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Rensselaer Engineering Students To Visit South Africa and Help Innovate New Solutions to Unique Medical Challenges
Biomedical Engineering Students To Visit Remote
and Under-Resourced Medical Clinics
Biomedical engineering students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
will travel to South Africa next month on a mission to identify
the unique needs of remote, under-resourced medical clinics.
The students will use these findings and field observations to
inform the design and development of new medical
technologies.
Led by Rensselaer Professor
Eric Ledet, the group of six students will be hosted by
Stellenbosch University, which is just outside of Cape Town in
South Africa. From Stellenbosch, the students will travel to
the medical clinics in nearby towns and villages. Working with
students and faculty from Stellenbosch, as well as the doctors
and medical staff, the group will attempt to identify the
specific needs of these clinics.
Upon returning to Rensselaer, the students will spend their
spring semester developing and designing new medical
technologies to help solve some of the particular needs of the
visited clinics. This project will be part of the capstone
design course for biomedical engineering seniors. The group
will depart Jan. 6 and return to Rensselaer on Jan. 20.
“This is an exceptional opportunity for our biomedical
engineering students to sharpen their skills by working with
clients, recognizing opportunities, and innovating solutions to
very important, very tangible challenges,” said Ledet,
assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical
Engineering at Rensselaer. “There’s no better way to learn
engineering than seeing a problem with your own eyes, and then
using your own smarts and your own hands to help fix it.”
One of the students traveling with Ledet to South Africa,
Josh Peterson, said he’s excited about the trip. He said
students often hear about the use of mosquito nets to help
combat malaria, but he’s very interested to learn more about
the practical day-to-day needs of running a medical clinic in
South Africa. Medical devices are usually designed for
hospitals and facilities with a robust infrastructure, and as a
result these devices often cannot be used at remote and
under-resourced clinics.
“When most medical devices are designed, they assume
end-users have access to plenty of money, water, and power. But
this is not the reality everywhere. From the very inception of
our project, we’ll be working directly to address the needs of
the clinics, and directly within their budget and situational
constraints,” said Peterson, a senior biomedical engineering
major from Springfield, Mass., who plans to pursue a master’s
degree after graduating in May 2012. “In this way, I hope we
can really make a difference.”
Another biomedical engineering senior, Mark Guirguis, also
will participate in the trip and project. After seeing the
remote clinics outside Stellenbosch, he hopes to help develop
affordable, practical solutions to medical problems that could
be of use in South Africa as well as other under-resourced
areas around the world.
“It’s definitely exciting to have this opportunity—it should
be an awesome experience,” he said.
Guirguis was born in Egypt and lived there for 10 years
before his family moved to the United States. After graduating
in May, he will stay at Rensselaer to pursue a master’s degree
in biology as part of the university’s co-terminal degree
program.
For more information on study abroad and international
experiences at Rensselaer, visit:
For more information on biomedical engineering at
Rensselaer, visit:
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Published
December 22,
2011 |
Contact: Michael Mullaney
Phone: (518) 276-6161
E-mail: mullam@rpi.edu |
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