Hello, I’m Anna Jorgensen, a sophomore at Brown studying Mechanical Engineering. Now shall I introduce myself in Italian, or talk about the OEDK? Those are the two most common conversations I have describing myself.

I enjoyed ENGI 120 last fall and am newly a TA (oh sorry, DM, Design Mentor) for ENGI 120 this semester. I spent the summer at the OEDK with the SEED program, a 7 week internship that allowed me to work with Xiaoyao, Grant and Rebeca on a physical shoulder model. We delivered it to our client at the Texas Childrens’ Hospital, Brachial Plexus Palsy clinic at the end of the summer. He is excited to use it not only in educating parents in physical therapy exercises, but also in training new physical therapists! I’m proud to have made a device that will directly help parents give their babies the treatment they need.

Outside the OEDK, I am a Language Assistant for Italian at the Center for Language and Intercultural Communication, helping students practice conversational skills. I am on the staff of R2, the Rice Review, our arts and literary magazine. I’m also involved in Engineers Without Borders and Art+Engi on campus.

This semester I want to make something out of metal, because I haven’t directly used the plasma cutter so far at the OEDK. In my ENGI 120 project, one member specialized in making the plates we needed. In a broader sense,  I hope to learn more technical skills and get to know the tools we have here. I felt a huge growth over the summer getting more in depth with a few skills like laser cutting and staining plywood. I want to expand that knowledge to more of the machines here.