Display Board Plans

We started off this week in ISM by doing some team bonding exercises. The first was a drawing game, in which we took turns writing the name of a movie and drawing a picture for the name of another person's movie, and so on, and at the end we saw how close or far off we were from the original name. I was really shocked by just how difficult it can be to understand what another person is trying to convey through an image, which tied back nicely to the display boards we are currently planning out. Even though I know exactly what my pictures represent and why I chose to organize aspects of the board the way I did, others may not see things the same way. As a result, I have to make sure that the ideas in my display board are easily discernible and don't convey multiple meanings. The second team exercise was solving a riddle, which involved critical thinking and communication skills so I actually enjoyed it a lot more than the first. Because we had several assessments due on Friday, I spent the majority of this week writing my Research and Interview Assessments, and also planning out my display board. I struggled the most with just coming up with a basic layout and design for the display board, since I'm not very artsy but still want the board to be perfect. I have a general idea of what all I want to include on the board itself, but choosing colors, fonts, and images has been harder than I thought it would be. This next week, I want to write another Research Assessment, finalize my display board plan, and schedule my last few interviews with professionals so I can start thinking about choosing a mentor!

Moving Faster

At this point in ISM, things are starting to move much faster than they have been previously. Just this week alone, we had an Interview Assessment, Research Assessment, and Topic Proposal due, and I'm finally realizing just how valuable time management can be for this class. We were given a lot of time to work on our assignments in class, so I continued contacting more professionals and updated both my blog and portfolio to include all my latest research. Also, I had two more research interviews this week, and they went really well! The first was with an instructor at UT Southwestern and the second was with a professor at UT Dallas, and through these interviews, I was able to really focus my questions on the specific aspects of biomedical engineering that I'm interested in, which are prosthetics and tissue engineering. At UT Southwestern, I was given a tour of the labs and saw different components within the process of creating prosthetics and orthotics, and I was amazed by just how complex and multi-stepped this process actually is! There are so many types of foot attachments, which are chosen depending on the patient and his activity level/needs, and the tour opened my eyes to the working environment and tasks of a prosthetics engineer. At UT Dallas, I learned the importance of undergraduate research in helping narrow down your specific topic of interest within the broader field of biomedical engineering, so I'm definitely going to take part in this valuable experience as early as I possibly can! This upcoming week, I will write another Research Assessment and Interview Assessment and brainstorm possible ideas for my Original Work.

Research Interview #1

I had my first research interview with Professor Heather Hayenga, who teaches at the University of Texas at Dallas and specializes in cardiovascular imagery and research.

To read my analysis, click here.

Mechanical Engineering

Because I want to first get a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, I decided to focus my research on how the fields of biomedical and mechanical engineering overlap. This week, I read an article discussing the development of a device that will greatly reduce the risks involved with aortic valve replacement surgery by blocking debris from reaching the brain.

To read my analysis, click here.

Business Symposium

This week in ISM, we were preparing one another for Business Symposium through mock interviews and networking practice. I was both nervous and excited for Symposium, because I would finally get an opportunity to implement all that I had learned so far and interact with lots of other ISM students from different schools. During class, I researched current events within the field of biomedical engineering and practiced answering some tougher questions that I might be asked. Finally at the end of the week, it was the day of Business Symposium, and I felt ready to put my knowledge and progress within ISM to the test. As I talked to other kids and professionals during the networking session in the morning, I started to realize just how much I had learned already about my field of study. After the initial networking, we had our break-out sessions, and my group was scheduled to hear from the guest speaker, Jennifer M. Scott, about the importance of keywords first. I learned that keywords should be used mainly in the top 20% of a resume, like in a headline or summary, in order to set me apart from others and optimize the chances of a prospective employer hiring me. Next, we had two ISM alumni speakers come and talk to us about their overall experiences within the program, and finally we had three interviews with professionals. All three of my interviews went really well, and I felt confident and prepared for such a setting. I was given lots of advice about improving my resume and making the most of my college education by finding internships at engineering companies, and Business Symposium as a whole was definitely an eye-opening and invaluable experience. This upcoming week, I'm going on two more research interviews, and I will create a topic proposal highlighting my interest in biomedical engineering.

My First Interview

This week in ISM was particularly exciting for me because I went on my first Research Interview! At first, I didn't really know what to expect from the interview, and I was worried that the conversation would be awkward and filled with a lot of silence between questions. However, the professor that I had the interview with was actually super sweet and informative, and she answered my questions in-depth and elaborated whenever I didn't fully understand what she was saying. For example, as she talked about her research into cardiovascular health problems, I learned so much about how arteries can get blocked and how computer software built using experimental results can help determine the predicted future severity of the issue if surgery isn't performed. Also, the professor gave me some career-specific tips that will definitely benefit me later on, such as finding an internship at a medical device company as a college student if I'm interested at all in an industry job. Another tip was to do research in a lab as an undergraduate student, so that I become more accustomed to lab equipment and procedures that I could implement into my work in the future. Overall, I felt that my first Research Interview really opened my eyes to the incredible number of opportunities available for a biomedical engineer and allowed me to start building a solid foundation of knowledge for my chosen field of study this year. This next week, I want to complete another Research Assessment, write an Interview Assessment, and be completely prepared for Business Symposium, which is on October 9th!