Hi everyone, welcome to my third week of my blog post. I would like to share with you the highlights of this week. Honestly its  had been a wonderful week. I learned so much from my teammates as well as from the perspectives of other team members from different groups. I will start with what we have done so far, then the challenges and also I will share with you some of the activities that we had this week

THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR SECOND PROTOYTPES

This week we focused much on working on our prototypes. We developed different types of prototypes, because we wanted to find out which one was better. We developed two prototypes to start with, using negatives of a 3D model and a syringe. We used gelatin in both of them.

 

Figure(a).                                                                                                                  figure (b).

The above pictures show the progress of ones of the prototypes using and syringe (figure a) and the negative of a cervix and a vagina figure b.

Challenges we faced on the above prototypes

• The first prototypes with a syringe did not produce any image on the ultrasound after testing.
• The second one with the negative of a 3D actually produced some results but the challenge was that to produce an image the probe was not inserted from the hole that was representing vagina but rather from outside

These challenges led us to come up with another solution that will enable us to produce an image by inserting a probe inside the vagina of our prototype.

 

Figure ©.

From the advice we received from Dr. Gei, we thought of coming up with a design as in figure c.in figure c the vagina is perpendicular to the cervix.

 

Figure (d)

This is the negative 3D model that we made for our prototype where the vagina is perpendicular to the cervix. The final prototype of these will be tested in our next meeting with Dr.Gei

GOAL

Our goal this week was to develop a model or prototype that could produce an image on the ultrasound after inserting the probe through the hole.

WORKSHOP

We had a workshop this week led by our team leads, Shifan and Renee. In this workshop, we developed a small system where a motor rotated after receiving a message sent through a transmitter on a breadboard to a receiver on another board. Once we operated the transmitter board, the motor on the other board began to rotate.

 

TEAM LUNCH NETWORKING

Another highlight in this week is that we also had a networking lunch with professionals from Houston community. It was a great time to get know people from different professionals and learn from them. This had been a very wonderful week for me as an individual and also a s a team

TEAM LUNCH WITH PROFESSOR NODSKOV

Another interesting event this week was the celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. Prof. Nodskov took our team out for a delightful lunch at Mendocino Farms. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to unwind, socialize, and strengthen our bonds outside of the usual work environment. Despite the continual rain throughout the day, our inner beings were high, and the weather didn’t lower our excitement.

 

We had a wonderful time chatting and getting to know each other on a more personal level. I enjoyed some delicious food; I opted for a sandwich, the name of which i forgot, but it was made out of pork. The taste was spectacular, and it was easily one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. It was my first time trying this particular type of sandwich, and I don’t regret having it. The experience was unforgettable, not just because of the great food, but also due to the good fellowship and enjoyable conversations we shared. Overall, it was a perfect blend of good food, great company, and a festive atmosphere, making the Juneteenth holiday celebration truly special.

 

Conclusion

This week had been a wonderful week, very educative and also memorable.

Thank you

Hola! 👋🏽

I am Precious Faseyosan, a final-year student of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. I am beyond excited to be in Houston this summer, interning at Rice University’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK). To God’s praise and glory, I finally made it here and am super grateful for this incredible opportunity.

I arrived in Houston with two other interns from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. We boarded the same flight. There are also three other interns from Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania. Together, we make up six African students here on a fully-sponsored program. We are interning with nine other students from various countries and Rice University.

Love at First Sight:

The Rice University campus is so magnificent and beautiful. Gosh! 😍 The campus has such a stunning scenery that different people come from time to time with professional photographers for photoshoot sessions! It’s also charming to see friendly lovely cute squirrels run around in search for food or companionship from humans.

My first visit to the OEDK left me in awe; the tools, machinery, and innovative projects worked on by students and staff were mind-blowing. The realization that I was in for an enriching learning experience filled my heart with gratitude and enthusiasm.

(A little backstory: I didn’t initially have a passion for engineering. My family’s disapproval of my desire to study psychology led me to choose petroleum engineering instead since I loved mathematics and was quite proficient at it. My genuine interest in engineering started during my internship at the University of Ibadan Design Studio and Innovation Hub, an affiliate of OEDK, where we worked on many fascinating engineering design projects in my third year. This passion for engineering is continually growing.)

Meeting the other interns from various countries, our team leads Shifan and Renee, our supervisor Dr. Kevin Holmes, and the visiting mentor Dr. Funmi was equally thrilling. Their warm welcome and support made Rice University feel like home. I mustn’t forget to mention Michelle Nodskov, the Education Programs Coordinator at Rice360, who ensures that all the international interns have a blissful stay. I’m really thankful for the supplies and snackssss (the extra ‘s’s were intentional. 😂) she got us. She’s been so kind and helpful. It’s been a great delight working with every single person, and I’m glad we still have more days to work together.

The Learning Experience:

Okay, enough of the stories. Let’s get to the main purpose of this blog—my first week at the OEDK. The first week was superb, definitely. We were introduced to engineering design as a problem-solving tool and the engineering design process, which involves the steps in problem-solving. What stood out to me during the introductory classes was this statement by Dr. Holmes (paraphrased):

“High-performing teams fail fast and learn faster when they do.”

We learned to approach problems with an open-minded mindset, embrace our mistakes and failures, and learn from them.

Clients pitched their ideas to us, presenting real-world problems they wanted to solve. We were asked to choose a project to work on over the next six weeks and were divided into four teams based on our choices. I chose a project aimed at improving the gel used for transvaginal ultrasound, pitched by Dr. Gei from the Houston Methodist Center. The current gel does not provide clear and accurate imaging of the cervix length, contributing to inaccurate diagnoses and preterm births globally. Our goal is to develop a model that accurately represents the female cervix and improve the current ultrasound gel. I was drawn to this project because of my interest in revolutionizing healthcare. My team spent much of last week researching and defining the problem. More about the project in subsequent blog posts…

Personal Reflections:

This experience has reinforced my belief that engineering is a powerful tool for changing the world and improving lives. Virtually every field benefits from the impact of engineering and design. I have no regrets choosing to study engineering. 🤩

I am excited about the opportunity to learn and work with a diverse team and the professional networking opportunities this internship offers. I also look forward to exploring fun places in Houston. By the end of this internship, I aim to have significantly improved my design thinking and research skills.

Thank you for following my journey. Stay tuned for more updates! 🥂