My Experience

The Brackenridge community has been an integral part of my success thus far. Initially, I was unsure of how to present my findings in a clear and concise manner. I noticed that during the first few weeks, I struggled to explain my project to others without mentioning highly technical terms and engineering jargon. After attending multiple workshops and working with the other fellows, I have learned how to present my knowledge in a way in which people from other disciplines can clearly understand. These meetings have also given me the opportunity to connect with other fellows and find similarities and differences between our work. 

During my time participating in the Brackenridge fellowship, I have found the workshops to be extremely helpful. The resume building workshop in particular, has provided me with many useful tips that I plan to implement into my own resume. The assigned readings have also helped me to better define the purpose, key problem, and significance of my work. I will continue to keep these readings in mind as I finalize my results and prepare for my final presentation. 

As we approach the last few weeks of the fellowship, I realize how much I have learned from this experience. Being able to interact with students across disciplines has given me a unique opportunity to think about my project from different perspectives. The purpose of my research is to quantify and examine the vasculature in tissue engineered free flaps (TEFF). From an engineering perspective, different parameters are important to study to gain a better understanding of blood vessels in a localized vascular network and expose different network intricacies. However, this is not the only reason for pursuing this project. In regards to the general public, this research has the potential to improve transplantation and future reconstructive surgeries. With millions of reconstructive surgeries performed every year, this issue affects far more individuals than one may initially think. It is imperative to continue to innovate new solutions not only to advance the study of medicine, but also provide a better quality of life for our fellow humans. 

Overall, the Brackenridge community has been an integral part of my success thus far. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with the other fellows and learn valuable information from administrators, my mentor, and alumni. I am excited to continue to share my progress with the Brackenridge community and to learn more about the project results of my peers.