Hi, welcome to my blog! My name is Dylan Yoon and I’m a rising sophomore majoring in Environmental Engineering. Over the past year, I’ve become passionate about global health technologies, which stems from my interest in studying water quality and treatment throughout high school. To me, both fields embody similar engineering principles of prioritizing the development of affordable and accessible technologies for low-resource communities. 

This interest had brought me to pursue a project in ENGI120 during my Freshman Fall semester where I worked on building a low-cost infant breastfeeding monitoring device. Breastfeeding is essential to infant health and survival; within the first six months of infant life, this form of nutritive feeding is the baby’s primary source of nourishment and ensures the proper intellectual development. Thus, it is imperative to ensure that babies are feeding properly.

We created a low-cost device that provides relevant and objective pressure data to quantify infant breastfeeding ability, while also providing an analytical interface that is highly accessible to parents. It’s designed to be worn comfortably around a mothers arm and can gather pressure data during breastfeeding, thereby helping to preserve the natural connection between the mother and her baby.

During this internship, one of my primary goals is to get feedback from physicians/clinicians in the hospital setting and incorporate their insights into improving the device. I mainly want to streamline the ease-of-use with our device, reduce construction time, and ensure data accuracy. I’m excited to collaborate with the electrical engineering program at UNAPEC and refine the device further.

I’m also looking forward to learning more about Valerie’s project and collaborating on our projects together. In addition, I look forward to the needs-finding process, both for my personal project and for future Rice360 projects. I’m excited to learn about the hospital system here and the healthcare system. I’m eager to explore the local hospital system, learn more about the healthcare landscape, and immerse myself in the rich culture here through food, language, and discovering the city.

Thanks for following along!