Tarek  K.  Abou-Nemen

Tarek K. Abou-Nemeh came to Chicago and IIT by way of Poland, where he was born, and Belgium, where he spent nine years before his family moved to Quincy, Ill. In making his final decision to come to IIT, he strongly considered its location and professional programs. "I wanted to be close to my sister, who at the time was studying at Northwestern University. I chose IIT to pursue a career in architecture, which ended up as a minor under my biology major with a pre-medicine mentality," he says. "Looking back to the person I was when I first entered, to who I have become today truly gives me great appreciation for all the experiences that I've had at IIT, whether it was through friendships with peers, or getting to know professors and working on their research or just having lunch with them."

Abou-Nemeh has gotten to know the rigorous architecture curriculum, and after switching to biology, met another realm of professors, some that influenced and challenged him as a human being, while others extracted all the potential he didn't even know he had. Abou-Nemeh speaks highly of IIT's IPRO projects program, of which his work on IPRO-306 about clinical depression won Best-of-Track awards two semesters in a row. Abou-Nemeh credits the experience of being a teaching assistant in undergrad microbiology under Dr. Cork as "a rare and very cherished position because the class was academically intensive, both for the students as well as the TAs." The Student Government Association (SGA) honored him as both Teaching Assistant of the Month and Year. Following graduation, he hopes to take a few months off while considering his options for medical school. Ultimately, he wants to become a doctor.