What does it mean to “Design Like a Girl”? This summer, a group of passionate, women-identifying high school students gathered at McMaster University to find out – through a full day of hands-on STEM exploration.
Hosted by the Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences (iBioMed) program, the annual Design Like a Girl event offered participants a unique opportunity to dive into the world of engineering, health sciences and design thinking. From learning the fundamentals of circuitry and Python programming to tackling real-world healthcare challenges, the event empowered students to see themselves as future leaders and changemakers in STEM.
Participating in Design Like a Girl was such a fun and inspiring experience! I got to learn about design and engineering in a way that felt creative, empowering, and hands-on. It encouraged me to think about new possibilities for my future.
Practical and impactful challenges
In teams of five, Design Like a Girl participants first were tasked with recreating the UV-C LED technology behind LARQ’s self-cleaning water bottle. Led by Parm Bola, an iBioMed instructional assistant led the activity that involved an introduction to electronics and sensors.
This was a warm-up to a healthcare challenge, for which students were asked to apply newly developed skills to develop innovative solutions. The day culminated in a design showcase and awards ceremony, where teams presented their prototypes to a panel of judges.
The winning team, Echolens, impressed with their solution for visually impaired individuals. Using YOLO (You Only Look Once), a real-time object detection system, they proposed a wearable device that could detect obstacles and alert users through a camera mounted on glasses – an elegant and impactful application of AI in assistive technology.
It takes a village
Pulling off a full day of programming with purpose required the involvement of many iBioMed staff, faculty and students.
In addition to Parm Bola leading the water-bottle challenge, Tory Olubumni managed logistics for the event, Judie Khater, a work-study iBioMed student supported social media and outreach, and student ambassadors Kristina Siiman, Emma Smucz, Jasmine Ren, Chloe Wong, Aala Sylani, Ava Kashfi and Parina Dehmeshki provided support during the day.
Even iBioMed alumni were involved; Shayna Earle and Kaitlyn Clancy volunteered as judges for the final challenge.
Attending the Design Like a Girl event at McMaster iBioMed was such an inspiring and unforgettable experience. Every activity felt so thoughtfully planned and left me feeling empowered and motivated.
