working even harder to strengthen his business before he leaves BU.