Her Scholarship was Truly a Matter of the Heart

August 2014

Meredith Taylor begins her graduate studies in electrical engineering at BYU feeling highly motivated to learn all she can, with the desire to someday improve the design of mechanical hearts - a problem that strikes close to home.

With grandparents on both sides of her family suffering from cardiovascular disease, Meredith is focusing her studies on improving medical diagnostic tools for clinicians. After watching patients lying in hospital beds while hooked up to large machines the size of a kitchen stove, she is determined to design equipment that is less cumbersome.

As it is now, she said, patients can only leave their hospital rooms when accompanied by a nurse and two engineers to push the equipment.

“I figure,” she continued, “if engineers can come up with an iPod the size of our hand with more than 80 gigs of memory, then there must be a way to provide sick people more freedom.”

A scholarship reduced her financial strains and provided the opportunity to focus on her goal, for which Meredith is profoundly grateful. How wonderful, she routinely thought, to be able to study without the distraction of finances.

“I am so grateful for your generosity,” she said. She will continue her graduate studies by doing research in the field of magnetic resonance imaging with the aim of improving noninvasive diagnostic tools to catch life-threatening diseases as early as possible.

Still more good has come of her scholarship. Due to donor generosity, Meredith and her husband, who suffered a damaged cornea and needed surgery to restore his sight, were able to save a few dollars each month. “We saved enough for him to receive a cornea transplant,” she said. “The financial help I received did more than help me gain an education; it has led to my husband regaining his vision. I cannot fully express my gratitude for the help we received that allows us to keep moving forward in life.”