PIONEER.GATECH.EDU
VOLUME IX | APR 2014 | ISSUE 6
PIONEER AFTER HOURS
Learn more about the hobbies of Marty Jacobsen.
THE COULTER DEPARTMENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF GEORGIA TECH AND EMORY
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
From the Editor in Chief PIONEER Greetings everyone,
FACULTY SPONSOR Barbara Fasse, Ph.D.
The spring semester is nearing its end. Students across campus are starting to sequester themselves to finish term projects or begin preparations for finals. Meanwhile, seniors are hanging in for their last month before graduation, with many still waiting to hear back from job and grad school applications while others are enjoying a well-earned repose after already receiving their acceptances. This issue of Pioneer focuses heavily on the industrial design side of biomedical engineering. We have an article on the BioID Master’s Program, which is about to complete its inaugural year, featuring an interview with director _______, and we have a spotlight on a current graduate student in the program, Christina Walinski., Marty Jacobson, one of the instructors for BMED 2300, gives us a look into what he does outside of class in this month’s After Hours, while Raja Schaar, the other BMED 2300 instructor, has written a Design Toolbox on empathy. In addition, we have an Industry Spotlight on Edwards Lifesciences, which had an open house in the Coulter Department just last month, an alumni spotlight on Nina Chheda, who graduated in December 2012, and an undergraduate spotlight on Harrison Bartlett, who will be graduating in a month. All in all, these have culminated in one of our best issues yet! For more regular updates on the happenings of the biotechnology community, feel free to like our Facebook page at facebook.com/gtpioneer, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/pioneergt and take a glance at more online content at thepioneer.gatech.edu. If you would like, you can reach us by e-mail at thepioneer@gatech.edu. Until next time, Jackson Hair Editor-in-Chief Pioneer
RECENT PUBLICATIONS……………………….………….…………..…………...…...…..... 3 AFTER HOURS.................................…….…………………..…….…….……….......….…... 4 Marty Jacobson
BIO ID PROGRAM...............................……...…………………..…….…….……….......…... 5 EVENTS AND DEADLINES.....……………………………..………………………...……...... 5 TOOLBOX..........….……...................……………..…….……...……….…….....………….... 6 INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT........………………..………………………..…..…...……….......... 7 Edwards Lifesciences
That’s So BME.....................………….…......…………...…………..……….………..…....... 7 BIOTECH REVIEW............……………………………………………..………....……….…... 8 HIV/AIDS
BME ANSWERS...............................................………………………...…….……………… 8 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT.............……..……………………………………...……..................... 9 Nina Chheda
GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT..................……….……………………………..…....................... 10 UNDERGRADUATE SPOTLIGHT..................……….…………………..…....................... 11 Harrison Bartlett
OPERATIONS SECRETARY TREASURER PUBLIC RELATIONS
Efficient Intracellular Delivery of Molecules with High Cell Viability Using Nanosecond-Pulsed Laser-Activated Carbon Nanoparticles. Sengupta A, Kelly SC, Dwivedi N, Thadhani N, Prausnitz MR.
Steven Touchton, Jr Fatiesa Sulejmani
WEBMASTERS Josh Diaddigo
Ali Abid Liam Carter-Condon Jimmy Nguyen Liangyu Tao
STAFF WRITERS Jonathan Austin
Asana Adams Shi (Amy) Hui Anirudh Joshi Nina Mohebbi Dhara Patel Valeriya Popova Abigail Riddle Hifza Sakhi Linda Tian Wells Yang Iva Zivojinovic Tanvi Rao Abhinaya Uthayakumar
Biological biomaterials structure, function, property design across the molecular-nanomicro-macro scales.
Joy Kim Kevin Bai Samridhi Banskota Sruti Bheri Candice Cheung Candace Law Alexandra Low Nikita Nagpal Wenjun Wu Yiran Zhao
PHOTOGRAPHERS David Van
Wanda Chen Tashfia (Tishi) Chowdhury Nate Conn Morgan Hinchey Haley Howard Paige McQuade Thomas Nguyen Tuan Nguyen Meghan Styles Hyunjun (Fred) Woo
Jain A, Betancur M, Patel GD, Valmikinathan CM, Mukhatyar VJ, Vakharia A, Pai SB, Brahma B,Macdonald TJ, Bellamkonda RV.
Interactive MRI Segmentation with Controlled Active Vision. JKarasev P, Kolesov I, Chudy K, Muller G, Xerogeanes J, Tannenbaum A.
Liu Y, Zhu Y, Li J, Shin HD, Chen RR, Du G, Liu L, Chen J.
Priority queuing models for hospital intensive care units and impacts to severe case patients. Hagen MS, Jopling JK, Buchman TG, Lee EK
Designing and Testing the Activities of TAL Effector Nucleases. Differential mechanical response and microstructural organization between non-human primate femoral and carotid arteries.
Wang R, Raykin J, Li H, Gleason RL Jr, Brewster LP.
Lin Y, Cradick TJ, Bao G.
High-throughput cellular screening of engineered nuclease activity using the single-strand annealing assay and luciferase reporter. Cradick TJ, Antico CJ, Bao G.
Identification of Off-Target Cleavage Sites of Zinc Finger Nucleases and TAL Effector Nucleases Using Predictive Models.
Controlled release of an anti-cancer drug from DNA structured nano-films. Cho Y, Lee JB, Hong J.
Mesenchymal morphogenesis of embryonic stem cells dynamically modulates the biophysical microtissue niche. Kinney MA, Saeed R, McDevitt TC.
Targeting Extracellular DNA to Deliver IGF-1 to the Injured Heart. Khan RS, Martinez MD, Sy JC, Pendergrass KD, Che PL, Brown ME, Cabigas EB, Dasari M, Murthy N, Davis ME.
Fine EJ, Cradick TJ, Bao G.
Manipulating the microvasculature and its microenvironment.
Krishnan L, Chang CC, Nunes SS, Williams SK, Weiss JA, Hoying JB.
Self-assembling Peptide-based delivery of therapeutics for myocardial infarction. Boopathy AV, Davis ME.
In Vivo Bioluminescent Tracking of Mesenchymal Stem Cells within Large Hydrogel Constructs.
Allen A, Gazit Z, Su S, Stevens H, Guldberg R.
Sameer Mishra
Courtney Lucas Ferencik Paul Fincannon Sally Gerrish Martin Jacobson Jennifer Kimble Megan McDevitt Colleen Mitchell Adrianne Proeller Raja Schaar Shannon Sullivan
Guiding intracortical brain tumour cells to an extracortical cytotoxic hydrogel using aligned polymeric nanofibres.
Liu YY, Ishikawa H, Chen M, Wollstein G, Schumnan JS, Rehg JM.
Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Hemodynamics in Plaque Erosion.
SPONSORSHIP Shanzeh Farooqui COLLABORATORS Karen Adams
Jiang X, Zhu D, Li K, Zhang T, Shen D, Guo L, Liu T.
Barker TH, Heilshorn SC.
EDITORS Catherine Chou
Nader Abdullahi Andrew Akers Julie Chow Hardika Dhir Amanda Klinker Meera Nathan Kristen Weirich Melanie Yoshimura
Predictive models of resting state networks for assessment of altered functional connectivity in MCI. Longitudinal modeling of glaucoma progression using 2-dimensional continuous-time hidden Markov model.
Hee Su Lee Tino Zhang
LAYOUT EDITORS Marisa Casola
INSIDE PIONEER
Christina Walinski
Established 2007
EDITOR IN CHIEF Jackson Hair
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Geometric Characterization of Patient-Specific Total Cavopulmonary Connections and Its Relationship to Hemodynamics.
Tang E, Restrepo M, Haggerty CM, Mirabella L, Bethel J, Whitehead KK, Fogel MA, Yoganathan AP.
The Spirodela polyrhiza genome reveals insights into its neotenous reduction fast growth and aquatic lifestyle. Wang W, Haberer G, Gundlach H, Gläßer C, Nussbaumer T, Luo MC, Lomsadze A, Borodovsky M, Kerstetter RA, Shanklin J, Byrant DW, Mockler TC, Appenroth KJ, Grimwood J, Jenkins J, Chow J, Choi C, Adam C, Cao XH, Fuchs J, Schubert I, Rokhsar D, Schmutz J, Michael TP, Mayer KF, Messing J.
Microneedle patches: Usability and acceptability for self-vaccination against influenza. Norman JJ, Arya JM, McClain MA, Frew PM, Meltzer MI, PrausnitzMR.
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5 AFTER HOURS
BIO ID
INSTRUMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
MASTER’S PROGRAM
By Marty Jacobson Instructor in the Coulter Department
By Tanvi Rao Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
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y favorite part of teaching BMED 2300 and instructing students in the BME Machine Shop is watching students take vague ideas and objectives and turn them into a tangible, testable, usable things. I know how hard it is to do that, yet how addictively empowering it can be. What I learned after graduating and having designed dozens of consumer products, user environments and architectural spaces, is that there is no secret to originality. If one is not coming up with innovative solutions, one simply does not understand the problems or the material properties well enough. Most ideas are not valuable on their own. The challenge, and the power, is in the application of an idea. If you ever get stuck, go back to the user and the problem. Good design comes from knowing the constraints. In fact, this is the process we teach in BMED 2300 – it is not complicated, yet, its simplicity may be why it can often be intimidating. How do you know when you have a good idea? How do you know when the project is done? How long is the process going to take? How do you convince clients that at the end of this process, you will provide them with something of value to their
Top: Marty Jacobson aligning his materials. (Photo: David Van) Bottom: A ________ that Marty has been creating. (Photo: David Van)
business? Quite frankly, you don’t know any of these things. To succeed, not only do you just have to be committed to understanding the problem diligent in finding an elegant solution to the problem identified. I built my first musical instruments in high school after a friend told me that it wasn’t all that hard. I realized that he was wrong after I tried it, but I was still able to make better instruments than I could afford to purchase. Unfortunately, I was spending 200 to 400 hours working on a single instrument. I knew that there was no way I could make money spending that kind of time, especially when the instruments were sometimes spectacular failures. As such, I stopped building instruments and began working full-time. I also took on multiple simultaneous, freelance jobs as a designer, project manager, marketing consultant, and commercial photographer. Through these, I learned a lot about business and manufacturing, but I was always disappointed to be cut out of the loop right at the most exciting part – making the idea real. After I started working at Georgia Tech, I applied the same design process currently taught in 2300 to make my own instruments again. My goal was to produce high-quality, small-shop instruments here in the United States at a better price, superior quality, and greater level of customization than the high end, mass-produced imported instruments. Specifically, I set a goal to build mandolins efficiently. My idea was simple and great – or maybe it was really simple and dumb; I spent two years designing and building thirteen different machines before finding a way that I could work with the idea, but now that I have the process, I have a competitive edge. It is a proprietary method that looks great and works great, in addition to reducing the product from several dozen components to nine pieces, which is always a good thing in manufacturing. All in all, I now have another method, which is more efficient and will allow more flexibility in my product line. Still, I never would have gotten here if I had not pushed through the process of developing the application of the simple idea.
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tudents at the Georgia Institute of Technology often have their heads buried so deeply in their textbooks that figuring out what they want to do after college remains an afterthought until graduation creeps up. What next – graduate school, job hunt, or a gap year? Does one even feel prepared to take on this new animal that is the “real world”? Fortunately, there is now an additional option: the BioID program, a new and unique master’s program in Biomedical Innovation & Develoment. Suitable for those with a passion for product development, it can provide the extra expertise and experiences needed for graduates to land their dream jobs. The BioID program is a one-year professional master’s program in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory that trains students for a wide variety of careers in the medical device industries. For example, students are taught, trained, and provided hands-on, real world experiences in controls regulatory submissions, QSR, stage gate processes, manufacturing validations, etc. This program is special because its graduates are exceptionally well prepared to pursue and advance their careers in the dynamic field of biomedical engineering devices and technology. Dr. Sathyamurthy Gourisankar, the director of the BioID program, speaks to its merits: “The new Georgia Tech BioID specifically addresses a gap in current professional biomedical education: the crucial “bench-tobedside” progression that transforms biomedical research into practical, usable techniques and products for improving patient care.” Students have the opportunity to take particular hands-on experiences that bolster their abilities. Topics range from working on the financial planning for projects, product planning and project management, to establishing knowledge of the regulatory processes for medical devices to developing professional communications, and to working on two master’s projects. These master’s projects provide BioID graduate student teams with opportunities to work with healthcare professionals and companies on the creation and development of innovative products to address unmet needs
EVENTS AND DEADLINES
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for patient care. Ultimately, as Goursankar says, “Our goal in this program is to provide graduates with as wide and comprehensive exposure to the state of the art product development processes and practices of life cycle medical development as possible.” With its great potential, the BioID master’s program is definitely an option students approaching graduation should consider!
The BioID program allows for hands-on experience. Here Dr. Gourisankar stands in front of ___________. (Photo: Haley Howard)
MARCH
4 ImmunoEngineering Seminar Series Jardin Leleux and Molly Ogle 9:30 AM — Petit Room 1128
22 Integrated Cancer Research Center Seminar Series Dr. John McDonald 4 PM — Petit Room 1128
8 Breakfast Club Seminar Series Dr. King Jordan 8:30 AM — Petit Room 1128
24 Capstone Design Expo 4:30 PM — McCamish Pavilion
15 BioEngineering Seminar Dr. Daniel Tschumperlin 11 AM — Petit Room1128
29 Joint ImmunoEngineering and Chemical Biology Seminar Dr. Oreste Acuto 11 AM — Petit Room 1128
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TOOLBOX
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
EMPATHY FOR ENGINEERS
LIFE IN THE INDUSTRY
By Raja Schaar Instructor in the Coulter Department
ccording to a recent study from Rice University that investigated four U.S colleges, engineering students are less likely to value human welfare after four years of a traditional engineering education. There is a prevalent “culture of disengagement” that devalues non-technical parameters as meaningless in the problemsolving process. However, when thinking specifically in the biomedical engineering context, BMEs are trying to solve problems that are rooted in human welfare. Ultimately, the goal of biomedical engineering is to improve lives through innovative products and services for the diagnosing, treatment, and monitoring of disease and injury. One of the key drivers of innovation is effective problem identification. One can begin identifying problems through a review of research and statistics. However, to dig deeper and truly evaluate which problems are most valuable, or which problems are worth our efforts, one needs to understand the context in which the problem is based and the people impacted by it, caregivers and patients alike: people with complex backgrounds, motivations, fears, economic situations, education levels, and physical conditions. This wide range of contextual parameters makes identifying underlying problems and designing for various stakeholders all the more complex. In order to approach this colossal task, BMEs need insight into the complexities that shape everyday experiences. Beyond insight, one needs empathy. “Every one of us understands empathy on an individual level: the ability to reach outside of ourselves and walk in someone else’s shoes, to get where they’re coming from, to feel what they feel.”
Empathy breeds proper judgment…We all feel differently about a lot of things. Empathy gives you an inside view. It doesn’t say ‘If that was me...’. Empathy says, ‘That is me.’ –Ray Jasper With empathy, one has a better understanding of the problem and can use this very insight in pursuit of an ideal solution. For instance, Atlanta-based physician and pain-researcher Dr. Amy Baxter took inspiration from her son’s fearful reaction to needles when she took him in for routine vaccinations, a situation repeated in doctors’ offices, hospitals and clinics throughout the world. Her ability to empathize with her son and her knowledge and experience as a pain researcher lead her to develop Buzzy4Shots—a personal pain device based on gate control—and a multi-million dollar company committed to pain management. So, how does one learn empathy at an engineering school? Students spend the majority of days in classrooms, labs, and meetings. These are environments are hardly acceptable for understanding the human condition unless one only designs for problems that plague college students between the age of 18 and 25. Here, a great deal of emphasis is also placed on research, which in many cases means a quick scroll through Wikipedia. Again, this strategy is a less-than-adequate means to authentically understand someone else’s experiences. Instead, there are some strategies that students can use to gain empathy, including three specific methods with varying levels of
The second method to gaining empathy is to observe and to record. For designers, this approach is most common. The D. School at Stanford has long touted the efficacy of observation methods in human centered design. Careful observation reveals habits and contextual specifics left uncovered in an interview. Leonard and Rayport highlight this method when identifying the five key steps in empathic design as observation, capturing data, reflection and analysis, brainstorming for solutions, and developing prototype of possible solutions.
Regardless of whichever method one employs for understanding people at any stage of the design process—identifying problems, developing, or testing solutions—it will help lead to more innovative products and services for the people for whom BMEs design. http://news.rice.edu/2013/11/20/engineering-education-may-diminish-concern-forpublic-welfare-issues-sociologist-says/ http://designmind.frogdesign.com/articles/the-substance-of-things-not-seen/ innovation-starts-with-empathy.html Innovation Starts with Empathy The importance of developing deep connections with the people you serve. By Dev Patnaik, Founder and Principal, Jump Associates h t t p : / / g a w k e r. c o m / a - l e t t e r - f r o m - r a y - j a s p e r - w h o - i s - a b o u t - t o - b e executed-1536073598 Leonard, D. and Rayport, J.F., “Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design”, Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec 1997
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By Anirudh Josh Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
engagement. The first, or least intimate, is to collect data through interviews, surveys, and focus groups. The advantage to this method is that one can often get a large pool of participants and gain a general understanding quickly. However, one of the key drawbacks to this methodology is that people often self-censor when providing information. Respondents rarely tell an entire picture and often want to paint themselves in a better light. So while one may better understand stakeholders through surveys, one is not necessarily equipped enough to empathize fully.
The third and most comprehensive method for becoming empathetic is to walk in the shoes of the people for whom one is designing, in addition to conducting research, interviews, and observations. For example, one can gain empathy through role-play, clinical experiences, or first-hand involvement. When coupled with research and observation, these more authentic experiences—even from a novice perspective—can lead to particularly fresh perspectives on problems and solutions. While time-intensive, this type of immersive field research has invaluable gains.
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CAPTION (Photo: Haley Howard)
nteresting fact: the last three Editors-in-Chiefs of Pioneer have all been employed by the same company: Edwards Lifesciences. It would therefore be reasonable to say there is a significant presence of Georgia Institute of Technology graduates represented at the company. In fact, Edwards recently had an open house at Georgia Tech where four currently employed alumni – Willa Ni, Rachael Cornelius, Rono Srimani and Alex Cooper – spoke to students about the company and their respective roles in it. In addition to
THAT’S SO BME...
speaking, they also showed attendees the transcatheter heart valve, for which Edwards is a market leader. Ni and Srimani were actually part of the valve’s manufacturing team, while Cornelius worked as a quality engineer. As such, they were able to explain how the product was mass produced and tested after the design stage. Once that initial session was over, the floor was opened up to questions; unsurprisingly, one that arose was with regards to what a typical workday is like. Cooper, who is an R&D engineer, responded by saying that he typically spends time redesigning and retesting a part of the product until he achieves success. Interestingly enough, Cooper also mentioned that the R&D division of Edwards is kept separate from the rest of the company, with the hopes that this setup fosters an entrepreneurial, startup environment beneficial to the growth of new ideas. Combined with the resources and stability of a large company such as Edwards, this concept is definitely flourishing! Meanwhile, as manufacturing engineers, Ni and Srimani spend their time figuring out faster ways to manufacture the product. As part of the job, they also have to be involved during the design stage to make sure that the design coming out of R&D could be made efficiently. Specifically, Cornelius’ days are spent ensuring that final products meet the thresholds and purposes for which they were designed and designing tests accurately evaluating a product’s performance. All in all, the open house was very informative and gave students great insight into Edwards’ culture and products. Moving forward, Edwards will hopefully remain a familiar name in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and continue to give Georgia Tech students the chance to become experienced engineers.
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8 BIOTECH
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
SEARCHING FOR A CURE
BME ALUMS DO IT ALL
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By Nina Mohebbi Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
arch 5th, 2014 felt like an ordinary Wednesday to most Tech students, but that day would present the world with not one but two incredible publications that could be pivotal in the prevention and treatment of HIV. Last year, at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta, the first infant to seemingly recover from HIV was described to an audience skeptical of whether the child had actually been infected. The child is now more than 3 years old and still HIV free. Just recently, a second baby was announced, at the same annual conference, to have been cured of the disease, leaving little doubt that the treatment works. Researchers proved there were initially virus DNA and RNA in the baby’s blood, which began to disappear six days after birth. Within 11 days, the virus was undetectable, and the most sensitive blood tests have found no replicating virus in the baby ever since its disappearance. Four hours after birth, the child was diagnosed as HIV positive and was immediately started on 3 drugs: AZT, 3TC, and nevirapine in high dosages. Due to positive test results, a clinical trial is set to begin soon to test the effect of drugs administered within 48 hours on 60 babies infected with AIDS. This discovery does not only affect the treatment of children born with AIDS, but also serves as evidence that the disease is curable if treatment is administered early. However, this impressive discovery may have overshadowed another publication concerning the prevention of spreading AIDS.
BME ANSWERS
A more technically-oriented publication documented the creation of a 5.5 cm intravaginal ring (IVR) by Northwestern University biomedical engineer and professor Patrick Kiser. The ring contains levonorgesterel, a progestin hormone, as well as tenofovir, an anti-retroviral drug. Combining these drugs was no simple feat. The two drugs are very different, not only in purpose but also in properties. The fact that tenofovir is water soluble while levonorgestrel is water-insoluble, for example, posed a problem for engineers. To tackle this problem, the team decided to create two reservoirs made of different polymers, with space in between to prevent mixing. This design also ensures that tenofovir is diffused at the proper dose, which is much higher than that required of levonorgestrel.. Previously, the only method that could be used to protect a woman from an unwanted pregnancy and contracting HIV was condoms. However, now, a woman could potentially use this new intravaginal ring, which has been under development for five years. The team hopes to finalize the investigational drug application with the FDA before proceeding to prepare for clinical trials. All in all, with these two publications, the course of HIV and AIDS research will hopefully change, making HIV more curable and preventable to global citizens.
By ALPHA ETA MU BETA - The BME Secret Society
1. What are some good places to get a quick bite to eat near the Whitaker Building? There are several places to get some good food and drink in and around the Biotech Quad. The first that you should know of by now is the Le Petit Café in the lobby of the Parker H. Petit Biotechnology Building. While sometimes known as the place for Coffee Snobs, it remains the closest to the biomedical engineering building. In addition to serving coffee, sandwiches, and soups much like any other café, Le Petit Café often has daily specials available, such as tacos, salads or wraps that are worth trying. For instance, I personally enjoy the smoothies there! Moving away from the Petit building and across the quad stands the Lab Café and the Colony Bistro. The Lab Café is mainly a coffee shop with some small items that are similar to what one can get at a Starbucks. On the other hand, the Colony Bistro is more of a sit-down place with a little more variety as far as food goes. A short trek away is Java World in the College of Computing which has a good selection of coffee, bagels, cookies, and sandwiches. If all of this is still not fast enough, vending machines are located near the rear of the Petit building, on the first floor of the Ford Building, and on the upper floors of the Whitaker building. 2. How do you go about finding an internship or summer program this late into the semester? GT students’ number one resource should be Paul Fincannon and Sally Gerrish. Pay attention to all of the emails that they send out to the student body, as they will often send out information on internships or research programs that are still looking for applicants. Upon receiving these emails, respond to them as soon as possible as to avoid missing an opportunity. The academic office also has a great relationship with biomedical engineering alumni currently in the work force. If one is getting into the hunt late, then one may really need some help from such a network. However, keep an eye open for opportunities on Career Buzz as well, and begin searching for programs online. Talk to friends and classmates to find out about some of their experiences. Put simply, ask around. One has a better chance of successfully getting an internship or summer program through expanding one’s network.`
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By Dhara Patel Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
ina Chheda is the kind of person who does it all – one who inspires one to do even more because of just how much she has done. Even while going through the rigorous Biomedical Engineering curriculum at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Chheda managed to be an active member of the India Club, of the American Medical Student Association, and of Alpha Chi Sigma, the president of United Indian Student Alliance, the founder of the fusion dance team Jazba, and much more. All of these extracurricular activities did not, however, deter her from her schoolwork. Chheda is definitely self-disciplined, always making sure she is on top of everything she is doing. Chheda initially chose BME for the same reason as many who enter the field: she had always been passionate about the medical field. She decided to come to Georgia Tech and study BME, rather than another school that perhaps would have been more suited to pre-med, primarily because Georgia Tech would allow her to broaden her horizons beyond medical school and into the industry where she is now. Chheda’s sense of pride for not only the BME program but also Georgia Tech is apparent. When asked how Georgia Tech impacted her, she replied, “GT’s the best! And everybody knows it.” That does not mean, however, that she thinks everything in the BME field is perfect; though dedicated, she agrees that there are both pros and cons to the discipline. When asked what her favorite thing about the field was, Chheda cited a reason that a lot of other BME students do as well: its breadth. To her, the number of applications her degree has, whether in marketing, sales, consulting, higher education, or something else, is a huge advantage, as it allows for a solid academic and professional backbone. More specifically, at Georgia Tech Chheda enjoyed how innovative the faculty and staff are in their educational methods. Dr. Monica Halka especially stood out in her mind because of Halka’s ability to think creatively and push her students. Chheda also appreciated how everything from the Capstone Design projects to the research internships is designed with the future goals of real-world experience and applications. To this day, she recalls the admiration on her client’s face when she presented her capstone project.
Chheda did feel that she would have benefited from a little more depth in her education, but overall she feels that Georgia Tech’s curriculum is highly successful, as evidenced by what she has done after graduation. After graduating in December 2012, Nina Chheda quickly went on to find a job that she was really interested in while at Alpha Omega, in the Neuroscience Technology department, and is now transitioning to Boston Scientific’s Cardiac Rhythm Management department. She explains, “Thanks to my degree, Boston Scientific didn’t feel the need to test my aptitude. They were just checking for attitude after seeing GT.” Nina Chheda’s triumphs remind all current students of what amazing opportunities lie ahead after classes and stress at Georgia Tech.
CAPTION (Photo: Wanda Chen)
BME ANSWERS CONTINUED... 3. What are some good guidelines to follow when sending emails to professors? Honestly, some people have different expectations with email than others do. This difference occurs in academia and in industry, but there a few good general guidelines to follow. If the person to be emailed has previously stated that they prefer that you follow certain email etiquette, then make sure to do it exactly as specified, or else a response may never arrive. If there are no guidelines, keep in mind to at least be respectful and courteous. Most often, the three main areas where people may make a careless error are in the subject line, the greeting, and the signature or farewell. Be sure to choose a descriptive and concise subject that can give the receiver a quick idea of what the body of the email will be about. This is especially helpful for scenarios in which the receiver needs to go back and find your email again. Meanwhile, for the greeting, it is better to play it safe and be courteous in the first email, such as by using “dear”, and then adapt depending on the response. Although this can be rather inappropriate at times, it is a relatively safe fallback to use. “Hey”, “Hi”, or simply stating the receiver’s name could potentially be offensive and could be viewed as being too formal and thus inconsiderate. Depending on how the intended receiver responds, change future emails to mirror their style of email etiquette. This same tactic also applies to the brevity of your email. Some people prefer very short, blunt emails, while, confusingly, others take a little offense if you are too terse. Finally, for signatures, make sure to finish with something simple like “thanks” or “best” although simply putting a name at the end followed by a title is also acceptable if the body of the email was relatively amiable as well.
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GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT
UNDERGRADUATE SPOTLIGHT
THE PERFECT FIT
TIME TO SHINE
By Valeriya Popova Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
eing constantly surrounded by engineers in what many have called “the Tech bubble” sometimes takes a toll on both outlook and thinking patterns. Fortunately, Christina Walinski, a student in the brand new Georgia Tech Master of Biomedical Innovation and Development (BioID) program, is open-minded to learning and innovation. The one-year, intensive graduate program gives students the opportunity to master the product development pipeline through projects that turn an idea into a commercially viable medical device. To Walinski, that focus on industry means the chance to work in highly-collaborative cross-functional groups, an environment she has always admired. As an undergraduate in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, Walinski had always been drawn to teamwork, especially when that meant interacting with other majors. She was part of the DaVinci Program, a certification program centered on product design and facing the challenges of working in the modern world as part of a diverse team. The teams typically consisted of two engineering, two arts and two business students, and Walinski recalls that she and her fellow engineers often fought with the art students over the plausibility of their more visionary ideas. Everything from acetaminophen dosing to soup cans was subject to debate. The certificate in Product Innovation she received as
Fourth-year Harrison Barlett has excelled during his time at Georgia Tech and no doubt has a bright future ahead of him. (Photo: Nate Conn)
By Abhinaya Uthayakumar Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
“I like taking things from different backgrounds, I think it teaches you a lot.”
a result of the program was an early indicator of the enthusiasm she now shares for medical device design. The BioID program, Walinski soon discovered, was a perfect fit. She loved the quintessential Georgia Tech campus culture and focus on engineering, and the large space, down to its very own machine shop, which was still being designed at the time of her visit and dedicated only to this program. Add to those the focus of the program on releasing graduates to industry and the enthusiasm of the program director, and Walinski was sold. Currently in her second semester here, Walinski and her group are starting to work on their final project: a diagnostic monitor that will be placed under a total contact cast covering a diabetic foot ulcer. Due to the nature of the bodies of diabetic patients, wounds are difficult to heal and the people under care often experience neuropathy, meaning they do not feel the ulcer and can gradually make it worse. Although a total contact cast is the gold standard for healing diabetic foot ulcers, doctors rarely use them because the wound becomes inaccessible while the cast is on. A monitor that indicates the health state of the ulcer would provide the doctors with knowledge they need without them having to take off the cast. As such, Walinski hopes that her group can use bioimpedance, the measure of response to an electric current, to differentiate healthy wounds from infected ones. In fact, they are currently on the process of filing an Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol to observe diabetic ulcers. Retaining her interest in multidisciplinary classes, Walinski is also enrolled in two widely different electives this spring: an industrial design course on human centered design and a mechanical engineering course on the principles behind computer aided design (CAD). Upon graduation, she wants to work for a small company, because she says it would teach her more by allowing her to be involved in multiple steps of the design process. The intersection of research and development, quality and marketing is precisely the reason Walinski chose the BioID program. “I like taking things from different backgrounds, I think it teaches you a lot,” she states, and that is definitely a lesson worth learning.
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Fourth-year Harrison Barlett has excelled during his time at Georgia Tech and no doubt has a bright future ahead of him. (Photo: Morgan Hinchey)
wenty-two year old Mr. Georgia Tech runnerup, Harrison Bartlett, is just a few months away from obtaining his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering with a certificate in research. He has always had a passion for math and science and used to build all sorts of homecoming floats and mechanical mechanisms in high school. As such, Bartlett knew he wanted to be an engineer but was not sure of what kind. In the end, he chose biomedical engineering out of a desire to make a large impact in a small number of people’s lives. This passion, along with Bartlett’s love for classes such as BMED 1300, BMED 3400 (Biomechanics) and BMED 3100 (Systems Physiology), made him stick with this major throughout his college education. Despite the difficulty of these courses, he loved the topics they covered and has remained dedicated as ever to the cool applications of BME in the real world. Aside from biomedical engineering classes, Bartlett has also been very involved in research here at Georgia Tech. He has worked in the Neuromechanics lab under Professor Lena Ting since the first semester of his sophomore year, when he received a position in the lab after reading a few papers that the lab had published and reviewing Dr. Ting’s website.
His first project in Dr. Ting’s Lab was with regards to the Wii Balance Board. The goal was to determine how accurate the device is, with the hopes that it can replace force plates, used in a clinical setting, which can cost upwards of twenty thousand dollars. Bartlett worked for a long time on this project with his graduate student mentor, Jeff Bingham, allowing him to present a research poster at two conferences, an oral presentation at a conference, and publish a journal article as first author. Overall, Bartlett had a wonderful experience doing it all: planning the experiment, running the tests, analyzing the data, generating useful results, and presenting the results in a way that reached other scientists and engineers. Meanwhile, Bartlett’s second major project in the lab looked at using mathematical modeling to compare the stability of animals with different shapes, sizes, and neural delays. Specifically, he used a model of balance to compare the stabilities of horses and dogs. This work was done under PURA funding, then presented at the 2013 UROP spring symposium. Now, Bartlett continues to volunteer in the lab, helping when needed and working on his own individual venture. Over his time in research, Bartlett has taken on a wide range of other interesting projects. He has
built devices to facilitate experiments like a dance floor and a wire-tethering system for the lab. Moreover, he has also carried out some modeling and controls work, creating models of balance control by implementing various controllers on a double link pendulum in multiple different programming languages. Bartlett has proven as well that life as a BME student at Georgia Tech can extend beyond the lab and classroom. Not only is he involved in research, he has also been a part of many other organizations: Delta Chi Fraternity (current president), BMES (former Vice president), Sympathetic Vibrations (a capella group), Biomedical Engineering Mentor Program (mentor), Maker’s Club, Biomedical Research Opportunities Society, Engineering World Health, Prosthetics & Orthotics Component Clearinghouse, and GT Neuro. Ultimately, all this campus involvement led to his nomination as Mr. Georgia Tech. Bartlett was actually nominated for this position by the ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta. He was truly honored and went through the application process, which entailed GPA, involvements, interviews, presentations, and voting. At one point in the selection process, Bartlett had to give a presentation on what Georgia Tech should do with one million dollars. His idea? To construct a Georgia Tech history and science museum. Luckily, along with this selective process for Mr. Georgia Tech came the fun of homecoming. Bartlett enjoyed the festivities associated with the competition, such as meeting the other nominees and listening to their ideas. When asked what he would like to experience again at Tech, Bartlett said that he actually has a lot of events in mind: participating in a professional eating contest, building his own ukulele, and beating Clemson at homecoming then storming the field, for starters. However, if he had to choose just one, Bartlett would love to have the time to rejoin SympVibes, for whom he sang bass in freshman year but unfortunately became too busy to stay involved despite the fun he had had. On top of all this research, academic achievements, and organizational involvement, Harrison found time to work abroad last summer in Brussels, Belgium. As the sole intern at Space Applications Services, working on the mechanical design of an upper-limb robotic exoskeleton for stroke rehabilitation, he was able to make friends with international students living with him. Bartlett then traveled across Europe with friends and had a great time visiting various countries and staying in hostels – truly a dream job in a dream continent, all in one summer. With all these successes supporting him, Bartlett hopes to go to graduate school to pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. The Pioneer team wishes him all the best for all his future endeavors.