Introduction
The real work has begun and I’ve successfully completed my first week at Boston Scientific (BSCI) as a Supplier Engineer intern. I’ve learned that while our work day is 7am-5pm, there is plenty of time for socializing and eating during work hours. So far everyone I have interacted with is friendly, willing to answer questions and happy to be working at BSCI. This week consisted mostly of setting up our emails, meeting our supervisor and colleagues, defining our projects and learning about how our department fits into the company. It has also consisted of a lot of pivots that were a little stressful at the time, but ended up being happily resolved. In this entry, I really want to emphasize how supportive my supervisor at BSCI, Gerardo, and my GMI director, Will Clifton, have been while I’ve been defining my internship project. Therefore, I’ve split up this blog into two separate entries: A Tuesday entry and a Friday entry.
Tuesday entry
I have begun to understand exactly what a supplier engineer does by talking to my colleagues about their current projects. Some of their main roles are finding qualified vendors, researching more effective or cheaper materials, validating new materials for production and identifying supplier risks within medical device projects. They have a very important role within medical device development, however I worry that, because of my limited time here, I won’t be able to experience much engineering. The most technical part of a supplier engineer’s job is to test and validate material samples in order to ensure they are both safe and effective in a medical device project. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find a project that includes the validation of new materials because these projects can take up to a year. I am feeling very intimidated, and a little disappointed, about being one of the only students who has to create their own project.
I am so excited to be working at BSCI this summer and I hope that by the end of this internship I will have discovered what careers I don’t enjoy and ones I’d like to learn more about. I am a bit nervous to talk to Gerardo tomorrow about creating a project which allows me to include a technical engineering perspective as well. I was not anticipating having to define a project for myself, however maybe this freedom will allow me to create my ideal situation. Finally, I’m really glad to have Sylvie (another supplier engineer GMI student) to navigate through this challenging task with!
Friday entry
I am feeling much better about my next 2 months at BSCI. I’ve spent the past 3 days trying to define realistic, relevant and challenging project ideas. Gerardo was extremely supportive and stressed that his priority was to make sure I got the most out of this experience (along with being helpful to the department). In order to create a project that contained more engineering design and thinking, Gerardo and I decided to have me work with both the Supplier Engineering and the Process Development Engineering departments. My main project involves researching and writing a proposal for a new material in order to increase the functionality of a ureter stent. My goal is to find an appropriate material, order samples from the vendor and validate various functional properties of the material. I also have two smaller projects which are more focused towards supplier engineering tasks. One of them is completing the initial steps for a new medical device acquisition, such as communicating with component vendors and ensuring they meet BSCI standards. The other project is acquiring 3D printed parts from an existing vendor for a traction system project and assisting product development engineers with the prototyping phase. I’ve found that the initial lack of assigned projects actually ended up providing me with the freedom to tailor my internship more accurately to my interests. I am really excited about these projects and I know that they will challenge and teach me a lot throughout these next 7 weeks. In addition, I am flattered by the amount of trust Gerardo has placed in me, as all these projects are important and helpful to the department.
One of the reasons I chose this masters program was because I felt the faculty really cared about my personal interests and would help me to develop as a person and to pursue my goals. This has been especially apparent this week and I am very grateful for my understanding and enthusiastic mentors at BSCI and Rice University.
Volcano
Everyone was quite tired from their first week of work, so we drove to the Irazú Volcano National Park for the day. We all had fun exploring the cloudy terrain and waiting for a quick glimpse of the volcanic crater. It was a bit chilly and rainy on top of this volcano so I am happy I had my iconic blue raincoat. I have a feeling it will be making frequent appearances on my blog throughout this trip. 🌧️
