Hi! My name is Abby Dowse and I am so excited to be taking part in BIOE 555 this semester. I graduated with a degree in bioengineering and minor in Global Health Technologies from Rice this past year, and I am now taking part in the GMI master’s program. During my undergrad, I was involved with powderpuff at my residential college, and would love to continue taking part in IM sports and generally getting involved with the grad community this year.

One thing I have previously built that I am particularly proud of was my senior design project, during which my team and I worked on designing and prototyping a wearable insole-in-sock device which could be used to manage the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. Something which I would love to make at some point in my own life is my own furniture – after shopping for furniture for my apartment this summer, I think it would be super cool (and cost effective) to be able to design a piece of my own. In this class, I hope to build a more well-rounded skill set which I can use to create things of my own in the future – specifically, I’m excited to gain more experience with sewing, 3D printing, woodworking, and laser cutting. I think all of these things will be helpful in my future goal of designing impactful medical devices.