We started the first week of our SEED internship program in quite exciting fashion. I am really excited to have arrived in United States for the ever time. In addition i am delighted to be part of the team to develop innovations which will solve many problems in the Biomedical field. I feel privileged to have a chance to exercise my engineering knowledge in developing engineering designs. I am looking forward to learn a lot from my fellow interns and anyone around me.  We got introduced to our fellow interns from Brazil and USA. We interacted and got to know about each other and the disciplines of engineering which we are studying. We had a minor presentation describing our respective cultures and  discussed a bit on our local university life. We visited the Oshmann Engineering Design Kitchen and learnt about the machines which the SEED interns will using and safety procedures which govern use of the machines. We later visited Houston zoo for a scavenger hunt as part of familiarizing the SEED interns with the exciting surrounding environment. This was the smartest introduction to the program and I loved I loved it.

We kicked off our research program by looking into challenges which the engineering field is facing and necessary skills which engineers must posses to solve such problems. We learnt and still  learning about engineering design process and considered it as an important tool in developing engineering design. So far we went through four stages of this iterative process which included Clarifying team assignment, Understanding problem/context, Formulating design criteria and Brainstorming ideas. We watch videos explaining about how each of these steps is carried out and implemented. We also have in class activities to allow us practice such principles. To further enhance practical understanding of the Engineering design, we are assigned an actual project to design an enrichment device for anteaters at Houston zoo. This is really a nice experience as we are able to implement each principle of engineering design that we’ve learnt into actual practice

A big shout is going to our professor at the OEDK, Dr Wettergreen for his efforts and also not forgetting our Learning Assistants, Hellen and Mikaela who are always supporting us. I am looking forward have extensive engineering design knowledge through this SEED program.