Taking the next step on an engineering career path
Yo Seol, MSME’21, has always forged his own path.
As proof of that, he was a member of the first graduating class of the Master of Science in Molecular Engineering (MSME) program at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME).
Seol graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. After graduating, Seol worked in the cardiac department of a biomedical company that makes medical devices, where his electrical engineering background came in handy.
“It gave me the confidence to work in that field because they were asking me about electrical aspects and how we should power certain devices,” Seol said. “That’s when I started to show interest in health devices and how these became compatible with the human body once you implant them into the patient.”
And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. At that point, he had two choices: stay in Minneapolis to continue working for the biomedical company or apply for the MSME program to further his education.
“The pandemic encouraged me to pursue something in the healthcare industry,” Seol said. “The MSME program would give me the freedom to study biomedical devices as well as drugs and vaccines for COVID.”
Seol made the jump, joining the program’s polymer science and engineering track with some immunoengineering courses as electives. He graduated in 2021.
“I applied so I could further my studies in the field because I was very interested in the current developments of not just vaccines, but cancer treatments and other therapies,” he said.
After graduating from UChicago PME, Yo Han Seol embarked on a path driven by one motivating belief — that technology, when guided by compassion and purpose, can change lives.
Engineering is more than solving problems — it is serving people.
Yo Seol, MSME’21
Today, Seol serves as a Senior Quality Engineer in M&A at Medtronic, working to ensure the safety, reliability, and scalability of life-saving medical technologies that are being acquired. His work directly supports global health outcomes through rigorous engineering excellence and cross-functional collaboration.
Alongside his industry role, Seol is committed to building future talent. He now teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Engineering at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, where he equips students with both technical foundations and the mindset needed to impact the world beyond the classroom.
Never one to stand still, Seol is also advancing his leadership capabilities as an MBA candidate at the University of Southern California (USC). He hopes to bridge innovation, strategy, and operations — not only to design solutions, but to guide them from concept to clinic, from idea to patient.
“Engineering is more than solving problems — it is serving people,” Seol said. “Teaching reminds me why innovation matters, Medtronic challenges me to build responsibly, and my MBA expands how I can lead meaningful change in healthcare.”
Balancing educator, engineer, and business-leader roles, Seol embodies a multidisciplinary future — one where technology, humanity, and leadership converge. His mission continues: elevating patient outcomes, inspiring emerging engineers, and shaping a world where medical innovation is not only developed but delivered.
His advice for incoming UChicago PME students is to embrace the collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of engineering.
“Pursue this degree if you’re interested in knowing what everyone does together to be successful,” he said. “Because it’s not just about one type of engineering—electrical, molecular, bio, immuno, etc.—it’s everything together.”