Biomedical engineering graduate finds purpose in serving others
Den Baseda strives to design a medical device that will help him continue volunteering.
Den Baseda is completing his MS in biomedical engineering, which he pursued as a Peace Corps Coverdell Fellow.
University Communications
For Den Baseda, who earns his Master of Science in biomedical engineering this month, graduation marks the end of an unprecedented two-year period of selfishness – a break from a life driven by kindness and dedicated to volunteerism – to focus on earning his degree.
"I've always put other people first," said Baseda, who has made community service and volunteerism a focus of his life since he was a teenager. It's taken him from Habitat for Humanity to a two-year mission for the U.S. Peace Corps in Namibia.
"But sometimes in order to help other people, you have to put yourself first," added Baseda, who is now 38. Graduate school was the first major life decision he made for only himself.
Baseda, who was diagnosed with polio at 2 and learned to walk as a teenager, plans to put his BME degree to use designing a device that will help him walk independently for years to come. Baseda said the device will help him continue volunteering as he ages.
Finding purpose in serving others
Baseda took an interest in community service when he was just a kid. His family became involved with Habitat for Humanity after moving to North Carolina from Vietnam. Baseda spent years volunteering on build sites. He joined his high school's Habitat for Humanity student chapter and eventually moved with his family into a Habitat house completed in 2001. The experience ignited Baseda’s volunteering journey.
Baseda earned his Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from North Carolina State University in 2013. After college, he set out to find the next step in his journey of service, something with global reach. He arrived in Namibia in 2014 as a volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps, teaching math and science to kids in fourth through seventh grade.
In 2016, he returned to North Carolina and found a role with AmeriCorps in Charlotte, supporting families as a refugee youth program assistant.
In 2023, Baseda began graduate studies at the U of A after earning a prestigious Peace Corps Coverdell fellowship.
His future plans include applying for jobs. He was also on the U of A's wheelchair tennis team and wants to keep playing competitively. But no matter where he goes, Baseda said, he will always make time to volunteer.
"That's something I always want to be a part of my life," he said. "I always want to integrate myself into the community and be able to help any way that I can."