Joe Beggs ’19

After watching a TED Talk in high school during which the speaker grows a kidney, Joe Beggs knew he wanted to go into biomedical engineering. However, he did not want to be just any engineer. He says, “I went to Grinnell because a wanted to be a well-rounded engineer,” one who understands the context of his work and is able to think critically and communicate well. Now, as that well-rounded engineer, he thinks differently about medical device pricing in his startups. He explains, “Grinnell has given me a perspective of keeping the patients’ wellbeing in mind. Just because you can price higher, that doesn’t mean you should.” Bringing him “full circle,” he recently gave a TEDx Talk himself, inspiring the next generation of high school Joes.

Confidence to Learn and to Lead

Joe Beggs at podium with sign for Washington University in St. Louis

As part of Tolerance and Intolerance, a Global Learning Program course, Joe read an article, wrote a final paper that was critical of that article, and spoke with the article’s author in France. The author responded to his criticism with “‘wow! I didn’t think about that.” For him, that experience was “so cool,” and, combined with regularly leading class discussions and mentor sessions, it gave him confidence. At Grinnell, he explains, “I got confidence, really, in my own skills, in my own ability to learn and to lead.” That same confidence empowered him to be an entrepreneur.

Mentoring Relationships

Joe did a Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) in biophysics with Professor Keisuke Hasegawa. Rather than the research outcome, Joe said Hasegawa’s “number one priority was us learning and becoming better scientists.” Hasegawa became a close mentor and friend to Joe, which he continues to be to this day. As a result of his relationships with Hasegawa and other mentors, Joe greatly values mentoring, and he looks forward to being a mentor himself. In fact, he has already started to do so by talking to students who are interested in the 3-2 engineering program or in internships he has done. He even created an internship partnership with Northwestern in which Grinnell College students are mentored through the application process and a few internship positions are guaranteed for them. And so again, he comes full circle, mentoring and being mentored, inspiring and being inspired.

Joe Beggs ’19

GENAssist chief executive officer, HIVE Medical chief executive officer, Washington University McKelvey School of Engineering laboratory technician, tutor

POSITION: GENAssist chief executive officer, HIVE Medical chief executive officer, Washington University McKelvey School of Engineering laboratory technician, tutor
HOMETOWN: Kelso, Missouri
MAJOR: Biophysics (independent major), 3-2 Engineering Program
EXTRACURRICULARS, WORK: Center for Careers, Life, and Service career counseling intern, Marketplace prep cook, physics department mentor and tutor
OFF-CAMPUS STUDY: Tolerance and Intolerance, Global Learning Program in France and Germany
MAP: Biophysics with Professor Keisuke Hasegawa
SUMMER JOBS OR INTERNSHIPS: Research assistant at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
AFTER GRINNELL: B.S. in biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis (as part of the 3-2 Engineering Program), Loeb.nyc venture analyst intern, Sling Health director of strategy