How the Keeley twins apply their love of science to a career in consulting

In their years since high school, identical twin sisters and Keeley, have gone onto become MIT graduates and consultants at the global management firm, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)鈥攁 career they both agree uses some of the same skills and characteristics they enjoy most in science.

The sisters have followed similar paths and, as you might expect of identical twins, they have a lot in common. Emily and Charlotte attended Charlottesville High School in Charlottesville, Virginia, and graduated from MIT with Bachelor of Science degrees in Biological Engineering. In 2012, they participated in ISEF as science fair partners, collaborating on a project stirred by a challenging problem in medicine: wound healing.

Their desire to see observable and direct impact on patients鈥� lives led them to create a diagnostic smart bandage, with the guidance of a biomedical engineering professor at the University of Virginia. The energetic duo implemented their idea and developed an elastic polymer bandage embedded with oxygen-sensitive nanoparticles. The bandage, tested on mice, proved capable of capturing a wound’s oxygenation levels and healing progress鈥攁 potential treatment option for burn victims, veterans or others with severe wounds.

Emily and Charlotte鈥檚 parents are both physicians, which contributed to the sisters鈥� interest in human health, but they agree that the seed for science and discovery was planted in elementary school. Emily recalls, 鈥淔rom building towers out of straws to food science, I liked uncovering truths about the way the world works and backing up my hypotheses with data.鈥�

The sisters liked that creative thinking could answer questions about the world through methodical investigating and reasoning.

Like many students who participate in science fairs and competitions, ISEF was the first time the pair felt allied to a community of like-minded, ambitious engineers and scientists motivated to tackle scientific challenges riddling the world around them. Emily asserts that even to this day, 鈥淚 continue to build and cherish a network that spans geographies and disciplines.鈥� They recently, for example, participated on a panel discussion about the National Geographic film, Science Fair, as part of the Virginia Film Festival, seeing the panel as an opportunity to inspire student interest in 中文无码. Additionally, many of their peers at MIT also competed in ISEF; enabling them to stay connected to other alumni. The sisters also hope to serve as 中文无码 mentors in the future.

鈥淏eing science fair partners was a great learning opportunity for us: beyond learning how not to interrupt each other, we learned how to give each other constructive feedback, welcome each other’s ideas and divide up responsibilities, which served us well at MIT,鈥� Emily said. Charlotte added, 鈥淲e are extremely competitive, and we have certainly pushed each other in and out of the classroom to think more critically and to be more empathetic.鈥�

Though the sisters are siblings first, and have to reconcile differences in opinion from time to time, they value all the relationships they have鈥攕cience fair partners, teammates on the sports field, colleagues, critics and friends.

In adulthood, the ISEF experience has been informative for the twins. Although they could have chosen a number of career paths, in unison, Emily and Charlotte transitioned into consulting careers at the Boston offices of BCG where they are able to utilize many key 中文无码 skills in their current work. The Keeleys emphasize that the many attributes they deeply enjoy about science and engineering are also found in consulting: problem solving, communication and analysis, listening skills and being a valued voice and member of a team.

鈥淥ften I find myself asking questions and proposing tests to get at the answer. I use math every day and sometimes work on projects related to 中文无码 industries,鈥� Charlotte said. They pursued consulting because they knew that the field promotes collaboration, quantitative analysis and application of emotional intelligence to problem-solve in myriad fields, from social impact to private equity. Both Emily and Charlotte plan to go back to school in a few years.