Welcome back! This past couple of weeks, we wrapped up our summer workshop and started prototyping our project.
The final week of the summer workshop consisted of brainstorming, prototyping, and iterating. During the hospital visits last week, we saw a need for a continuous fetal heart rate monitoring method. Nurses explained that ultrasounds were too expensive and not available for most of the patients. Therefore, clinicians resort to the use of Pinard Horns, an analog device that uses phonocardiography to determine the heart rate. While effective in skilled hands, Pinard Horns have notable limitations: only clinicians can hear and count the beats, mothers are unable to experience the sound of their baby’s heart, and it takes considerable experience to accurately locate the heartbeat. Given these needs, we selected our project, a digital fetoscope, where we decided to retrofit a pinard horn. The idea behind it is that we would pick up the sound that is amplified via a pinard horn and digitize the fetal heart rate.
Our summer workshop peers also had great projects that they were prototyping for a competition at the end of the week, and we watched their innovative pitches on Friday! To conclude the end of the summer program and to say goodbye to everyone who’ve been nothing but kind, helpful, and humorous, we visited a Brazilian Barbecue restaurant!
Wrap Up DinnerRice360 team and our prototype!
We will be working on this project for the next 4 weeks, along with our host project that we were assigned a couple of days ago! We are assigned to create an active cast that would reduce the effect of muscle atrophy for sports-related injuries. We spent the whole day conducting a literature review about the physiopathology of muscle atrophy, current solutions that exist, and the implementation of the therapy methods into a case.
We visited the Nairobi Arboretum for a quick stroll in nature, and the vegetation there was so diverse, and we got to see so many monkeys! We also went to the Rice meet-up for all of the different programs in Kenya, and we ate delicious Ethiopian food. I met a fellow Bakerite’87 there as well!
Wrapping Up the MDI Program It’s time to say goodbye to our peers from the Centre for Design Innovation & Engineering’s (CDIE) Medical Device Innovation (MDI) Summer Program. We’ve spent the past few weeks learning, building, and growing alongside an incredibly talented group of students.
Final Week Project For our final week, we were tasked with designing a new piece of technology for competition. The goal was to solve a clinical need identified during Week 2 (visiting the hospitals) using the design and manufacturing skills from Week 1. It’s impressive to see our peers come up with some real solutions at such an accelerated pace.
Team Dinner To celebrate the end of the program, our mentors took us all out for an all-you-can-eat carnivore dinner (with plenty of salad for our vegetarian teammate Saumya). It was certainly bittersweet.
Rice360 Still in Progress While the MDI students are finishing up, us Rice360 interns will be here for another five weeks. That gives us more time to keep working on the project we started earlier this summer.
Our Device: Fetal Heart Rate Monitor We’ve been working on a fetal heart rate monitor. During site visits, we noticed that many maternity wards avoid using ultrasounds because of cost. That led us to design a cheaper electronic alternative that can still record fetal heart rate.
Prototype Progress After a week of research, circuit design, coding, and debugging, we put together a half-working prototype. Even though we weren’t eligible to compete in the MDI competition, we presented it to the faculty panel and got useful feedback for what’s next.
Next Phase of Work Now, we’ll be working more closely with CDIE faculty as extra engineering support. We’ll also continue partnering with local hospitals to refine our prototype and get more feedback. It’s hard to see our peers go, but we’re excited to keep building. There’s still plenty of work ahead!
My first week was filled with 3 hands-on projects: a 3D-printed phone holder, a foot stand, and an ultrasonic sensor. Click below to read more about them!
Project 1
Our first project focused on 3D modeling and printing.
Using TinkerCAD, my team, BioNova,was challenged to design and fabricate a functional phone stand from scratch.
As we analyzed the sample model provided, we noticed that the top portion, specifically the connection point, was prone to cracking under stress.
To address this, we redesigned the joint by adjusting and smoothing the angle to better distribute the load and improve structural integrity. Throughout the process, we collaborated closely to iterate on the design, ensuring both aesthetics and functionality. In doing so, we not only learned how to navigate TinkerCAD and build a 3D model from the ground up, but also developed problem-solving skills by improving upon an existing design based on real-world performance concerns. This project introduced us to the fundamentals of rapid prototyping and the importance of teamwork in engineering design.
Project 2
Next, we were tasked to create a foot stand. From ideation and design to precise measurements, we made sure that we finalized every detail before going into the manual work.To construct the base, we used a saw to cut metal at 45-degree angles to create a mitered joint. You may be wondering why are we using hand tools to cut metal? Well, I wondered the same thing, but in lower resource settings, electricity is not always guaranteed. Or, as our mentor, Eubrea, puts it, “I like to see you suffer.”
After cutting the metal, we welded the pieces together. However, the angles did not quite align. We spent hours trying to perfect every corner to 90 degrees. Despite our efforts, we still ended up with small gaps at the joints. After welding, we spray-painted the steel base.
Next, we moved on to creating the wooden top. Thankfully, now that we have “suffered,” we were allowed to use power tools and cut our wood pieces. Then, to add the finishing touches, we added side panels to the wood to give it a smoothening effect. This time, the edges fit better than when we used hand tools. This project gave me a deeper appreciation for the convenience of electricity, and have much respect for all of the welders and carpenters.
Project 3
Team BioNova!
The final project that we worked on was my favorite! We learned about embedded systems and coded a microprocessor in order to create an ultrasonic sensor. I was able to code the ATmega328 microchip on Arduino IDE and create the circuit on the breadboard. Troubleshooting the circuit was always difficult for me, but my teammates, who had far more experience than me, were able to help me debug the system and gave me helpful tips on how to conduct an analysis of the circuit.
When we got the sensor to work, “Beep– bibip” was the sound of our alarm when there was an object 20 cm away from it. By the end of the session, the room was filled with giggles of success and loud buzzing noises.
After the breadboard, it was time to transfer our circuit onto the soldering breadboard. This was my first time soldering a circuit, so I struggled with the metal’s melting time and precision. However, my teammates all very patiently gave me unlimited tries until I was able to perfect one by myself.
After learning these technical skills for prototyping, we were ready to dive into the Kenyan healthcare system and immerse ourselves in the local hospitals! We visited two level 5 Hospitals: Thika and Kiambu. My group was shadowed nurses, clinical officers, doctors, and other clinicians in the Accidents and Emergency (A&E) department.
Kiambu Level 5 Hospital
The first hospital we visited was the Kiambu Hospital. Right now, in Kenya, there is a doctor’s strike, but the hospital is still very busy, and everyone is working hard to help the patients. Through both observation and interviews with the nurses, I was able to understand the triage system, vital checking procedure, and patient transport system.
Thika Level 5 Hospital
The next hospital we visited was Thika Hospital. I was placed in the A&E department again so that we could compare the two hospitals. I was able to observe two minor trauma surgeries, which were completed efficiently. We were also able to walk around and tour the reproductive health center, comprised of antenatal, postnatal, and NICU (it had very very small babies!)
During the visits, we carried around a small notebook to write down our observations. These observations included inadequate medical equipment, inefficiencies, dogma, and contamination. As a team, we shared what we saw, came up with 15 needs statements, and conducted research on 10 of them. We will be narrowing down on one to begin the process of developing our own medical innovation. Overall, these past two weeks have been completely new, challenging, and incredibly eye-opening. I am so excited to see what we will be able to achieve next week!
Hello again from the City Under the Sun!! The days in Nairobi start early. They welcome you with warm skies, a clear breeze, and the faint spice of something sizzling in the distance.
There are always greetings and handshakes before my colleagues and I dive into a blur of chisels, wires, and bright yellow tape measures. And somewhere between visiting hospitals and coding projects, something else starts to take shape too: a shared sense of momentum. Of making and unmaking. Of figuring things out together, one busy afternoon at a time!
Building From the Ground Up
We spent our first few days learning to build with our hands at Kenyatta’s Center for Design, Innovation and Engineering. These workshop sessions were all about metalworking – cutting 16-gauge tubing with hacksaws, chiseling stubborn corners, and welding joints by hand. I think I learnt the true meaning of ‘labour of love’ that day! We then moved into woodworking, where we built footstools from scratch. We started with sketches, costed out materials, and began learning different joint techniques. Most of our work was done collaboratively with one member of Team MACAS sanding, another cutting, and another holding things steady.
Team MACAS!
There were sparks from welding, curls of wood shavings piling at our feet, and quiet wins like clean 45° angles and circuits that finally blinked like they were supposed to. Someone would inevitably start humming along to the jazz during tea break, and there’d be a round of laughter as we debated if something was actually level!
Listening, Watching, Learning
After getting our hands dirty in the studio, we began the next phase of our work – needs-finding in clinical settings.
Our first hospital visits were to Thika and Kiambu Level 5 hospitals, where we observed in the maternity, pediatric, and neonatal wards. I watched nurses adapt tools, saw how care is delivered with limited resources, and heard directly from staff about what works and what doesn’t.
I carried a notebook around everywhere, scribbling down observations, questions, and half-formed ideas. It was clear right away that so much ingenuity already exists within these spaces – small workarounds, creative uses of tools, and thoughtful ways people make do. I remember one nurse explaining how she uses surgical gloves as hangers to accommodate extra IV bags, and another showing us how she warms babies using blankets and layering because the warmer was down again.
A day later, we visited Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH), a Level 6 facility with specialized diagnostic units. In the breast cancer care unit, I observed a mammogram and ultrasound, spoke with staff and patients, and heard stories that were both deeply human and systemic.
There was something powerful about standing in a room full of advanced equipment one day and remembering a borrowed syringe-turned-suction-tool from the day before. The contrast was stark, and it made the big picture even clearer.
This isn’t just about devices. It’s about access, context, and care that fits the place it’s in. It reminded me why I care so much about this work. The people I met were problem-solvers, caregivers, and engineers in their own right. And I want to build things that keep their momentum going!
When we got back to the design studio, my team gathered around a wide table (still in scrubs and slightly sun-dazed) and started to unpack what we’d seen.
We each grabbed a stack of neon sticky notes and started writing. One note = one observation. The table quickly became a sea of yellows, pinks, blues, and greens.
“Dogma within diagnostics/procedures” “No positive flow in O2 cylinder” “Suction pressure adjusted by guesswork”
Some were messy. Some had drawings. Some had question marks or exclamation points. But they were all tiny windows into systems that were doing their best with what they had.
We stuck them all to the wall, color-coded by theme: equipment gaps, workflow issues, human factors, and improvisation. By the end, the blank wall was covered edge to edge. We stepped back and stared at it for a while. It felt like the beginning of an amazing design process.
Innovation in Every Corner
A few days later, we visited the jua kali sector – Kenya’s vibrant informal manufacturing industry. The name literally means “hot sun,” and it speaks to the intensity, resilience, and creativity of the people working there. As we walked through the maze of open-air stalls and compact workshops, the air filled with the rhythmic pounding of hammers, the hum of metal grinders, and the smell of welding fumes.
Visit to Moko!
We saw artisans building dishes from scratch, fabricators repurposing scrap into new tools, and sellers customizing devices on the spot for buyers walking by. The engineering skills I witnessed were beyond what you’d expect from any textbook. There was community-driven innovation tucked into every corner of the market.
Later in the day, we also had the chance to step into Nairobi’s innovation ecosystem through visits to Villgro Africa, a startup incubator investing in local health solutions, and Moko, a company turning foam offcuts into upcycled mattresses. I really enjoyed learning about the business side of this field – from funding and product development to scaling and sustainability. It made me think differently, not just about how we build things, but how we get them into the hands of people who need them.
Trying Ugali!
And after one particularly full day of walking around these different industries, we stopped at a quaint roadside cafe where I tried viazi karai: crispy turmeric-battered potatoes served with sweet ukwaju sauce and a cold soda. By now, we were further away from the heart of the city. There was a quiet breeze in the trees and the kind of content silence that comes with a day full of ideas and experiences.
Ready to Build
And now… we build.
I leave these two weeks feeling inspired, full of ideas, and honestly a little giddy to get started! After all the observing and learning, we’re shifting into the exciting space between problem and possibility. I’ve got sketches in my notebook, ideas in my head, and an amazing team that’s ready to make things happen.
This city – its energy, its creativity, its people – has already taught me so much. And we’re only just getting started. I can’t wait to see what we come up with!
We’ve been working with a group of 16 undergraduate and graduate students from Kenya and Uganda, spending all day sawing, hacking, welding, grinding, painting, CADing, and 3D printing.
It’s no wonder our hosts love a good tea break.
(use arrows to view other images in gallery)
From Ideas to Creation
Every good design starts with a sketch. On our first day, we explored what thoughtful, effective design looks like in the medical field, especially within Kenya’s six-tiered healthcare system. We focused on identifying gaps in care and learning how prototypes can help bridge them.
To practice this process, we spent our second day designing and 3D-printing our own models, putting our ideas into physical form.
Over the next few days, we took things a step further by building something more tangible: a footstool made of metal and wood, crafted entirely from scratch.
Our generous (and very patient) instructor, Mr. Eubrea Njer, challenged us to use only hand tools. In low-resource settings, after all, electricity isn’t always guaranteed. When we asked why he still got to use power tools, he laughed and said, “Because I like to see you suffer.” I’ve never felt more like the Karate Kid.
Two days and a lot of elbow grease later, our stool is nearly complete. Next week, we’ll sand and polish the wood, then shift gears into the medical and electrical domains. We’ll start with visits to local health clinics, followed by designing and building our own circuits.
I’m looking forward to catching up on sleep, and seeing what Nairobi has to offer over the weekend!
A few weeks ago, I was knee-deep in the OEDK, 3D printing molds, fiddling with adhesives, and sketching prototypes on whiteboards late into the night. Now, I’m writing this from my new apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, where I’ve just started my internship!!
Hi everyone! I’m Saumya Chauhan, a rising junior at Duncan College majoring in Biosciences and minoring in Global Health Technologies. This summer, I’ve packed my bags (and a whole bunch of prototypes) and moved to Nairobi as part of the Rice360 International Internship to work on some amazing global health design projects! I’m incredibly excited to be part of a program that’s all about bridging the gap between innovation and impact, by working directly with the communities and clinicians our designs are meant to serve.
For the next two months, I’ll be working at Kenyatta University’s Centre for Design, Innovation, and Engineering (CDIE), collaborating with students from Kenya and around the world on medical device innovation. We’ll be diving into design workshops, needs-finding in clinical spaces, and collecting real-world feedback on the technologies we’ve helped create. I’m here to learn, ask questions, and build partnerships grounded in context and co-creation.
View from the car!
Alongside working on a new host-site project here in Kenya, I will also be gathering testing feedback on two Rice360 technologies. I will get to see two of our designs in action: Uterus Universal, a training model for endometrial biopsies that I helped develop back in Houston, and a neonatal gastroschisis bag. I’ve spent the past semester troubleshooting technical challenges and imagining how these tools might be used in the field. Now, I get to test them in that very context! I’m excited to see what holds up, what needs to change, and how we can improve based on insights from users.
I’m also eager to learn how to adjust to a new environment: navigating Nairobi traffic (matatus will be an adventure), trying my hand at cooking with local ingredients, and picking up bits of Swahili – so far, I’ve “mastered” jambo (hello), karibu (welcome), and asante sana (thank you very much). I’m excited to improve on technical skills like 3D modeling and woodworking as well.
There’s so much I’m looking forward to! I’m excited to keep exploring Nairobi, to ask more questions, to gain many diverse skills, and to keep building connections that stretch beyond this summer. It’s all still ahead, and I can’t wait to see where it leads!
My name is Ellena Jeon, a rising junior from Baker College, majoring in Bioengineering.
Yesterday, I landed in Nairobi, Kenya after about 18 hours of traveling! Before leaving my family, I felt a bit nervous about living alone on an entirely different continent, especially in one I had never set foot in before. But this morning, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, the soft morning light, and beautiful weather—so refreshing compared to the Houston heat. I opened the windows to let the soothing highland breeze in, and this settled my nerves. This quiet moment quickly turned into a growing sense of excitement for everything I’m about to experience here.
Morning in Nairobi
As an aspiring physician with a strong interest in design and innovation, being in Nairobi is so meaningful. It allows me to directly engage with healthcare challenges in a new cultural and clinical context, and to learn from diverse perspectives. I want to learn more about building solutions that are not only technically advanced but also culturally grounded. This summer is an opportunity to learn, listen, and grow as both a future engineer and a clinician.
This summer, I will be getting feedback on 2 projects: the Endometrial Biopsy (EMB) Trainer and the Gastroschisis Bag. The EMB trainer aims to improve how healthcare providers are trained to perform uterine biopsies. We want to specifically improve solid sample compatibility and explore local manufacturing options to ensure its accessibility and sustainability. The second project, the gastroschisis bag, is used to protect the exposed intestines of newborns with this congenital condition. The low cost prototype that we have takes about 15 minutes to create with only 2 materials. We hope to find sterilization packaging options as well as gain feedback from clinicians with this project.
EMB trainer
Gastroschisis Bag
Beyond the projects, some personal goals I have for this summer are:
Deepen my technical and design skills like woodworking, 3D modeling, and soldering through hands-on workshops at Kenyatta University.
Connect with a diverse group of people, and keep an open mind when encountering different cultures, professions, and healthcare systems.
Exploring Kenya and everything that Nairobi has to offer! So far, the city is lush, vibrant, and lively.
I will be working with the Kenyatta University’s Centre for Design, Innovation, and Engineering (CDIE) and participating in their Medical Device Innovation Summer Program for the first 3 weeks, where I will be learning hands-on skills, conducting needs finding and observing at Kiambu and Thika Hospital. After that, we will continue to identify personal projects, work on host projects, and gain feedback on the devices with the remaining time until the end of July.
My name is Jacey Denny, and I’m an aspiring bioengineer (rising senior Lovetteer) with a passion for making medicine. I’ve always loved tinkering, so naturally, I was drawn to fields like prosthetics and surgical robotics, which puts me under the bioengineering umbrella.
But after coming to Rice and doing work in the Medical Humanities program, I’ve developed a growing interest in the ethical and social dimensions of healthcare. As powerful as new technologies can be, they also carry real risks to us, scientific, societal, and personal. I want to be part of steering these innovations in a direction that prioritizes equity and impact.
That’s why I’ve come to Kenya: to learn from those working on the front lines of medicine and bring their insights and perspectives back to Houston.
My goals:
to make full use of the three-week Summer Program by:
learning all the technical skills by keeping a consistent journal
connecting with the other students from Kenya, other parts of Africa, and the rest of the world (especially during tea breaks)
keeping in mind the broader tasks of the summer internship (e.g. needs finding reports), since critical information learned here could be used later down the road
and also to grow as an adult person while living in Nairobi by:
learning to cook with Kenyan ingredients and Kenyan recipes
learning to live on my own
keeping myself physically and mentally healthy (even if it’s not on the program schedule by going to the gym, planning fun outings, etc.)
Where I’m going to be working:
Kenyatta University (KU) is holding a three-week Medical Device Innovation Summer Program that I am going to be a part of. Following that, I will continue working with the KU team until the end of July.
I’m thrilled to see what’s in store for us these next two months.
Next, we were tasked to create a foot stand. From ideation and design to precise measurements, we made sure that we finalized every detail before going into the manual work.To construct the base, we used a saw to cut metal at 45-degree angles to create a mitered joint. You may be wondering why are we using hand tools to cut metal? Well, I wondered the same thing, but in lower resource settings, electricity is not always guaranteed. Or, as our mentor, Eubrea, puts it, “I like to see you suffer.”
However, the angles did not quite align. We spent hours trying to perfect every corner to 90 degrees. Despite our efforts, we still ended up with small gaps at the joints. After welding, we spray-painted the steel base.
