Hi! My name is Connor Bly and I am a graduating biomedical engineering major with a concentration in mechanical design from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, CA. I love all things design and am enthralled with the dynamic and impactful world of medical devices. Beyond classes, I completed a co-op at Abbott Labs where I worked on their mechanical R&D team in the cardiac rhythm management division. Additionally, I was involved in research aimed at developing soft sensing liners using SLA 3D printing to enhance prosthetic socket comfortability. These experiences have helped me develop both technical skills in CAD, rapid prototyping with 3D printing, and design analysis. I am so grateful for all the amazing individuals and mentors I worked with along the way and am excited for who I will meet during my time in the GMI program. Outside of school, I love to hike and go to the beach when I feel active and relax with shows or movies after a stressful day of classes.
I arrived late on June 2nd, a week after everyone else, as I am still completing my undergraduate degree with my last final exams this upcoming week. June 3rd was my first official day at my internship with Resonetics located in the Coyol Free Zone of the Alajuela Province. The free zone is a special area within Costa Rica that houses a majority of the medical device design and manufacturing companies. Resonetics in Costa Rica is primarily a manufacturing hub who provide large scale manufacturing capabilities to various outside medical device clients. I, specifically, am working in their laser processing division which provides services such as laser ablation, cutting, drilling, welding, etc. This first week, I was introduced to the wonderful team of manufacturing engineers and technicians and trained on the processes and machines that enable the fabrication of these complex medical devices. Additionally, I was presented with a couple initial projects that I will get to work on during my nine weeks of the internship.
Below is a picture of one of those projects I mentioned. It is a special replacement fixture I am helping to iterate and implement into a current manufacturing workflow to improve efficiency. I am very excited to dive deeper into all my projects and the realm of manufacturing as a whole to broaden my knowledge within the entire product development lifecycle for medical devices.
