Kelsey Smegner Email & Phone Number

Houston, Texas, United States

● Tutoring of elementary through college students in over 40 different subjects including math, science, language arts, history, and engineering courses. Test preparation at all levels for AP, SAT, ACT, and other exams.● Teaching of over 100 clients with a diverse range of learning capabilities, limitations, and desired outcomes such that each client achieved learning objectives, goal scores, and/or gained admittance to higher education institutions.

The Houston Community ToolBank is a nonprofit organization that provides fellow not-for-profit organizations (and disaster volunteers) with year-round access to an inventory of tools for use in volunteer projects, disaster relief, facility and environmental maintenance. Access to ToolBank tools eliminates the need for agencies to incur the expense of purchasing, insuring, repairing, and storing tools, reducing the costs associated with service projects and allowing these agencies to focus more of their resources on their mission. ● Project management between trailer coordinators, disaster trailers, and the Houston warehouse to serve the 7 million people in the Texas Coastal regions to complete and exceed tool lending program goals by 200%.● Developed backstock, donation, and event supply systems to optimize manageability for organizing and maintaining a warehouse of tools to equip over 65,000 people with over 79,000 tools for community and disaster relief projects.● Built partnerships with organizations across Texas and the USA to complete various community and disaster relief projects and to achieve being the first ToolBank to exceed 1000 orders involving over $5.1 million in tools.● Coauthored the regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) plans for disaster management, affecting 14 counties and millions of people in Texas.Skills: project management, disaster management, logistics of tools and equipment, warehouse design and optimization, building partnerships

● Worked under Dr. Stephen H. Little M.D., who serves as the program director for the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program, medical director of the Valve Clinic, and director of ● Conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in patient specific heart models after the implementation of a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to study the viability of this procedure as an alternative to physical methods for better patient outcomes.● Mock circulatory loop (MCL) experimentation using physical patient specific cardiovascular models and EKG characteristics to study the effects of TAVR regurgitation on the health of the patient so that better surgical techniques may be developed. Included setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the MCL as well as the insertion of the TAVR into the cardiovascular model prior to the simulation.● Segmentation of MRI images to create the patient specific CAD cardiac models used for the aforementioned CFD and mock loop experiments.● Conducted in vitro functional imaging of structural heart disease constructs to better understand the impact of TAVR implementation.Skills: cardiovascular fluid dynamics, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), patient specific modeling, Materialise Mimics, segmenting solid CAD models, fluid domain extraction, numerical simulations, MatLab, mesh generation and analysis, mock circulatory loops

● Conducted CFD studies of regurgitation after transcatheter aortic valve replacement implantation in patient specific models to develop device improvements for better patient outcomes.● Preparation and positioning of TAVR inside segmented patient specific models from MRI data for CFD simulation to reduce time and expense needed for physical model testing.● Wrote a thesis on blood regurgitation experienced after the implementation of TAVR utilizing research and experience gained at University of Houston and Houston Methodist Research Institute.Skills: Computational fluid dynamic simulations, ANSYS Fluent, SolidWorks, cardiovascular fluid dynamics, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), patient specific modeling, MatLab, Inventor, open source CAD softwares, mesh generation and analysis, ANSYS Meshing, ICEM CFD

The Biotech Manufacturing Center of Texas was a contract manufacturing facility specializing in medical device components and engineering consulting and prototyping. Contract projects included:● Consulted clients on how to realize their ideas for medical devices, including the design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing processes.● Designed schematics for medical devices and sent to machinists for tooling. Assembled the tooled components, designed and built testing fixtures. Conducted ample testing to ensure the medical devices meet the standards and needs of the client.● Served as an independent reviewer for critical design reviews for various clients and their products, including West Pharmaceutical auto-injectors.● Wrote testing and assembly documentation, implementation specifications, SOPs, and GOPs that were verified using Gage R&R to fulfill all FDA validation requirements.● FMEA implementation for medical device parts and sub-assemblies for better device development and manufacturing.Skills: contract manufacturing, medical device components, SolidWorks, Minitab, ISO and ANSI drafting standards, quality engineering, Gage R&R fixture implementation, Labview, injection molding, extrusion, 3D printing, device design, test fixture design, assembly fixture design, FMEA analysis, independent design reviewer, critical design review, regulatory and quality management system auditor, engineering consulting

This senior design project (or Capstone project) was completed as a requirement for an engineering undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University in collaboration with Texas Heart Institute.● Developed a novel prototype for a device to aid in Nissen fundoplication surgical procedures through extensive SolidWorks design and material assessment to meet the needs of the client while remaining cost efficient.● Presented findings in weekly meetings and design reviews to a panel of physicians and engineers for client approval.● Tested and analyzed performance of prototypes in animal tissue as an animal model analogous to patient anatomy.Skills: SolidWorks, FMEA analysis, design reviews, working prototypes built, collaboration between engineers and doctors, animal tissue testing

● Part of a 5 person team maintaining 300 computers and assisting up to 150 users at a time by analyzing and troubleshooting printer and computer issues

● Aided in further development of a novel cardiac assist device for patients recovering from cardiac arrest to improve patient outcomes.● Assessed materials for their bio-compatible characteristics to optimize functionality and minimize immune response for better patient outcomes as well as improved cost efficiency.● Experimented with the utilization of external electromagnets to drive the pumping action of the device to mitigate the risk of infection from foreign bodies inside the patient. Gained knowledge and experience with electromagnets through research and experimentation.Skills: electromagnet control, Labview, Matlab, biosignal analysis, cost efficient bio-compatible material choice, circuit design, prototype assembly

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Biomedical/Medical Engineering

Master Of Science (M.S.), Biomedical/Medical Engineering