SAG REFLECTION SPRING 2018 by Sarah Deng : This past week I had the pleasure of attending the Northeast Bioengineering Conference at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was my first large conference and it was an amazing and educational experience. The talks were super interesting. Among my favorites was the orthopedic engineering seminar, which talked about someone developing a robotic glove using a kind of synthetic string that shortened when an electric current was run through it. It was amazing to see not just because they were so close to a successful product that would help millions in rehabilitation, but also that the product actually came out a mistake made by their lab earlier on. This led to the accidental discovery of this filament that had the shrinking properties. Something else that I found really cool is that some of the doctors who has talks spoke about the role of entrepreneurship in their professional careers, which is pretty in line with what goes on at Olin. In fact, I actually saw some overlap with the material we learned in Products and Markets. Many presenters cited the Lean Model Canvas, something highlighted a lot in the class. The poster sessions were also a great experience. Because I presented two research posters, one per session, I was able to fully enjoy the design poster session. I saw a lot of really amazing devices made for problems that would benefit many. For example, one team created s small device that would help alleviate menstrual pain, which is a very prevalent issue. In the research session, I was actually one of the few undergraduates present, so it was really cool to be among such accomplished students. I was able to talk to other people in my field about my work, which helped me develop new ideas for future research. I was also able to tell people about Olin and some people in the education space recognized Olin and came up to talk to me about the school and my experiences there, which was really interesting. Overall, I really enjoyed the conference and the opportunity to really immerse myself in the bioengineering field and see what it’s like to be in the real world!