Ever wonder what it’s really like to do research as a biomedical engineering undergraduate student? Check our Emily Woodland who recently completed a STAR Scholarship. 

Emily Woodland

BS Student, Biomedical Engineering

Research Lab: BioCirc Research Laboratory

Transcript

My name is Emily Woodland, and I'm a part of Drexel's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems. I am a B.S., M.S. student with concentrations in biomechanics and biomaterials.

What is your STAR Project?

My project is the Drexel DragonHeart. My faculty advisor is Dr. Amy Throckmorton, and my student advisor is Ph.D. student Giselle Matlis. My goal was to analyze the design of the centrifugal pump within DragonHeart 7 in order to improve its performance in the future.

Does this address an unmet medical need?

Currently, there is no single device that can take a child with heart failure from infancy all the way to adolescence without putting them at risk for serious health concerns such as blood cell damage and blood clotting. So that is why our team at the BioCirc Research Lab wanted to design the Drexel DragonHeart in order to combat the limitations of these existing devices.

What are the next steps?

Our next steps are to move to in-person bench-top prototype testing and blood cell studies to ensure the validity of these results returned by instance.

What drew you to the STAR program?

The STAR program was a wonderful way to get my research kicked off here at Drexel. I got to meet a lot of important faculty advisors in the biomedical engineering community that would sustain me throughout my time here at Drexel.

How does it feel to be in Philadelphia?

Being in Philadelphia is great. There is a lot of great food and activities to enjoy, especially during the summer. Personally, I had a lot of fun exploring the city with my roommate and other friends that I made here on campus.