During the college application process, I applied as a biomedical engineering major to the majority of my colleges. Biomedical engineering evidently lies at the intersection of three different fields: biology, medicine, and engineering, but its recent advancements cannot be discussed without mentioning its heavy reliance on computers.

Because of the extent to which computers saturate this field, I decided to approach this question through the lens of an athlete. As a person who loves exercise, I thought this lens would prove both interesting and educational.

Let’s begin with training. For training, athletes often use wearable tech designed by biomedical engineers to track physiological signals and collect readings like pulse and steps. This technology in itself is often in the form of a small computer or, more recently, trackers that stick to the skin and beam readings to a receiver. Biomedical engineers used computers (in the form of digital design and printing) to create this device, which measures the extent to which an athlete’s skin would be stretched and contracted to provide more accurate measurements. Thus, computers allowed biomedical engineers to improve the quality of a product that assists with the training of athletes.

But what is the impact of this increased quality and performance of devices created by biomedical engineers? Data collected by such trackers can be used to inform people in medicine, especially as wearable tech expands outside athletic groups towards the generalized population via streamlined brands like Apple Watches and Fitbits. Such lightweight technology could also provide automatic, near-effortless data monitoring for patients with sleep disorders or heart conditions. In addition, data could be used to help psychologists understand the human body by relating measurable variables, like sweat to stress levels.

In other words, the technology (in the form of computers) that is used to continuously improve upon the design of biomedical engineers and allow more accurate readings and data collection has implications reaching farther than just my chosen field of biomedical engineering. The interconnectedness of these fields- and many others- exemplifies the far-reaching influence of computers and their potential to solve our current and future problems. Ultimately, we can be sure that in the future, computers will continue to aid all fields in innovation, performance, and accessibility.