This internship has just made my dream come true (engineering is like blood in my veins). For sure, I know this program will contribute a lot to me and my fellow students as well as Malawi as a country in the field of engineering.
Currently, I am working with Rice University on biomedical engineering projects together with Rice University students here in Malawi, for QECH. So far we have done a lot and I like them.
FIRST WEEK
During the first week of this program, it was all about welcoming our friends from Rice University and giving them a campus tour. It was a great week to me because I knew that my journey of success in my life had started.We also came up with list of projects to be done during this program and we brainstormed as a group to choose which project we should start with. After brainstorming, we choose a phototherapy dosing meter as our first project. Then, we went shopping for materials which we might need in our projects.
SECOND WEEK
When the second week began, we started our first project. Our first project is a phototherapy dosing meter. On this project, we were improving the existing analog phototherapy dosing meter which is used at QECH to a digital phototherepy dosing meter.
Firstly, as a group we came up with the electronic circuit drawing for our project. Then we tried to build the circuit with the help of Practical Electronics for Inventors, by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk.
Secondly, we made a program to be downloaded to the Arduino for our intended purpose. We were using c-programming language.
Thirdly, we assembled the whole circuit to see if the device was working. Then we had come up with a digital phototherepy dosing meter at last.
THIRD WEEK
During this week what we have done so far is brainstorm on the casing design for our device. After choosing the best design with ergonomic features, we built the casing. We went to the QECH to come up with other projects at their physical asset management department (PAM). These are the projects we gathered at PAM to work on: oxygen concentrators, suction pump, incubator and others.
I am very happy for this opportunity, I hope and believe that we can change the world of impossibilities if together we share ideas.