Time flies when you’re having fun”

A very wise person

December is upon us, and boy did it come fast.  I remember around this time last year, there was a period in which time could not have gone any slower. I was in the middle of my finals and had started applying to a couple different programs. I had not previously heard of the GMI program (as it was relatively new at the time), but out of circumstance, my undergraduate adviser had informed me of the program and it piqued my interest. So there I was, applying to the program, hoping that I would be given the opportunity to engage in so many of the cool projects that I had seen the previous cohort working on.

Now, here I am writing a blog about my past semester’s experience at Rice and in the GMI program. Time is moving much faster now it seems, but I can say wholeheartedly that this semester has taught me so much about what it means to be a better team member, student, communicator and leader.

Barretos Project Update

In the upcoming week, we will be presenting the progress we have made on our implementation projects. One of the more challenging aspects of my project is that there was a level of redesign that was required from our feedback received in Barretos. While this may have pushed back our initial timeline, I believe that once I have tested the materials that I have ordered, an optimal design can be finalized by mid to late-January. Once we have finalized and agreed upon a design, our goal is to have 40 functional prototypes by our next trip to Barretos in the Spring.

Needs Finding 

In the previous week, our needs finding assignment was due. Part of the reason that many of us were doing observations at places such as Texas Heart Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital and the Harris County EMS was to feed into potential design projects going into the next semester. In my list of 100, I had a variety of sources, whether it be from observations, literature searches, firsthand experience or just from conversing with everyday people. To filter to my top 5 needs, I had to use criteria that could differentiate between projects that were feasible within GMI’s scope while also providing high value to the end-user. The five criteria I used were the following:

  1. Cost – is the project feasible for our budget?
  2. Knowledge – does our team possess the skill-sets required to conduct the project?
  3. Available Resources – could we leverage our existing contacts versus establishing completely new ones?
  4. Time to Implement– is the project able to be implemented within a 1-2 year timeframe?
  5. Potential Addressable Market– is there a significant population that would benefit from this project?

After running my needs through this decision matrix, I was able to filter 5 needs that I felt best represented value to GMI as a design project. Our cohort will filter through everyone’s top 3 needs (total of 30 needs) and pick the ones about which we feel most passionate.

Wrapping up the Semester

Apart from finalizing what projects we would like to work on for next semester, we also have a couple presentations to recap the work we did in our design and implementation courses. In our medical design innovation class, it will be a great opportunity to practice a professional pitch as if our group was an actual start-up company. It’s a little strange to be doing a pitch on an idea that was only developed a few weeks back, but nonetheless, it has given me great insight on how the process works and for me personally, that has been very valuable. To see the many different hats you get to wear within a start-up is very intriguing, being an engineer, we often avoid looking at the financial side of a company, but being able to see things such as term-sheets and how potential investors screen companies is very useful. Thinking in this way can prepare me in ensuring that my product would penetrate the market, which is often one of the biggest reasons why some great ideas  fall flat when implemented into the market.

Happy Holidays from GMI

I’m not sure what life away from other GMIers for an extended period of time will feel like. Since the start of June, I believe a week or so was the longest period of time that we had apart from each other. One of the more surprising experiences from GMI this semester has been the team dynamic. Most teams I have been on have had their fair share of drama, tension and dysfunction at some point, but we’ve managed to do a great job of getting along and ensuring that we are utilizing our strengths.

Of course, before we  go back to our respective homes, we needed to have an obligatory Christmas party to celebrate the semester that we had! It was nice to reflect on the semester with awesome people (and of course, there was no shortage of great food as customary with GMI). We did a nice little gift exchange and even had some reenactments of our synchronized swimming routines from our Costa Rican summer (not going to go into too much detail there). It’s been a great semester, and I can’t wait to start it all back up in spring. Happy holidays!

Ryan photobombing a perfectly good shot