Hi! My name is Nothando Chingodza, an international sophomore from Zimbabwe studying Bioengineering.

I was very excited coming into SEED because I knew I was going to have a guaranteed and uninterrupted 40 hours each week specifically for design work not forgetting of course the late nights that will creep on us. Prior to this, my experience in design work was limited to ENGI120 and so I was delighted at the thought of spending my summer really building up on skills I had lightly dabbled in during the semester.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first week. It involved a lot of introductions and getting settled. In addition to being an intern this summer, I will also host the international students Rice360 has graced us with alongside Mina Schepmann. It has been an amazing week full of planning activities and ensuring we can facilitate amazing communication when they arrive.

Due to our international interns being delayed, our initial project meetings and planning were on Zoom during the mornings to cater for the different time zones. Despite that, Zoom did not trample on our communication, I managed to connect well with my team based in Nigeria.

My favorite activities of the past week include the Networking lunch and the Solidworks workshop. The lunch was of particular interest as I was privileged to learn more about Global health (which is my passion) through Dr. Taylor, Dr. Nejad and Padraic Casserly who shared his story on how he started of as a bioengineering major to him now leading a design studio in Ibadan. The solidworks workshop was a lot of fun, I had no prior experience in it but I can safely say I see myself in the near future lounging in the computer room drawing different objects.

Just after the solidworks workshop…we had to draw a screw!!