Charity Matola is one young passionate person who has a strong interest in biomedical technology. my passion in bioscience and engineering grew when i was about 11 years old. my father was very sick at Queen Elizabeth central hospital and my mother was there with him. we were at home with our parents at the hospital, and daily fixing our eyes at the door hoping they would just knock at the door and shout”all is well” i was wrong i lost my dad and the night he died my mother was admitted. she never mourned her husband let alone know he had passed away. it was very hard and pathetic. my father died of a sickness i have no idea till today what it was, the nurses couldnt explain either and my mother was diagnosed of severe ulcers,she went through surgery and got better. but still the bread winner of the family was gone. it was very sad as we had to go through some good tough times. as a child i had so many questions i asked myself and i was so motivated to help save lives through inventing machines that would help diagnose all medical problems. However this was kind of a tale since Malawi lag so much technologically. and here is an opportunity for this young lady now. why not maximize it???
FROM CHILEKA AIRPORT TO HOUSTON
it was a wonderful tour myself, Tiwonge Nyirenda, Christopher Dzuwa and Blessings Nyoni all from the polytechnic university had our first time flight and the experience was just awkwardly amazing.i could feel my ears closing for a moment due to changes in pressure and that is when i realized that one can never understand turbulent and drag forces better unless they experienced it. the two hour flight from chileka to othambo airport was followed by a long eleven hours from othambo to london heathrow, i could see the oceans, the clouds and the beautiful creation it was just amazing. we arrived in houston after ten hours from hearthrow where we were picked by Dr veronica Leutaud whose welcome assured me my comfortability. we were now 24 Hours away from home.
My assurance was ascertained upon arrival at the martel hostel our current home. i was so inquisitive to know what the following day would offer me, the type of people i would meet, how the Oshman Engineeering Design Kitchen would look like. it was around thirteen hours in the morning and am still awake but i had to take a nap anyway i was so tired from the long journey and i had to prepare my mind also for this huge OEDK as i imagined.
THE FIRST WEEK
The awaited morning came and with the help of Alex and Kelvin(local rice students) we arrived at OEDK. The front door was automatic and needed an ID to access in. everything inside looked automatic and so organized. Jeremy palmer the teaching assistance welcomed us and introduced us to ice breaking. nice games that really enhanced interactions within the international and local rice students. I was so exited to find the rice students as interactive as Dr Leutdaut. My exirtment was enriched when i got my rice ID at the police student. the safety quiz which i just passed granted me access to the automatic door at the Design Kitchen. the next thing was going to the Office of International Students and Scholars.
At noon we had a get together with the rice and the three Brazilian students, Carlos, Louiz and Bruno whose surnames till today i cant memorize. Later during the day we were introduced to Dr Wettergreen and Dr Deidre Hunter. The two professors cracked their welcoming remarks and before i knew it Dr Wettergreen had already introduced us to the engineering design process.
THE TRIP TO THE HOUSTON ZOO
At the zoo our team, the lion comprised of Christina, Caz, Louiz and myself managed to identify most of the characteristics of some animas.the red pandas, okapi, leopard, the sea lion, african lion, snakes of different kinds,bears and birds were explored.
The next day we had a boot camp where we deconstructed a water chiller pump, this was my favourite activity as it engaged me to exploring some new components inside the pump. some of the things we had identified were, the pump itself, fans, a circuit board with some transformers and water pipes.
THE FIRST PROJECT
The Houston zoo asked the OEDK to design an Okapi enrichment device.the problem was explored and another trip to the zoo was proposed and further understanding of the project through google research was made. and a clear understanding of the problem statement was established. the design class was grouped into four teams with four members in each. To enrich is to add value or wealthy to something. An enrichment device is meant to add value and pleasure psychologically and physically to the animals (Okapi). Upon interviewing one of the zookeepers, Kim outlined that the device that are in the zoo are merely for feeding the wonderful Okapi, she further explained that it takes much time to set up the devices and also that the devices lacks the entertaining features for their animals.
Our team which comprised of Alex, Carlos, Victoria came up with 34 rough solutions out of which 24 where complete solutions. These complete solutions were screened against each design criteria to narrow the number of the solutions. After screening the outstanding 7 solutions were scored to arrive at an ultimate solution.
The ultimate solutions was then taken further to the following week for prototyping of low and medium fidelity.
CONCLUSION
it was really a challenging week for me, a thing i never anticipated. communication was a major barrier in addition to lack of a professional approach to engineering design. Despite the language barriers that existed, my consistence participation and interaction with my fellow design engineers saves me a better position. my passion for designing has boosted in all three dimensions and it is assuring that by the end of this summer i will come up with a live biomedical product that shall serve a particular need efficiently and effectively.
This journey has just begun, for better designs your feedback shall be highly appreciated.