Hello!! My name is Megan Enriquez and I’m a rising sophomore at Rice University pursuing a major in Mechanical Engineering with minors in Engineering Design and Global Health Technologies as well as a certificate in Engineering Leadership. All of this is subject to change as I learn and grow throughout my next three years at Rice, but it’s a good starting point as I am excited to take classes relating to my passions.

I chose to participate in the SEED internship because I took FWIS 188: “Introduction to Engineering Design and Communication” last semester and I really enjoyed the hands-on, real-world projects we worked on. Additionally, I value a collaboration-based environment where I get to work with other interns and see the end results/impact of my work. This summer, I want to develop my skills as an engineer by learning how to CAD with SolidWorks, experimenting more with Arduino, improving communication, and building a strong network of people. Directly prior to SEED, I was an iSEED participant in Mexico where I took ENGI 350 (Needs Identification and Design Implementation) and CEVE 314 (Sustainable Water Purification for the Developing World) in the span of 4 weeks. My iSEED experience included visiting NGOs from Mexico City and San Cristobal and building a test tube incubator with resources available in San Cristobal, then using the incubator to test local water quality. I believe my iSEED experience helped prepare me for SEED due to the nature of building a project in a short time span.

In our first week of the internship, I participated in workshops (about CAD, cultural differences, and listening), we got our team assignments, and I got to meet all of the SEED and Rice 360 Interns! For my first project, I’m working with Parnika and Ben to get the Rice Brooders in condition to hand off to our client at the Houston Zoo. The Rice Brooders project is essentially a cooler with a heating component and a humidifier to keep baby birds at the proper temperature and humidity level throughout their fledgling period. I’m excited about this project for several reasons. Firstly, I enjoy going to the Houston Zoo so being able to help them raise baby birds is amazing. Secondly, our project will require lots of design and prototyping to get the electronics working which means I get to be more hands-on and experiment with a physical prototype as opposed to strictly testing. Lastly, my teammates and I come from different backgrounds so it’s a great opportunity to learn from each other. The second project is a larger scale and a continuation of what I worked on for my FWIS 188 class last semester. The objective is to create a system that transforms plastic bottles into 3D Printer filament for a design studio in Nigeria. Prior to the project fair, I wanted to work on a new project to broaden my experiences, but after being reminded of how cool the ReFil project is, I regained my excitement to help recycle plastic into filament.

We spent a majority of our project time on the first two steps of the EDP: Clarifying Assignment and Understanding Problem/Context. We finished our first week with a networking lunch where I got got to share a meal with Padraic Casserly (our client, Design Studio Manager), Dr. Jasmine Nejad (Global Health Lecturer), and Dr. Ashley Taylor (Director of Education). Meeting so many experienced people in the global health field helped me confirm that it’s a field of interest for me and I can’t wait to take Intro to Global Health in the fall. Overall, I would rate my first week an 8/10 because I learned a lot and I look forward to the next 6 weeks to come. Get Prepared for pictures to follow 🙂