Aashini Shah, an undergraduate researcher in the Biomechatronics group, is one of 13 MIT undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni awarded Fulbright fellowships to pursue projects overseas in the 2022–23 grant year. Sponsored by the US Department of State, the Fulbright US Student Program offers grants in over 150 countries for independent research, graduate study, and English teaching.
Shah is a senior, majoring in mechanical and electrical engineering with a focus on medical technology. She is the recipient of the sole Fulbright Singapore award and will conduct research at the National University of Singapore on novel health-sensing devices. As an undergraduate, Shah’s research projects have spanned mobile health-care delivery, controls for a lower limb prosthesis, and a sensing platform for augmenting at-home rehabilitation exercises. She enjoys learning about international public health systems and technologies, and has interned in South Africa and Australia. Shah is excited to bring these global perspectives with her when she enters the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology PhD program in Fall 2023.
Shah conducted research at the Media Lab through the Undergraduate Opportunities Program (UROP); she was a SuperUROP in her final year. During her time at the Lab, she worked with research assistants Francesca Riccio-Ackerman and Tony Shu. Riccio-Ackerman says, "As an undergraduate researcher, Aashini was a tremendous asset to the Biomechatronics group for over two years. She was known for her work ethic, boundless creativity and commitment to making the world more accessible for people with disabilities."
Shah will start her Fulbright in September 2022 and complete it in June 2023. Prior to her start date, she will be working at Impulse Biomedical in South Africa and volunteering at rural hospitals in Tanzania and Kenya. After her Fulbright and prior to returning to Cambridge for her PhD, she will be traveling to Japan as an English teaching intern with the Global Education Camp. We are excited to follow her on her journey and wish her the best of luck in her adventures next year.