Week Six opened up the doors to our final phase of the summer- our internships at Boston Scientific! I couldn’t be more excited to begin gaining industry experience, but at the same time I had so many unanswered questions leading up in anticipation! I didn’t really know what to expect- such as what my role would be, what the work environment would be like, and if I would even be able to communicate well with my level of Spanish.
All official with my ID card!
Day 1 with the GMI team
Luckily, this first week answered all of these mystifying questions. As I mentioned last week, my department is Process Development and I am working on urethral stents. Process Development is essentially the bridge between R&D and manufacturing or the marriage of design ideas and manufacturing specifications, while executing improvements or adjustments. My supervisor is JA and his position in Process Development delves into the exploratory phase (new ideas) and he contributes as a resource among several projects. I am looking forward to working with him and his team as everyone so far has been very eager to go above and beyond to help us in making sure we have all the tools and resources we need. And in response to my question concerning language- everyone in my department speaks English almost perfectly, making it difficult for me to try and practice my Spanish!
Boston Scientific Urethral Stent
The most important part of this week was completing typical trainings, understanding my project, and forming my goals for the next 6 weeks. These goals would include hard skills (project deliverables) and soft skills (personal growth). One of my deliverables prior to beginning my project is taking an R&D’s designs and converting them into build plans, which would include what materials are needed and the next steps required. My main project is related to optimizing a new prototype idea for materials of urethral stents over the course of the next 5 weeks. I am ready to take on this challenge given my background in biomaterials during my undergraduate research- I just needed to wrap my mind around how to transform its applicability to medical devices.
To end this intensive week with a bang, the GMI team took on some nature and urban exploring this weekend! On Saturday we discovered an area called Bajos del Toro, situated just next to Poas Volcano and offered a playground full of beautiful waterfalls and muddy trails. We cherished the lack of crowds here as it allowed us to fully appreciate the magnificence surrounding us (so maybe try not to tell too many people or post a blog about this little secret…). The next day we made our way to downtown San Jose to attend the Festival of International Arts (FIA). This festival unites artists internationally and nationally to perform or display a wide variety of art forms over the span of a week.
Unbelievably blue waters at Bajo del Toro
Another waterfall in Bajos del Toro
FIA. Notice the man in the left hand corner… he is floating!
Until next week! Pura Vida.