July 28, 1999 My name is Peter Kirkwood. I am a Biomedical engineering major at RPI. I have been working at Boehringer Laboratories for the past 7 months. Boehringer is a privately owned medical device manufacturer and in my humble opinion a great place to co-op. Working here has been excellent experience. I have been involved in a wide range of different projects. Some of course were much more interesting than others but they all taught me something. I truly enjoyed learning about the a new project and becoming knowledgeable in the relevant state of the art. The company does have high expectations for results and maintains a large degree of accountability. Although that can cause more pressure I prefer this atmosphere because being held to a higher standard opens more opportunities. Here I have been able to work independently on several projects which have considerable significance to the company. My most interesting project was a clinical trial of autotransfusion equipment in surgery. It was intense and rather stressful but incredibly fascinating. Spending time working in and around the OR gave me more insight into medical equipment and environments than academia ever could have. It certainly convinced me that this is the field I want to be in because there is always something new in medicine and new developments be of real benefit to the patient not just the economy.