The 210th Commencement Ceremony will be a special affair for members of the MacLauchlan family, who hail from Somers, Conn. Heather MacLauchlan, a Rensselaer senior who majored in biomedical engineering, and her mother, Mary Elizabeth MacLauchlan, a senior software engineer at Travelers who pursued a master’s in computer science at the Rensselaer Hartford campus, will be graduating together from Rensselaer.
Mary Elizabeth and Heather MacLauchlan
Heather says that her “mom attended an admissions presentation with her at Rensselaer, and became fascinated with the computer science offerings described by Ulysses deArmas,” who is associate director of undergraduate admissions at Rensselaer. Soon after, while Heather was pursuing her degree at Rensselaer and playing for the women’s lacrosse team, Mary Elizabeth started working on her degree part-time.
“The top-notch education mixed with the top-notch lacrosse drew me to RPI,” Heather said. “In addition, the amazingly supportive environment both on campus and at ECAV made me stay.”
Following graduation, during the summer, Heather will head to Boston to participate in research at Boston University School of Medicine. She plans to return to the Rensselaer campus in the fall to pursue her master’s biomedical engineering since she is a co-terminal student.
“My RPI education is allowing me to continue growing my career and stay current with technology,” said Mary Elizabeth. “The unique chance to share this event with Heather is an extra advantage.”