Hi everyone!  My name is Van Do (pronounced vung-dough, it means clouds in Vietnamese ⛅). I’m a sophomore at Sid Rich, studying Electrical & Computer Engineering with a minor in Engineering Design. 

Currently, I’m researching left vascular assistive devices (LVAD)  at the Texas Heart Institute. My job is optimizing motors and validating wireless systems in simulated human environments to build the next generation of LVAD that can prevent thrombosis risks.

Cardiac physiology

LVAD motor design in COMSOL

Last summer, I self-taught machine learning and built a machine learning model for type 2 diabetes risk prediction in the Asian population. I love the full build cycle of ideation, prototyping, testing, debugging, and iterating things which makes me so excited about all the cool projects I will take on in EDES 210.

Type 2 Diabetes Research Poster

Outside of classes, I love to build communities to bring people together. I’m currently President of Rice Machine Learning, Co-Founder of Sid Sips, and Class Representative for Rice IEEE. You can catch me organizing department-wide events like HallowEECEn for hundreds of ECE students to making matcha lattes at Sid Sips on a random Friday evening.

Rice Machine Learning

Rice IEEE Google Event

Sid Sips

In ENGI 120 last Spring, I made a Localized Textile Bonding System (Team H.E.A.T) that I’m super proud of. In the project, I repurposed a Prusa Mini 3D printer into a precise, programmable heat press for the PI Lab, replacing the old time-consuming process. Using Inkscape and G-code, I controlled heat, pressure, and movement along a custom 2D path bonding textiles with 0.4mm accuracy. In the end, our team successfully fulfilled all the design criteria and delivered a low-cost solution to advance soft robotics research and make it more accessible. Specifically, this is the first time that I got to learn about the seven steps of engineering design: define the problem, background research, brainstorm solutions, prototype, test, refine the design, and implement the solution so I grow a lot during this project. 

Background Problem

Final Solution

In the future, I want to build robots that work where humans are limited, like cleaning toxic waste or performing long-hours brain surgery. This semester, I’m excited to strengthen my CAD skills, learn how to use waterjet and CNC machining, and build projects from scratch by myself to help me get one step closer to my engineering goals. Thank you so much for reading my first blog! Stay tuned for more fun project updates from Van this Spring 2026. We “Van Do” it 😀 !!!