Jackie No (center) trading textbooks for tempo with Pureun’s student dance crew. (Photo courtesy of Jackie No)
Pinkies, Prototypes and Endless Possibilities
For Jackie No, necessity is the mother of invention and reinvention. Immersed in art from a young age, she clearly saw art school in her cards. But when she joined a local indie band in high school, her career path hit an unexpected note — all thanks to her pinkies.
“I taught myself how to play the electric guitar for the band, and after a while realized my technique couldn’t progress because I have these really short pinkies,” she confesses. “Around this time, my high school was piloting an engineering course that offered 3D printing, which gave me the idea to try it and see if I could design a prosthetic pinkie to help me play the harder chord progressions.”
While her prototype was a bust, that class became her introduction, inspiration and gateway to pursuing a Biomedical Engineering (BME) major. She’s added a minor in Global Health, as well as one in Visual Arts because she wasn’t ready to completely let go of art. “Out of all my choices for a BME major, Duke is the only college that also has a strong arts curriculum. My other options were so tech heavy that it would have been impossible to continue with art at the same level of scholarship.”
At first glance, a STEM major and an arts minor might appear worlds apart. But for No, the two naturally merge.
“In my BME coursework, I start the design process with a blank slate and build a blueprint from scratch: sketching ideas, assembling shapes and imagining how they’ll come together,” she explains. “Even with computers, the process is still deeply visual and aesthetic because I’m doing more than solving a problem — I’m also considering how people will interact with and respond to what I’ve created. So while it may not look like I’m directly using my artistic side, I’ve always believed that engineering and art are deeply intertwined.”
That same balance of creativity and problem-solving also shapes how she spends time outside the classroom — whether she’s dancing with Pureun, working as an assistant in the ceramics studio at the Arts Annex or training to become an EMT.
“EMT training is important to me because my earliest dream was to be a first responder with the Red Cross. This past summer in Pamlico County, North Carolina, I attended a budget hearing where residents shared powerful stories about their EMS station’s lifesaving work in an area that is isolated from healthcare services. I was deeply moved by their impact and decided to start EMT classes, knowing how essential and underrecognized these professionals are in the healthcare system.”
We caught up with the busy junior to talk about her career goals, the benefits her STEM + arts courses and her advice for students who want to pursue their own STEAM path at Duke.
As you reach the midpoint of your time here, what career direction are you envisioning?
Med school was my goal when I first came to Duke, but then I took a medical sociology course last year that totally changed my perspective. The class focused on the role socioeconomic status plays on an individual’s health outcomes, and it made me look at healthcare through a completely different lens.
This summer, I worked in a healthcare department in rural North Carolina, which allowed me to have deeper conversations with physicians regarding the tools they use in practice. I feel like there’s work to be done on the industry-side of healthcare regarding accessibility, so I’m leaning toward that right now.
What do your STEAM courses bring to your passion for accessibility in healthcare?
In both engineering and healthcare, the focus is often on creating something entirely new. But with so many medical technologies already in existence, I think there’s real value in first revisiting and improving what we already have, rather than discarding it immediately.
Accessibility also means advocating for targeted improvements in healthcare, such as women’s health. For example, take the instruments used for a pap smear — they look like something from medieval times. There’s plenty of room to redesign them for a safer, more comfortable experience.
I see my STEM education giving me the technical foundation I need, while my art education reminds me why I want to create meaningful, tangible improvements in the world.
What would you tell students who are curious about STEAM but unsure about taking classes outside of their career path?
Before I left for Duke, my Mom reminded me that college is this unique time where the constraints from high school are replaced with a newfound autonomy allowing me to make more decisions for myself. That’s why I think these four years are the perfect time to experiment and try new things without fear. I can take a class to see if it sparks my interest, and if it doesn’t, that’s fine because I’ve still learned something.
Students should understand that undergrad is really the time to invest in themselves, explore without consequence and maybe discover something new and exciting to pursue. Duke is definitely a place where students can combine fields of interest in meaningful ways, but I’ve noticed those opportunities aren’t often discussed out loud.
