"I had the incredible opportunity to work with the Center for Injury Research and Prevention during the summer of 2014 under the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program. I worked closely with the biomechanics engineering research team under my mentor, Dr. Aditya Belwadi, but also worked alongside various fellow employees and took advantage of the variety of experiences CIRP has to offer. My personal responsibilities this past summer involved two main projects. The first one tackled the digitization of child restraint systems (CRS) to create a virtual surrogate model representative of the entire CRS market. The second project involved investigation into the effects that side air bag exposure on child occupants involved in vehicle collisions. Both of these projects have given me great exposure to different programs and skills I hope to take with me throughout my career as well as an excellent introduction to safety standards and regulations within the automobile industry.
While I finish my senior year at Drexel University, I am continuing my experience here at CIRP on one of the previously mentioned projects under Dr. Belwadi’s tremendous guidance and supervision. CIRP has helped me to discover what the industry has to offer, how to interact with it, and has allowed me to feel even more at ease with my decision to pursue a career path in it. As a student in Drexel’s BS/MS program I look forward to my graduation in June 2015 when I will obtain a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on Biomechanics. Additionally, I am on course to complete an Engineering Management Certification at the graduate level and this past summer I have completed my Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination for which I hope to one day move on and obtain my Professional Engineering (PE) license. Everyone at CIRP has been extremely supportive and encouraging in all of these endeavors and I’m very thankful for my time here."