beginning the semester

Despite the polar vortexes causing some class cancellations and delays, the semester is now fully underway here at ID, and I'm excited to embark on another set of projects. I participated in a little refresher course on laser cutting and 3D printing before classes started, and I'm excited to be assisting a professor as a teaching assistant in the introduction to product design course being held this semester for the foundations students.

Last Thursday we went down to the University of Chicago Hospital for our first observation of the surgical ward and operating room procedures there for our Advanced Product Design Workshop, in which we will be looking for product design opportunities related to that field, in partnership with a surgeon there. We got fully outfitted in scrubs and dove right into the thick of things, including observing a surgery in progress as well as getting an overview of all the tools, systems, processes, and individuals that come together to make sure that every surgery goes smoothly. We were able to get lots of firsthand research and (HIPPA compliant) photos, and we are now beginning to set up interviews to further inform our design processes.