Welcome, and thanks for reading my blog! My name is Brendan Hlibok and I’m a rising sophomore studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Engineering Design. At Rice, I am a captain of the club lacrosse team and an academic fellow for Math 212 (Multivariable Calculus). In my free time, I’m likely found working out, playing pickup basketball, or hanging out in the Jones Quad. Over quarantine, I got very into fitness and was proud to have created a personalized spreadsheet that tracked and calculated the amount of calories and macronutrients I both consumed and lost through activity, and then made suggestions for changes in diet based on my fitness goals. In the future, I would love to design a piece of lacrosse or football equipment to improve safety and performance. In this course, I’m excited to apply my knowledge of the engineering design process to the medical industry, and understand more about the methods and processes specific to designing medical devices and to understand patient-based design better.