Category: Articles

As my previous article mentioned, this will be focused on what my role in The Devil Wears Science and what my group had accomplished for everything to run smoothly. I was in the group called Too Hot to Handle along with Sachit Swaminathan and  Ashmitha Aravind.

Below showcases what was going on since October 2022. You would think that it was mostly researching about the science behind our piece of clothing, you aren’t wrong, but we also had to take into mind the time limit in presenting our findings in a fashion show, why was it important, etc.

Brainstorming: 

• We divided into groups, one for each professor 
• We started to through out ideas based off what everyone was involved in on campus or what they like to do (hobbies/clubs/organizations)
• We came to an agreement to focus on bees
  • it was also due to that Dr. Leavey was our professor and she works with the bees
  • Dr. Leavey is the advisor of the beekeeping club so it was like we had a foot in the door before we started
• She gave us ideas on what type of science to focus on:
  • heat exhaustion/heat stroke
  • beekeepers suits pros/cons
  • real world examples
  • other professions that deal with this
  • GT related research work

Dividing work within our group:

• We all decided to research information about heat exhaustion, heat stroke, the science behind both of these topics, examples in the real world and any experiment/research that GT might be involved in related to our topic
• Some specific topics that we focused on: prevention, treatment, consequences, examples, researchers at topic 

February – March:

• Dividing into groups helped us obtain 5-6 different topics that we could discuss along with related clothing items.
• We kept researching on our topics to focus on the main points, which eventually led to the writing of our script.
• We had to keep our script within 5-6 minutes which allowed the model(s) to walk on the runway and for the audience to not get bored.
• Deciding what we had to say and the time limit was harder than we thought. There was a lot of crucial information that we wanted to include but had to keep only the main points

March (me):

• In addition to to the Too Hot to Handle research, I was asked to translate the Tagua nut group’s script to possibly present it in Spanish.
• I received the script the week before and had time to translate it before our dress rehearsal.

  

The Day Before:

• We did a dress rehearsal in class to make sure each presentation was on time and that no group missed important information.
• Me personally: I researched information about heat stroke/heat exhaustion and presented a script for my classmates to edit. 
• I translated the script, presented them with any feedback and ran it to see if it was within the time limit. 

Day of event:

• We got there 3 hours before show time to set up and make sure we didn’t forget anything.
• We set up the room, music (+ DJ came), the presentation/slides for timing and smoother transition
• Other than minor microphone issues, each presentation ran smoothly and within the time limit
• In addition to our fashion show, we let the audience have their own fashion show. I loved how our event was so interactive and hope everyone enjoyed it.

  

Extra information:

• You can find our presentation slides here:
  •  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S3ByNilN6ZiaWBgu-BxrRxdKqgXIS-LyX8bK10vuWTI/edit?usp=sharing 
  • Which explains a bit of the science behind heat exhaustion
  • Some examples in the real world 
  • Prevention 
  • GT related research
• Here you can find the tagua nut script and translated version: 
  • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ahL8Lbr4te8hVm8-UTXizX2c68NHNIZFbsh4EXgjfGg/edit?usp=sharing

Whew! That was a rollercoaster of emotions. It has been a couple of weeks since our Atlanta Science Festival (ASF) event, The Devil Wears Science. We have been planning this fashion show since October 2022. All the hard work paid off and I couldn’t have done it without my classmates and professors. 

This article will be focusing on the what was done leading up to the event (like a behind the scenes):

October: ASF idea brainstorming 

• We had to submit our proposal that had to include: title, teaser, price, audience, etc.

  • Event Description: During this event the audience will explore new scientific and technological innovations in fashion in the form of a fashion show. We will have presentations of fashion prototypes and ideas in science fields like textiles, chemistry, sustainability, engineering, and wearable devices. While presenters talk about the science and styles, models will show off these designs on the catwalk. At the end of the all the presentations, the audience will vote on their favorite designs. After the show, there will be a brief Q&A with the presenting scientists and fun networking opportunities. Audience members can participate by dressing up in their own scientific style for the opportunity to win small giveaway items like stickers, t-shirts, etc.

• We adjusted our teaser to focus on the audience we wanted to bring
  • Teaser: Join Georgia Tech STEMComm in the fanciest and nerdiest fashion show of the year! See scientists, designers, and engineers showcase the newest innovations in fashion and wearable science on the runway. Vote on your favorite designs and strut in your own scientific style to win special event giveaways!
• We vaguely outlined main deadlines up until the event date 

November and December: Storyboard

• Once we had our idea finalized and approved, we got started
• We started to figure out main topics and clothing on what we should showcase (like clothing types)
• We were also figuring out what campus organizations might be interested to collaborate or organization on/off campus. Some that we thought of are listed below:
  • The Hive
  • ID school
  • Beekeeper’s Club
  • Drama Tech

January:

• With a new semester, we lost some members but we also gained new members. 
• We got back on track with planning the event
• Created groups based on what everyone was interested in
• We started dealing with advertising and marketing 
• We also finalized the event venue, event date/time
  • Kendeda Building
  • March 11, 2023 at 7pm
• We also came to an agreement with what items of clothing we will be showcasing and what researchers would be included. 
  • Beekeeper’s suit
  • 3D printing on fabric
  • Tagua nut fashion
  • Wearables and Interactive Product Design Lab (Jim Budd)
• We started outlining our presentation: what needs to be included, key points, science behind the clothing etc

February + Beginnings of March:

• Finishing up our presentations on what we will be presenting at the event
• Each group finalized their script to be within the time limit and to be able to include everything related to the item of clothing, the science behind it and anything else useful 
• Any last minute venue preparations and items that needed to be brought to the event (not sure who made this)
  • 
• We reached out and kept in contact with our models 
• We kept up with the marketing and ticket sales
• We then did a dress rehearsal the day before the event to make sure everything was within time, nothing left out, etc. 

Be sure to tune into my next article where I’ll talk about what my group presented in the showcase and what my role was in the event. Also, what additional tasks we each had to do and help out our fellow classmates.

At the Atlanta Science Festival, me and my team members, Ashmita and Claudia, had the pleasure of getting to talk about Heat Stroke to a large audience of individuals and explain the seriousness of it, and why it’s so important to pay so much attention to it and take so much initiative to prevent it. Not only did I enjoy this experience because it gave me experience speaking in public in front of a large group of family members! But, in doing so, I myself actually became more interested in the topic and its political, social, and economic implications. Being a Biomedical Engineer, this topic also hit close to me as it reminded me of a pressing global problem, where the solutions still have significant limitations in their capabilities and how accessible they are all around the world, an issue that I commonly learn how to tackle throughout my degree. In this post, I hope to do two things. I hope to share the information and insight I learned about heat stroke with those who were unable to come to the Atlanta Science Festival. Second of all, I hope I can share with you some of the ways I have thought about solving this pressing problem of Heat Stroke and my thought process to go about solving it!

First of all, many of you are probably wondering, haven’t we all dealt with Heat Stroke? After all, Atlanta is perpetually hot all the time! Heck, it’s just the beginning of May and it already feels like it’s 140 degrees. However, as miserable as that might have been, I promise you that that was not Heat Stroke! What you likely dealt with was Heat Exhaustion, which is extremely uncomfortable, but I promise you that it is not nearly as bad as Heat Stroke! With Heat Exhaustion, at least your homeostatic mechanisms are still working. You know your Homeostatic Mechanisms, the ones that ensure that your body is still in balance, even with changes in the environment to prevent you from developing diseases or dying?! Do you remember how, for instance, when you have gone and exercised quite a bit or you have been outside in the hot sun for some time, you have sweat quite a bit? These are examples of your homeostatic mechanisms kicking in, so you do not have a detrimental response to these environmental changes. The problem, though, is that like everything in life, these mechanisms designed to protect you can fail. Eventually, the hypothalamus, which is responsible for maintaining this homeostasis gets worn out. When that happens, you are basically exposed to this significantly increasing temperature, without any defense mechanism to fight back (Garcia 6). At that point, you are essentially overheating like a computer which is something that can lead to significant consequences, including death, which I will discuss as we go forward!

So now that you know the difference, the next thing that you are probably doing is, what can we do to better deal with the increasing incidence of Heat Stroke in our society? First of all, healthcare providers in our society have to do a better job of treating Heat Stroke with the same level of urgency as other critical illnesses and have to treat it more like diseases, such as Appendicitis, where you will immediately die if you do not get the necessary surgery. This is extremely similar to that. In the case of Heat stroke, not getting treatment immediately can lead to muscle, kidney, heart and even brain damage. The other side of this argument is that more effort has to be taken by the individual to prevent the detrimental consequences of heat stroke and take early action before it is too late, and there are significant, everlasting effects. Simple steps may seem inconvenient, but they can ensure prevention of the worst outcomes from heat stroke. For instance, steps, such as drinking enough fluids, looking out for health related problems with medications, applying sunscreen, and avoidinging overworking in the heat can go a long way. Additionally, significantly more funding has to be spent by the government in investing in the protective equipment necessary to effectively prevent heat stroke as investing money in vaccines, and treatments for other diseases. While two solutions, besides just protective equipment, Neck Fan and the Ice Pack, have gone a long way in attempting to prevent and mitigate Heat stroke by helping to constantly blow cold air around a person’s neck, so as to help that person cool off and bring their body temperature down and reducing body temperature by promoting the contraction of blood vessels; thereby, ensuring that joints are less stiff and that muscle spasms are less likely to occur, these solutions have limitations in the long-term. Eventually, an issue will arise with long-term use of these interventions and something more will need to be done to prevent a significant rise in temperature in just a short period of time. This is especially true for individuals who are in jobs that exposes them to significant amounts of heat on a chronic basis (Kim 4). Additionally, while current PPE are effective in preventing certain infections, they also add to the problem of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (Steps to Put on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).” World Health Organization, World Health Organization).

This is where research from Georgia Tech and other universities in this area has come to extremely significant use in helping to create longer-lasting and more effective solutions. The solution from Georgia Tech researchers resulted from a way of thinking that was completely outside the box of the problem, but got to the heart of what was necessary! Tech researchers have found that with the creation of a sensor system, through the utilization of a cloud based sensor system, not only can heat stroke be treated effectively, but its incidence can be significantly reduced to begin with (GTRI Helps Develop Wearable Sensor System to Prevent Heat Injuries among Soldiers). Trust me, this technology is way too much for me to understand! However, the gist is that researchers will be able to obtain information about changes in soldiers’ temperatures over significantly large distances. Too large of a heat increase in too short a time will still be a problem. Make no mistake! However, the hope is that if a rapid heat increase is detected before it becomes an extreme issue, a soldier can get the help that they need to prevent complications (Foy 2). This is especially true with the use of local networks, which should be able to tell a soldier whether there are any soldiers in close proximity to them that can assist them. In the long-term, I hope that I can build upon this work to create an internal cooling mechanism to bring down the temperature and a method to help predict baseline normal temperature, based on the thickness of the suit and the environment an individual is working in. For now, though, I hope I have at least been able to better provide insight into why Heat Stroke is such a big problem and why it is one that both more individual and societal effort is needed to solve!

Citations:

1. Akins, Anna. “GTRI Helps Develop Wearable Sensor System to Prevent Heat Injuries among Soldiers.” Institute Relations, https://gov.gatech.edu/node/515.
2. Cecile Garcia, Operations Manager. “Feeling (Not so) Hot: Heat-Related Conditions and Illnesses.” Blog, Joffe Emergency Services, 14 June 2019, https://blog.joffeemergencyservices.com/event-medical-services/feeling-not-so-hot-heat-related-conditions-and-illnesses. 
3. “Steps to Put on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/bangladesh/emergencies/coronavirus-disease-%28covid-19%29-update/steps-to-put-on-personal-protective-equipment-%28ppe%29. 
4. Kim, Siyeon, et al. “Frequency of Firefighters’ Heat-Related Illness and Its Association with Removing Personal Protective Equipment and Working Hours.” Industrial Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 4 June 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6546580/. 
5. Foy, Kylie. “New Device Detects Heat Strain in Military Trainees.” MIT Lincoln Laboratory, https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/new-device-detects-heat-strain-military-trainees.

Attending the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) Conference in Toronto in March was truly an eye-opening experience for me. As a student research assistant in the Bridge-Up STEM program, I had the privilege of presenting my work at the conference and gained a new perspective on university-level education.

I attended the conference from March 15-March 18 with Georgia Tech researchers and researchers from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). The Bridge-Up STEM program, a collaborative effort between GT and NCWT, equips women and non-binary people to do computing research under the mentorship of a College of Computing professor while also mentoring high school students. I specifically attended the conference to present about my work as a teaching assistant to a cohort of local high schoolers who had a research fellowship through the program.

During the conference, I had the opportunity to understand the various aspects of planning a computer science education at the university level, as well as reflect on my own experience doing so for a high school audience.

In particular, I realized the importance of the way in which community resources are offered to younger students seeking a foundation in computer science. The panel discussion with other researchers highlighted the challenges of selecting the most suitable students for a research fellowship program aimed at students from marginalized backgrounds. While selecting only straight-A students might exclude those who are interested but haven’t discovered computer science activities yet, identifying students who don’t know much about computer science but have the potential and interest to learn can be challenging during the selection process. Such challenges encouraged me to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions to better serve students and increase accessibility to computer science education.

Moreover, attending workshops and panels during the conference hosted by other educators allowed me to have a deeper understanding of university-level computer science education from a professor’s perspective. One panel discussion that particularly caught my attention was on the “5 things not to do when teaching.” One of the mistakes which was discussed by a Harvard professor involved their computing college’s initiative to reinvent office hours for computer science undergraduate students.

The new initiative replaced the previous format, which featured rows of desktop computers in the basement, with long dining hall tables, and created a new software program that allowed students to ask TAs for homework help. However, this initiative ultimately did not succeed as planned, as most students waited until the last two days of the weekly assignment’s deadline to come to office hours, and when the software for TA waiting times became overloaded, the students had to raise their hands, and there weren’t enough tables for everyone.

The panel audience mainly consisted of university professors who shared their experiences with implementing various office hours initiatives. However, there was still a gap between the initiatives implemented by professors and the actual learning experiences of the students. This realization prompted me to reflect on my own experience with office hours for different computer science classes. As a student, I have often experienced the issue of an unbalanced TA-to-student ratio, the resulting frustration, and the difficulties that arise when trying to complete my work.

Thinking about different ways to solve this problem, while taking into account both the student’s perspective and the logistics of professors and educators, I realized that one solution could be to have students write down their question next to their name when they come to office hours, allowing students with similar questions to sit next to each other and help each other out. TAs could also rotate every five minutes, giving each student a chance to ask their question and reducing the overall wait time. Additionally, when a TA helps a student with a particular question, all other students with the same question can sit next to the student and learn what to do.

Attending this panel made me realize that there are always new and innovative ways to approach teaching and learning, and it inspired me to think more creatively about how to solve problems in my own computer science academic work.

Imagine that you’re a Georgia Tech student. Your day starts at 8:25 AM, with your first class, Systems Physiology, which you know you have a weekly quiz in. You wake up at 8:05 AM, and by the time you finish brushing your teeth and changing into your clothes, you see that is 8:10 AM. Your class is not nearby. These are not the times of virtual classes after all! You have to make it all the way across campus, and you have barely any time to do so. You can’t take the bus because the bus is running late. So, you are unfortunately left with only one choice, to run quickly to class and skip breakfast, or eat breakfast, miss your quiz, and hurt your grade. Which do you pick? The answer that many students at Georgia Tech would pick would be to skip breakfast. After all, your stomach can wait right? Your hunger can wait? So what that you don’t eat for a few hours, what is really the worst that can happen? Eventually, skipping breakfast leads to skipping lunch because you are too busy throughout the day to eat lunch, and eventually, next thing you know, you’re skipping dinner because there’s no time to eat any dinner. You have that test to study for that’s happening in the morning that you need to ace, and you can’t even waste a second taking a break to eat. This is unfortunately the reality for many Tech students, and college students, in general, and I hope to tell you today why this reality is so dangerous and the significant harm that it can cause.

Sure, one or two days of late eating or skipping meals may not harm you. Heck, even if you do it for a few months, nothing might happen. However, what I am here to tell you and what I hope to instill in your minds today is that this is not something that you will get away with over the longer term. Contrary to what you may have been told, your digestive system is not ironclad. Just like other parts of your body, your digestive system is prone to diseases and issues. You just don’t realize it because, well, how could you? When your digestion is working as it should, you are less inclined to pay attention to it because you are not in a constant state of pain or distress. It is only when things go wrong that you start to realize how truly important eating properly is, and the impacts of not eating properly. Over time, not eating properly can wreak havoc, not just on your digestive tract, but ultimately your entire body. In fact, not eating properly can be a risk factor for many chronic diseases in the digestive tract and throughout the body that can ultimately increase the risk for cancers, autoimmune conditions, tissue damage, etc. if they continue long enough.

Perhaps, one of the most devastating consequences of chronically undereating, caused by skipping meals is the development of a condition called Gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is a condition that is caused, when the stomach empties significantly more slowly than it should. Think of it this way, normally when you eat something like a sandwich, over 90% or so of that sandwich should be gone from your stomach within 4 hours. Put another way, if someone were to take a look in your stomach after four hours, they should see almost none of the sandwich there. Contrast that to someone with Gastroparesis, where, even after 3 to 4 hours, a noticeable amount of that sandwich may still be remaining in that person’s stomach (perhaps, even as much as 40% to 50% of the meal, or, in some cases, even more). Now, you might think, surely it’s not that big of a deal that your stomach takes longer to empty? What’s the worst that’s going to happen? You’re going to feel a little more full for a little more time, so what? Unfortunately, the symptoms are usually much more severe than this and most people feel much more uncomfortable than just feeling full for a longer period of time. When the stomach does not empty as it should, many people can feel nauseous, have stomach pain, feel like their stomach is overly stretched for long periods of time, etc. (Gastroparesis).

Additionally, the discomfort of Gastroparesis does not just stop with the symptoms of the disease itself. Many people who have Gastroparesis are at risk of developing a significant complication known as a Bezoar. This is when undigested food matter essentially forms a large clump in your stomach or your intestines and effectively blocks the flow/passage of other food or fluid (Palchaudhuri 26). One example is a Phytobezoar, which is made up of matter from cellulose and other cruciferous vegetables that are poorly digested in those with impaired gut motility. There are other types of Bezoars, but the key theme with all of them is that they can be life threatening if not addressed immediately because they can prevent the delivery of nutrients to your tissues. Gastroparesis can also affect your blood sugar levels. You may not think about it, but, usually, when you eat, your stomach moves food to your small intestine throughout the day, keeping rises and falls in your blood glucose levels extremely stable. However, for someone with Gastroparesis, when food that is stuck in the stomach for so many hours suddenly moves to the small intestine all at once, all that sudden absorption of large quantities of food can cause such a significant and rapid increase in Blood Glucose levels. This can have extreme complications, such as causing Ketoacidosis, and causing rapid cell shrinkage, due to a person’s blood becoming significantly more concentrated than it was before(Shakil and Church 1699).

So now that you have heard so much about Gastroparesis, you are probably wondering, how does skipping meals cause Gastroparesis? How does my stomach suddenly lose its ability to digest food properly, just because I skip meals? Well, it turns out that the answer is actually much more logical than you might think. Just like other muscles in your body, the muscles and nerves in your stomach need to be used periodically in order to effectively work. Just like other muscles and nerves in other parts of the body, the muscles and nerves in the stomach atrophy or weaken when they are not being effectively used. For example, have you ever seen the movies about children who were in wheelchairs all their life, and then suddenly tried to walk? Did you notice how it took these children a very very long time to learn how to walk afterwards? Similarly, have you noticed how when you lift weights at the gym, you build muscle, but after a period of time, when you stop working out, you end up losing all that muscle? This is a natural consequence of muscle atrophy. Believe it or not, the same thing happens in your stomach. Moving food is essentially the work out for the muscles in your stomach, and if they stop getting this work out, they get weaker and weaker (Santonicola and Gaglidari 10). To an extent, these muscles can become stronger again by being used again, through eating properly, but it is a slow and difficult process and it is one that I don’t think anyone should have to go through, especially for something this preventable.

So why did I tell you all this information about a random health condition? Well, my intention was not to scare you, but rather just to convey that taking care of your physical health is just as important as success and grades. These days, so much stress is put on our age group to meet certain expectations that I think we forget the importance of taking care of ourselves sometimes, and that is really a significant problem in and of itself. The incidence of many diseases in young people are rising, especially in the western world, and one significant factor is that, these days, young adults are so stressed out that they do not take the time to put as much effort into their health or their physical and mental well being, as they do their success. So, I hope with this post, I have emphasized that not taking care of your health can have significant consequences and is just as important as being successful in school and other facets of life.

Citations:

Chawla, Rajeev. “Gastrointestinal Complications of Diabetes.” Complications of Diabetes, 2012, pp. 100–100., https://doi.org/10.5005/jp/books/11685_10.