This week of the internship has extremely helpful in expanding our understanding of the issue we are trying to address. Previously, I, along with many others, had been looking at the prototypes we had been tasked with, the Walk-Through Decontamination Unit and Hand Washing Station, as a very 2D issue. (See images of both of our prototypes below) We were to evaluate the prototype with one mission in mind: to make sure it fits the design requirements mentioned by the design studios. However, as this week progressed, we were introduced to the ideas of Problem Decomposition and Stakeholder considerations.

First off, each problem was made of a multitude of moving parts, and each part needs to be considered before finding an appropriate solution. It is important to consider all the critical desired functions of the device and determine whether the current prototype has done a reasonable job of addressing them. I found this approach of thinking to be extremely interesting and helpful, as it allowed me to consider each function of the device independently and determine if that function was being performed adequately. The purpose of evaluating a prototype isn’t just about considering the prototype as a whole, and whether or not it gets the job done, it is considering each part and function of the prototype and considering if, given the design constraints, each part is doing what you want it to do.

My group’s stakeholder map was much larger than I had originally imagined. When one first thinks of stakeholders, they usually think of the end-users of the device. However, this isn’t the full picture. Stakeholders can range from manufacturers, policymakers, investors, and suppliers in addition to the end-users. This understanding of our devices’ stakeholders will be beneficial when we move onto stakeholder interviews in the coming weeks.

As someone who is passionate about Global Health, I found the workshop of health disparities to be quite interesting. Many people within the States think the existence of such disparities is a far-off thought common in other areas of the world. However, as shown by the Opportunity Atlas, this thought is untrue. Throughout the workshop, we got the opportunity to look at the statistics of our own hometowns, and it was shocking how much the statistics could change from even one side of the street from the other. A significant part of this apparent disparity chasm was socioeconomic factors (race, gender, and income). I had, in part, been aware of the prevalence of these disparities, but how widely the statistics varied from neighborhood to neighborhood surprised me.

Week two ended with a fun get together with the rest of my team. Earlier in the week, our TAs’ had sent out a survey, asking us questions about our favorite animals, what superpower we would want, and beyond. Going into this meeting, I was excited, but a little bit nervous about having to guess who had put what. My group has gotten to know each other pretty well over the past few weeks, but the topic of superpowers hadn’t come up in our previous conversations. In case you’re wondering, I would like the superpower of being able to understand and speak any language. I feel like this superpower could be very useful during travel and allow me to understand other cultures better. Despite this worry, my team had a great time, and we actually did pretty well at guessing who had put what, and it opened all kinds of other conversations. I’m really looking forward to getting to know them all a lot better over these next few weeks.

Signing off,

Kaitlyn