Research

An early class and a little bit too much coffee can sometimes be a recipe for disaster: jittery hands, bouncing knees, and a mind that not only wanders, but sprints in the opposite direction of the lecture material. I made this mistake towards the end of the fall quarter of my freshman year, but, as luck would have it, the extra caffeine in my system happened to bounce an idea into my head: what if I could go on pilgrimage for research?

Some of the most pressing problems in global health today demand innovative solutions that are scalable, accessible, inexpensive, and efficient. The purpose of this project was to design healthcare tools for extremely resource-constrained settings, especially in the field of global health and point-of-care disease diagnostics. In particular, the goal was to create a low-cost, electricity-free centrifuge.

The precise goal of this Senior Synthesis project was to research and study the world’s best mental health institutions in order to later redesign suicide prevention methods in the United States. Ariela has been deeply passionate about suicide prevention and mental health since her freshman year at Stanford. After working independently and in the d. school on this passion, she learned that she needed to better understand extremely successful mental health initiatives before she could redesign rehabs, mental wards, or education systems herself.

Over the course of the class, we studied various perspectives on the 'rules of love'. For my final presentation, I decided to make a short video. In this, I asked 17-21 year olds from 10 different countries: "What are three rules that you would have for yourself in love?" When I looked closely at these videos, the results were interesting. Answers varied across genders and cultures. There were differences and similarities.