As I end the final day of my first week as a SEED intern, I am shocked by how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. This week, we have deconstructed machines, learned Adobe Illustrator, used PCB mills, laser cutters and plasma cutters, and finished metal and wooden pieces. We have also covered the basics of CAD (Computer Aided Design), of which I am a huge fan. I am extremely excited by the prototyping possibilities that are now open to me with these new hard skills. I have loved indulging my creative side in what I like to call “engineering arts and crafts”. Tuesday and Wednesday, we used Illustrator to create a piece to laser cut.  Wednesday and Thursday,  we cut maps of our home states/countries using the plasma cutter and finished them using files, sand paper, dremels, and spray paint. (I am always amazed by how a file and sandpaper can transform a piece of metal from sharp and dangerous to silky and beautiful!)

Although the hard skills are exciting, I am just as excited, if not more so, to have the opportunity to work with and learn from such a diverse group of my peers. The OEDK interns include four rising sophomore engineering students from Rice (myself included), two rising senior biology majors from Rice with minors in global health technologies, and four engineering students from Malawi. Of the students from Malawi, three are electrical engineering students and one is a mechanical engineering student. Already, I have had many conversations with the students from Malawi about language, food, and fun. During the deconstruction lab on the first day, I took apart a hard drive with Nehua. While we were discussing which parts were made of which materials, we came to an interesting discovery: I finished my first year in engineering and have more hands-on experience with very little theoretical knowledge while he is entering his fifth and final year with much theoretical knowledge but very little hands-on experience. I think that this combination creates an environment in which all of us will be constantly learning things we didn’t know we didn’t know from each other.

 

In addition to learning skills from each other, we have already begun to learn about different cultural aspects between Malawi and the United States. Yesterday, as we were finishing laser cut pieces of wood, Elizabeth and I spoke with James, Nehua, and Eckhaire about language. They taught us simple phrases in Chewa such as “Muli bwanji?” (How are you?) and we taught them simple phrases in Spanish. Most importantly, we explained what “Chips and Queso” is  while they told us about Lake Malawi and the history of Malawi. I look forward to continuing the cultural exchange with the students from Malawi and to showing them around the bustling metropolis that is Houston.

Today, the SEED interns met with the faculty members in charge of the program to discuss the projects we will be working on this summer and they all sound incredible! There are 8 projects available, most of which focus on medical devices for the developing world. The first we discussed was an APGAR score device for infants at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. There appears to be a breakdown in communication between the midwives delivering babies in Maternity and the physicians caring for them in Pediatrics, so this team must identify the root of the problem and develop a device to remedy it. Another team will be developing a device to identify patients who have hypertension in rural villages in Malawi. There will also be a team developing an inexpensive mechanical breast pump to be used by mothers in Malawi, as well as teams improving or building infant respiration counters, infant incubation chambers, an intubation supply organization box, and a Filabot for recycling plastic water bottles into 3D printer filament.

Last but not least is the project that I have been working on since September: the forearm rotation measurement device for children with motion disorders, or 4ARMD. I began this project with a team in a class I took in the fall, Introduction to Engineering Design, and continued to work on it through the spring semester with that team. The way the device attaches to the wrist needs to be improved, as do other aspects, to reduce the large systematic error produced in measurements. I am thrilled that I get the opportunity to continue working on it this summer with a new, diverse team. I think their fresh eyes and varied backgrounds will prove extremely valuable in the project. I can’t help but smile when I think of the potential that this summer has to change both our lives and those of the people our devices touch.