What connection does a mannequin have with project management?
Grand Canyon University alumna Anna Yost was happy to show 10 students in GCU's Project Management Club how they are related during their recent visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.
Yost, a Harvard Medical School MEDscience teacher and program coordinator, illustrated a link that aligned with the club.
“I think that was probably the biggest learning experience,” said Gabe Quintana, an engineering major with an emphasis in project management, of the presentation by Yost.
In a simulation, the students were introduced to medical mannequins that each had a heartbeat, a pulse and could blink.
Project Management Club President Audrey Martin wasn’t familiar with the medical field, so Yost’s presentation gave her a new perspective on what the medical field has to offer in terms of project management.
One of Yost’s daily duties is teaching anatomy to students, but she shifted her focus so the GCU students could relate in a more applicable manner.
“How does project management play into this?” Yost said. “How, as a team, do you work to diagnose and treat this patient? And how can you bring in not only your own expertise to the environment but also lean on everybody else's as well and work well to solve a problem together?”
Said Martin, “There was a portion that I could tell was just where her heart was with education and teaching students, whether that's in the medical field or as a program coordinator. She really wants students to grow and learn from these experiences.”
This marked the second consecutive year the Project Management Club traveled to New England for a four-day visit. It also was the second time the club's students were treated to a presentation by Anna’s husband Erik, research security officer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Erik and Anna met at GCU as students, and Erik knows the importance of project managers working in sync with engineers, software developers and scientists in research translation and completing projects. His own career is project management-aligned, and when he was a student at GCU, he led the STELLAR research group, helping managing a project to send a microbial fuel cell to the International Space Station.
When the Project Management Club planned another trip to New England, Anna consulted with her husband about delivering an effective presentation.
“I explained what (project management) looks like in education, health care of simulation learning,” said Anna, who graduated from GCU with a bachelor’s degree in biology with an emphasis in physical therapy. “I knew they were interested in different applications of project management, so I just applied it to the work that I’m doing and love.”
Anna’s presentation and application of project management impressed Quintana.
“It ties back to how one of our mottos is that everything can be a project,” Quintana said. “It was cool to see that in full effect.”
Erik made his presentation to the club, which included club advisor Paul Waterman. He was promoted from research program manager for the Quantum Photonics and AI Group at MIT, so his talk was a little different from last year in how he applies project management in his new role.
“His presentation was very extensive, and a great way to hear his perspective on project management as a whole, and then working for a research institute,” said Martin, the lone returnee from last year’s trip.
“There were still tons of takeaways that I took from the presentation this year, as I did last year, and they were different things as well. So it was really great to continue learning through that aspect.”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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