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It’s 2018. I’m now a second semester junior and it’s showing in my course work. Four of the classes I’m taking are upper division including my senior design project class, BME-405, in which we are expected to collaborate in teams to design and implement a device for monitoring or therapy that could develop into a commercial product. We’re going to learn about the engineering design process, device development, signal transduction, data acquisition, and signal analysis used in medical and laboratory implementation. Our team is currently brainstorming various ideas, but we’re mostly interested in constructing a device that will monitor and improve posture while sitting down.

My other major-related course is BME-416: Development and Regulation of Medical Products. The main goal of this course is to understand the special measures that are associated with developing safe and effective products for humans and animals and how they affect the way that biomedical industries are structured and operate. I’m really interested in this class because of the applications it has on my potential career in the industry and the real-world examples of how companies have succeeded and failed in introducing and keeping their products on the market.

In addition to these two courses, I’m also taking a biology class and an electrical engineering course focused on the theory of semiconductors and their use in physical electronics. Last but not least, I’m enrolled in my first Master’s level course (as part of the Progressive Degree Program), ISE-500: Statistics for Engineering Managers. While these classes will prove to be challenging, I’m motivated and eager to put in the time to learn and study as they are extremely relevant to what I hope to do after graduation.

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With regards to out of class involvement, both Spark SC and ASBME (Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering) are currently recruiting new members. I’ve attended a few involvement fairs and info sessions in the past week to help share and break down the various things both of these student organizations do on campus and in the community. I’m looking forward to helping review applications and conducting interviews to get to know candidates better and to learn about their passions and stories.

I’m also assembling my team for the Project-in-a-Box initiative for ASBME (check out my blog), a community outreach program that serves to inspire elementary school children to pursue biomedical engineering. We have two teachers interested in our lesson plan and will be scheduling visits within the next week or two!

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Other than classes and involvements, it’s been great to catch up with everyone and hear about their winter break. The Spark SC Family went to iHop and took advantage of their $4 unlimited pancakes offer. Oh, and I turned 21 last week, a pretty big milestone! I celebrated with friends and went to Road to Seoul, an all you can eat Korean Barbecue Restaurant in Korea Town. Absolutely delicious!

Overall, this semester is off to a solid start! My biggest personal goal now is to ride the positive momentum into midterm season, which is always much closer than one anticipates…

[/cs_text][/cs_column][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/6″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_image type=”circle” src=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Daniel-Donchev-1_pp_web1.jpg” alt=”” link=”true” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/daniel/” title=”” target=”blank” info=”popover” info_place=”bottom” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=”Daniel (Biomedical Engineering)”][cs_text class=”cs-ta-center” style=”font-size:12px;”]

Daniel is studying Biomedical Engineering. Click the image above to find out more about him!

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