INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

1. I get to learn how embedded systems work from some cool experts. My interests lie in embedded systems, specifically embedded systems of medical devices. And simply put, India rocks at designing embedded systems. For those of you who want to know what an embedded system is, read on. Otherwise, skip to #2.

An embedded system is basically the brain placed inside a device. A phone is an embedded system. A car's GPS is an embedded system. A smart watch, a thermostat, a fridge touch screen, a robot; all those things have embedded systems in them. What I love is thinking about what a system needs to accomplish, and designing the hardware and the brains behind it to accomplish that task.

Take a phone for instance:

A. We want to be able to communicate with friends and family across long distances, so we give the "phone" a microphone to talk into, and a speaker to hear what the other person is saying.

B. We need to tell it who to call, so we give it a keypad to punch in their number.

C. We can't always remember our friends' numbers, so we give it a screen and a built-in phone book.

D. We want to know when someone else is calling us, so we give it a noise-maker to go off when we're receiving a call.

E. And we're not always able to pick up, so we give the phone a way to store sound files (voicemails) to listen to later.

All of these components: the A. microphone and speaker B. keypad C. screen and the internal phone book D. the ringer and E. the voicemail box; all these things are integrated into a useful device that allows you to communicate with friends and family. And for me, making all those pieces work together seamlessly in a device that offers convenience you're willing to pay for - that's a problem I love solving and getting to design. Of course, we've already designed the phone! But what about a jacket that collects energy from your movements? Or a pair of glasses that identifies the kind of bird you're looking at while on a hike? Or a car system that automatically brakes in an emergency, parallel parks, and notifies you of a lane change while driving? (wait.. we've got that one, don't we?!)

Embedded systems present solutions that lie right at the intersection of hardware (physical parts of a device) and software (the set of rules that the physical things follow to complete a task). Until this last summer while working at Propeller Health as an embedded systems engineer, I felt I was at such a crisis not being able to decide between working with hardware or working with software. For some reason, almost everyone I met in the academic world made me believe I had to choose one. My fears were appeased when my boss clarified that the realm of embedded engineers is to wrangle both sides of the hardware to software relationship - a place I realized I have always wanted to sit.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, by the end of my project I will hopefully be able to say that my medical device is a low-cost and useful embedded system that I've designed!

2. Low-resource engineering is something that I've always been passionate about. And India is a wonderful place to experience that challenge.

I've come to realize how selfish our medical device industry can be as it often designs instruments solely for the environment of western medicine. Rather than economically and culturally cognizant devices, we bask in the ability to over-engineer solutions ignorant of any context but the first-world consumer. This technology often requires advanced training or other equipment to operate, cannot be repaired with local materials, or is simply too expensive to be competitive in medical industries of low-income countries. How much of the world is denied access to necessary medical technology just because engineers design a complex device? DaVinci argues,“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Thus, “simple” does not necessarily translate to an absence of thought or lack of functionality. It means that each characteristic serves a function; that complexity can come with a fault.

In contrast to the devices I’ve worked on in the US, I had to embrace the challenges of low-resource engineering as I started design on this project 2 summers ago in India. When buying materials in the US, I had access to robust international markets, but in India I had to learn to navigate the local technology street markets riddled with unreliably stocked yet inexpensive electrical components. Unable to communicate in technical terms, I instead communicated with photos on my phone. Making do with the materials I could find at the market while not compromising the functionality of the device required a spirit of ingenuity and I enthusiastically accepted this challenge.

The night before my final visit to the hospital with my device, I worked alone late in the lab to put the finishing touches on my project. Other than my lone desk lamp, I worked shrouded in darkness as the soldering iron nicked my fingers, my eyes strained against dehydrated contacts, and my mind fought fatigue. My next day began with a 4:20am train ride to the hospital as the sun pierced Bangalore’s fog, unforgiving that I had bolted the lab door closed just two hours earlier. My friends often ask how I have the stamina to put in such long nights without losing patience or interest. I simply tell them it does not feel like work because I have found that medical device innovation is something that I love to do.

3. Fulbright is letting me do both these things... right after I graduated from college. Hannah said it best in an interview we had concerning our upcoming Fulbright Fellowships:

                  “It’s so special,” says Lider. “This is exactly what I want to do, and I recognize that’s rare for people immediately after                                            they graduate. I’m getting to apply skills I’ve developed in very different disciplines. And the fact that I’m sharing this                                          experience with my best friend is unreal.”

You can read the full article on our experience as we transition from UW  Madison here:

https://www.engr.wisc.edu/fulbright-friends-break-engineering-mold/