2025

2025 intern blogs

First Week in Tanzania: Getting Settled, Learning a Lot, and Loving the Food

Posted on by Melissa Mar

My first week in Tanzania has been a mix of adjusting, learning, and enjoying little everyday moments. I’m starting to get used to how things work here, especially when it comes to our daily routine. Most mornings start with a short walk over to the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), where we’re working this summer. The real challenge, though, comes after we get to the building–climbing seven flights of stairs to reach the design studio. It’s definitely a workout, but the view of the city from the top makes it worth it.

Once we get settled in, everyone gets to work. The other interns are working on projects assigned by DIT, and I’ve been quietly chipping away at mine, which is part of an initiative with NEST360. I’ve spent most of this week trying to understand the data I was given and get a better grasp of the project overall.
 
My role is to explore the patterns of neonatal hypothermia across four countries–Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, and Nigeria–and how those patterns are connected to different temperature conditions, both inside and outside hospital wards. I’m working with several data sources. One is the Neonatal Inpatient Dataset, which helps track when babies experience hypothermia (at admission versus later on). I’m also looking at temperature data collected from monitoring systems and even satellite data to understand seasonal changes. The goal is to piece all of this together to better inform how hospitals can prepare for and prevent hypothermia in newborns. It’s been really interesting so far, and I’m excited to keep learning more.

A big highlight of my week was getting to meet Dr. Christine Bohne, my mentor for the project. She’s a Rice alum working with NEST360, and it was so inspiring to hear about her journey in public health. I really appreciated how open she was about her experiences–both professional and personal–and I’m grateful to have someone like her to learn from.

Outside of work, one of the best parts has been getting to know students at DIT. They’ve introduced us to all kinds of traditional Tanzanian food during lunch breaks. My first taste was chipsi mayai (a mix of fries and eggs), which was really good. But my favorite so far has been wali na maharage–rice and beans. It’s simple but so comforting, and it honestly reminds me a little of home.
 

I’ve been surprised by how many different foods I’ve gotten to try in just one week, both traditional dishes and unique versions of things I already knew. I’m really looking forward to the weekend and whatever adventures come next.

First Days in Dar!

Posted on by Melissa Mar
My name is Melissa Mar, and I recently graduated from Rice, where I majored in Statistics and minored in Data Science. Most of my academic and professional experience has been computational, so my path to this experience was a little unexpected. I was introduced to members of the Rice360 leadership team while I was looking for international fellowship opportunities that aligned with my interests in global health and education. I wasn’t sure at first if my skill set would be a fit, but I quickly realized that data plays a huge role in solving global health challenges and that my background could be an asset in this space.
 
In our conversations, they suggested I might be particularly interested in the work being done at NEST360 and offered to connect me with someone who could help me take the first steps toward getting involved. This summer, I’m working with NEST360 on a project aimed at understanding hypothermia in newborns across Tanzania and other African countries. The details are still developing, but I already know it’s going to be important, impactful work, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.
 
I’m also looking forward to the hands-on parts of this internship. I don’t have as much experience with prototyping as some of the other interns, but I’m eager to learn and contribute to our feedback efforts on devices like the tourniquet trainer and gastroschisis bag. It’s exciting (and a little nerve-wracking!) to step outside my comfort zone, but I know it will make me a better teammate and learner in the long run.
 

Being in Tanzania has already been such an eye-opening experience. The pace of life here is different. For example, dinner often turns into a three-hour event. The slower pace feels unfamiliar, maybe even a little uncomfortable. But I can already tell that by the end of my time here, I won’t want it any other way.

It’s also been so incredible to meet our mentors here. Joel, who cares deeply about our experience, has already been such a supportive presence. And Cleria’s kindness and energy have made us feel right at home. I’m so grateful for both of them, and I’m really looking forward to learning even more from them throughout this journey.

About Me – Shreya

Posted on by sp181

Hi everyone!

My name is Shreya, and I am a rising junior from Baker majoring in Bioengineering with a minor in Neuroscience. Growing up in India, I’ve seen firsthand the health disparities in developing countries and the need for low-cost yet high-quality medical devices (it’s part of what inspired me to major in bioengineering), so I’m really excited for this chance to make a meaningful contribution to global health technologies.

The 2 projects that we brought over from Rice are the gastroschisis bag and the tourniquet trainer. The gastroschisis bag (pictured below) was developed by the interns in Tanzania last summer as a low-cost and easily manufacturable solution to gastroschisis – a congenital birth defect where the baby’s intestines protrude outside of the body through a hole in the abdominal wall. Our main goal for this summer is to get feedback on how we can further improve the device and make sure that all the materials are easily available in Tanzania. The tourniquet trainer was developed by a team at Rice this year, which included my fellow intern Andy, to help with first aid training for the life-saving skill.

Aside from those, I’m excited to learn more about our host projects that we’ll be working on at DIT (Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology). We’ve already met some people there, like the director general of DIT – Dr. Msumba, the head of the design studio – Joel, the assistant manager – Cleria, and some of their friends who have been the sweetest and have already shown us around Dar es Salaam. Below are pictures of us at lunch and the ocean (which is just a short walk away!)

I’m grateful for this opportunity to not only contribute to the healthcare system, in whatever way I can, but also to explore this beautiful country, immerse myself in the culture, eat some delicious food, and hopefully pick up some Swahili. I can’t wait to see what the next 2 months have in store for us and I hope you’ll follow along through these blogs!

Until next time (or in Swahili – hadi wakati mwingine),
Shreya ♡

Greetings from Dar es Salaam! [Andy, 06/01/2025]

Posted on by ac185

Yesterday, my plane landed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania!

I’m Andy Corliss, a rising senior at Hanszen college studying bioengineering with a minor in global health technologies. I’m really excited for the chance to contribute to global health in a meaningful way through this program. 

The first project I’m working on is a low cost tourniquet training mannequin which my team last semester dubbed “Tourni-Kit”. We started it in the Appropriate Design for Global Health course in January 2025. The goal of this project is to improve access to life-saving bleeding control first aid training in a market where current models cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. 

By the end of the Spring semester, our team (Figure 1) had developed a working arm prototype that bleeds and stops bleeding at the appropriate pressure of a tourniquet being applied. In Tanzania, our primary goal with this project is to get feedback on this current prototype on how it can be improved. Additionally, there are several areas of improvement that we’ve already identified, such as durability to water exposure and consistency of the bleeding mechanism. Another focus area will be to ensure a prototype can be fabricated from locally sourced materials.

Team Tourni-Kit

 

Figure 1: Presenting the current Tourni-Kit prototype at the Huff OEDK Engineering Design Showcase in April 2025. Left to right: Katie Voong (currently in Malawi with Rice360!), Joanna Wei, myself, Naayaa Mehta, Justin Xia.

The second project we’re taking is the gastroschisis bag, which is a treatment for newborns with a birth defect that causes their intestines to be on the outside of their body. Although it is a treatable condition with high survival rates in the United States, the standard method of care there is too expensive to be implemented in much of Africa.

Previous Rice360 interns have developed a prototype designed to isolate and protect newborns’ intestines out of just two materials that can be fabricated in only about 15 minutes (Figure 2). Moving forward, there are two major goals to get this device closer to helping real patients. The first is to find a way to sterilize it and maintain this sterilization until it is used. The second is to develop an effective way to package it. Another goal to make the gastroschisis project a success is to ensure the materials can be locally sourced here at DIT.

 

Figure 2: Current gastroschisis bag prototype. A 500 Tanzanian Shilling coin (slightly bigger than an American quarter) is used for size reference.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be planning other projects such as our collaboration with DIT students.

Although I was a little nervous initially, Joel, Cleria, Dr. Msumba, and everyone else I’ve met here have made me feel so at home even in the first 24 hours. I’m so excited to keep learning from everyone and I’ll make sure to share the highlights in this blog.

Stay tuned!

Figure 3: Keeping my Swahili Duolingo streak alive!