Hi Everyone! My name is Meilani and I’m from the Boston area. I did my undergrad at Northeastern University in chemical engineering and biochemistry and now I’m a first year PhD student in bioengineering here at Rice. I currently serve as one of the recruitment chairs for our department, helping to plan and organize prospective PhD student visit weekends. In my free time, I enjoy playing volleyball, cooking, and going to the gym. My research is in immunology, so I spend most days dissecting mice instead of building things but I am a lifelong lover of DIY crafting and making so I am excited to gain more formal training this semester! One thing I hope to learn in BIOE555 is how to use a 3D printer and a CNC machine.

One thing I am proud to have made was this children’s game based on “Simon Says” and a floor piano mat design: aad09c7c770843b98f2cd31054581bca

One thing that I want to make in the future is a wearable medical device for women to precisely measure their hormone levels when trying new forms of birth control to improve the lengthy and tumultuous process of finding the right hormonal birth control. This is a bit of a pipe dream for me, but something more attainable that I’d like to make is an attachable adaptor piece to make sunglasses without nose pads fit better for people with low nose bridges like me!