Hello my name is Alejandro Valdez and I’m currently enrolled as a Graduate student in the Applied Bioengineering program here at RICE and am taking two classes. I took this class because I want to make myself a practical engineer who not only knows the theoretical but can also get into the shop and prototype what I’m making on paper. One thing that I have made that makes me proud was my Senior Design Project in my undergraduate program that allowed me to make a medical device to help a patient use their fingers to pick up objects when they had no fine motor movement in their fingers.

One thing I want to make in this class is a metal cut project and learning how to engrave using laser cutters and plasma cutters. I think these tools will greatly enhance my engineering skills in medical device engineering.

Also, I love Maltese dogs because my dog Augie is one!