BME Alum Climbs World Ranks in Wheelchair Tennis
Jason Keatseangsilp, who earned his biomedical engineering bachelor's degree in 2017, is ranked No. 2 nationally in men’s wheelchair tennis singles and is considering competing in the Paralympics.
An avid tennis player growing up, Keatseangsilp is approaching the top 50 globally, out of ~500 ranked players. Keatseangsilp injured his spinal cord in a rappelling accident his senior year of high school and began using a wheelchair. He dabbled in wheelchair tennis as a hobby during his college years, then began pursuing the sport competitively after graduation, starting to play for Team USA in 2018.
"Learning mobility and how to move in a tennis wheelchair was (and still is) a huge learning curve," Keatseangsilp said. "After I finished undergraduate, I wanted to give tennis a try before looking for full-time work in engineering or going back to school to see how far I could go competitively. Thankfully, it’s worked out so far."
Keatseangsilp chose to study biomedical engineering in order to work with adaptive and rehabilitative technologies, such as wheelchairs and exoskeletons.
"Biomedical engineering combines human health applications with engineering and tech, which was the perfect combo for me," Keatseangsilp said.