Engineering Vol Builds Path to Accessible Auditory Technology
By Laura Tenpenny (’11)
September 30, 2026
Ophelia McQueen was a teenager before she heard cicadas for the first time.
Despite her upbringing in Maryville, Tennessee, she didn’t know this staple sound of the South due to a hearing condition she developed at age three. Growing up, McQueen has used different kinds of hearing aids, but their quality often lagged behind that of the human ear.
“For some, drugstore hearing aids might be as good as it gets,” says McQueen. “I want to help people access affordable auditory technology so they don’t have to settle.”
As a junior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, McQueen majors in biomedical engineering, working toward a career in auditory technology. Her goal is simple: to deliver better, less expensive technology into the hands and ears of people who need it. With donor support, her goal is now achievable.
It really does completely transform your college experience when you don’t have to worry so much about tuition.”
Ophelia McQueen (Class of 2028)
Scholarships have opened doors to research experiences for McQueen, including a stint in the AI, robotics, and biomedical engineering lab of Jindong Tan.
Expanding What’s Possible
McQueen chose UT in part because of its strong engineering program, but financial aid and scholarships made her degree possible and gave her the freedom to focus on making the most of her education.
“It really does completely transform your college experience when you don’t have to worry so much about tuition,” says McQueen, who receives support through the John Tummins Memorial Scholarship and an annual scholarship through the Heath Integrated Business and Engineering Program, among other funding.
During each cohort’s three-year journey, Heath IBEP brings engineering and business students together through an in-depth curriculum. It includes mentoring, industry exposure, and projects involving real-world companies.
“The program helped me consider industry roles and even positions affecting policy where I could help remove barriers for people to quality hearing aids,” says McQueen. “I talked to other IBEP students and the director of the program, Bob Buckner. I also spoke with my IBEP mentor, Bill Eversole [a 1973 alumnus], and hearing his story made industry experience less daunting.”
Everyone deserves access to good technology, especially when it comes to something as integral as medical devices for hearing. You shouldn’t have to miss out on what other people experience simply because you were born a little different.”
Ophelia McQueen (Class of 2028)
This gave McQueen the confidence to complete a co-op with Siemens this semester, documenting faults and troubleshooting PET scanners.
The co-op stint complements what she’s learned through IBEP, how engineering solutions intersect with customers, business decisions, and the larger systems needed to bring an idea to life—all essential to her dreams of making auditory technology more accessible.
For alumnus and Heath IBEP founding donor and namesake Ralph Heath, that kind of cross-functional understanding is central to the program’s purpose.
“I hope that engineers and business students alike gain an appreciation for the impact of their decisions on the rest of an organization, and ultimately, I hope our graduates become people who make the organizations and industries around them better,” explains Heath. “We’re preparing them with the curiosity to ask better questions, the ability to connect different perspectives and investigate problems, and the confidence to turn ideas into meaningful value. I want them to leave with the mindset and ability to help solve the problems that matter.”
Preparing to Solve Problems that Matter
With generous support from alumni and donors like Heath, McQueen is building the foundation to help solve problems that matter deeply to her. Part of that foundation includes research experiences.
The summer following her first year, she interned through the STEMM-HEAR program at the Bionic Ear Lab at the University of Southern California.
“That gave me my first look at what auditory research is like, and I came to realize I do love it!” says McQueen. “I also got to work alongside other researchers who are hard of hearing, and it built my confidence to go out into the field I’m interested in.”
“Many things were new to me, but I was prepared for the concepts and even some of the technical skills, like working in platforms like MATLAB, because of my engineering coursework.”
When McQueen returned to UT, she joined the AI, robotics, and biomedical engineering lab of Jindong Tan, professor and associate department head of biomedical engineering. Under the supervision of Assistant Professor Gene Rible, then a PhD student, McQueen completed a project involving AI, surgical imaging, and robotics.
She chose a laparoscopic procedure as her focus and independently took full ownership, from studying the literature to gathering datasets to learning new math and platforms. The result, explains Rible, is an AI system that uses thousands of laparoscopic images to recognize an effective surgical view and direct a robotic camera toward it.
“The implication is a laparoscope that can hold a better view, giving the surgeon direct control and making visualization more consistent,” says Rible.
These innovations allow the surgeon to command and direct the view and the camera, held by a much more stable robotic arm. This has implications for rural hospitals, including in East Tennessee, where staffing limitations can impact availability of laparoscopic procedures.
More immediately, however, the project taught McQueen something fundamental about research.
“The most important skill is knowing what to do when nothing works,” Rible explains, noting how vastly different research is from classwork where there’s a clear path and process for solving a problem.
“It really pushed me outside of my comfort zone,” McQueen says. “I didn’t even know what inverse kinematics was before I started. All of a sudden, I was learning how to turn X, Y, and Z coordinates into the six-axis robotic arm coordinates.”
When she presented her work at EURēCA, she earned an AURA award—an experience that gave her an opportunity to communicate her research and see herself as a contributor to a larger scientific community.
And although the research isn’t directly related to hearing technology, McQueen sees the connection.
“I’m building up these experiences so I know how to work in all different facets of engineering and collaboration and business so that one day I can transfer those skills to my niche of auditory technology,” she says.
The most meaningful return on investing in students is what happens years later. This kind of philanthropic support is so meaningful because you’re not simply funding a course or an experience. You’re investing in people and in the kind of leaders they will become.”
Bob Buckner, director of Heath Integrated Business and Engineering Program
Engineering a More Accessible Future
While working toward her future, McQueen is already using her experiences to help others.
Through student organizations, like the Society of Women Engineers and its mentoring program, and through her position on the Student Disability Services Board, she is giving back to the UT community and advocating for students with disabilities.
“It’s something that is really important to me, giving back to the community, especially the Deaf community,” says McQueen.
While her goal of benefiting that community has remained constant, her college experiences have led her to consider other versions of the future to address the barriers that keep people from accessing the technology they need.
“I’ve kind of moved more toward the idea of working in an interdisciplinary setting,” she says, “where I can use my engineering knowledge—my knowledge of auditory technology—to work with maybe policy or with nonprofits.”
Donor-funded opportunities like Heath IBEP have led McQueen to consider interdisciplinary paths to delivering accessible auditory technology in her future career.
Her future is still taking shape, but it already has a solid foundation.
That, says Buckner, is where the impact of donor support extends far beyond one student.
“The most meaningful return on investing in students is what happens years later,” explains Buckner. “This kind of philanthropic support is so meaningful because you’re not simply funding a course or an experience. You’re investing in people and in the kind of leaders they will become.”
Someday, the investment made in McQueen may be felt by the people who hear their loved ones more clearly, navigate their world more safely, or gain access to technology they once could not afford.
“Everyone deserves access to good technology, especially when it comes to something as integral as medical devices for hearing,” says McQueen. “You shouldn’t have to miss out on what other people experience simply because you were born a little different.”
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