Spring: After returning from my co-op, I continued working with the Phelps lab and joined Dream Team's Cardiac Data Device team. I also want to highlight work from two core BME courses: Instrumentation and Junior Design.
Summer: I joined Cook Medical as a Research and Development Engineering Intern in their MedSurg Endoscopy department.
Fall: I participated in the Integrated Product and Process Design program in place of traditional BME senior design courses. I also became a Learning Assistant for Biomedical Instrumentation Laboratory. Finally, I began working with the UF Industrial Training and Assessment Center to audit industrial plants' energy usage.
This team's goal is to design a wearable Photoplethysmography (PPG) that measures changes in blood volume. I designed the outer casing for our circuit and battery, complete with removable lids so we can access the PCB while we continue prototyping. The next steps are turning this into a braclet.
Through this class, I gained confidence in circuits, specifically op-amps, sensors, and timers. Our capstone project was creating an EKG to measure our heartbeat.
Our first design challenge was to create something to stabilize the tongue during brachythreapy in patients with tongue and mouth caner that could also protect surgeons' hands from upward protruding needles. My team of 3 other students designed an adjustable tongue clamp that functions like a jack, complete with finger rests and walls to protect physician fingers.
Our second challenge was to address repetitive head injuries in contact sports. My new team of 2 other students and I designed a headband with a biomarker patch that could quantitatively determine if an athlete experienced a concussion (not pictured). This was a great experience in literature reviews and taking input from a device's user base, as athletes were unwilling to use a product that interfered with game performance.
I also modeled a cast saw as part of an individual CAD project.
I continued to work in the Phelps lab, but I shifted gears to focus on Matlab signal processing. I worked with calcium oscillation recordings in ImageJ before analyzing them in Matlab and Excel. I further refined my coding skills, and I also learned how to run a Western Blot. Finally, I modeled and printed 14 new drying rack pegs for a new animal room inside the lab.
During my 3 months in Winston-Salem as an endoscopy R&D intern, I worked on both the design and process sides of new product development. Some highlights from this experience was gaining exposure to design for manufacturing (DFM), production line setups, and tooling creation. Over the summer, I created 2 new inline tools for a hemostasis device, one of which decreased nonconformances by 80%. I also performed root causing and implemented solutions for CAPA-related issues. On the design side, I used ImageJ and Keyence imaging systems to locate component nonconformances and led benchtop testing to evaluate the efficacy of proposed device components. I helped our team achieve design freeze and prepare for Validation and Verification testing. While I can't share too much, I can include an image of a bevel gear I printed as part of the R&D intern program.
For IPPD, I am designing a powered adaptive tricycle for boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Alongside 5 other students, we are adding a motor-assisted hand crank to allow non-ambulatory kids to exercise safely. I am currently leading the design of our handlebars, focusing on cycling ergonomics. Here's the link to our blog where we post weekly updates! https://www.ippd.ufl.edu/blogs/ay2526team22/blog-posts/
System Level Design Review presentation
Prototyping at the IPPD lab
Preliminary Design Review presentation
Brainstorming with the mechanical subteam
In the fall 2025 semester, I will function as an undergraduate Learning Assistant for Instrumentation Lab where I will help current students navigate the challenging class in collaboration with the teaching team.
I joined the UF branch of ITAC where I travel to manufacturing sites and provide them with recommendations to reduce energy consumption and improve safety. In 2025, I attended 1 audit and wrote 1 recommendation, but I plan to do a lot more in 2026.
I recently acquired a used 3D printer. I am exciting to learn slicing and begin making my own CAD designs a reality!