Nonlinear Biomedical Physics

Department of Physics

Rihab Fadhel - International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experiences: IAESTE

Rihab Fadhel

I am studying Electrical Engineering and I will finish my studies next year. As for this year, I had the opportunity to do a practical internship under the IAESTE student exchange program in Lancaster University particularly in the Physics Department and basically in the study of the Cardiovascular System and the Non Linear Dynamics. Why have I chosen this field to do my placement since I had many other options?

In fact, I had the opportunity to apply for other subjects and fields like computing, electrical workshops..., but my keen interest in the living systems and their complexity has pushed me to this choice. Indeed, as my long-term objective is to become a successful engineer and to have a research career, I was seeking an international opportunity for internship to further enhance my knowledge and enrich my experience. This internship is a good opportunity for me to put into practice all what I have learnt and an excellent correlation with my interests in electronics, signal studies, experimental sciences and biophysics... I was looking to better my knowledge in those fields since I have developed an intellectual curiosity, a curiosity that is often accompanied with my excitement for signal processing and biophysics and especially the cardiovascular and brain dynamics. So for sure the project I am now working on is going to offer me the opportunity to build up the relation between the study of the Human body from a physical perspective and the electrical engineering from another perspective. May be you wonder about the way to do this, I will answer that my ambition is to apply what I have learnt in engineering classes as mathematical and computing tools in a beneficial way in order to precisely analyse the dynamics, discuss them and make a new model of the cardiovascular system seen from a new perspective.

The aim, in brief, is to use maths and computing in a practical way via the study of the living systems and their complexity. This is the most exciting way to combine and fuse maths with biophysics. And I am highly enthusiastic about achieving this goal, and see to what extent we can use what we know of theoretical maths in studying / exploiting our bodies.

My supplementary computer classes have allowed me to build upon my existing technology passion and to be well accustomed with programming languages and software manipulation.

July 2009