EGN NEWS DESK
For graduate college students Kelsey Pittman and Jacqueline Orr, service within the U.S. army led to their curiosity in engineering, and to the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE).
Pittman’s first publicity to the army and engineering passed off throughout her undergraduate years on the United States Military Academy West Point.
“I keep in mind again in highschool, my dad sort of planted the seed of going to a army academy,” says Pittman. While she admitted to feeling overwhelmed concerning the prospect of going to varsity at the moment, her father’s rationale for West Point resonated along with her. “I’m a structured particular person and I like routine,” she says — two elements the surroundings at West Point supplies.
While Pittman’s father hadn’t attended a army academy or served within the army, he was a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 25 years, and her household connections supplied Pittman with useful views on West Point. It ended up being the one undergraduate program Pittman utilized to. “I simply wished to be a part of one thing greater than myself, and all the chance West Point may give was fairly unbelievable,” she says.
Pittman’s dad and mom additionally acknowledged her ardour for design and inspired her to contemplate a profession in structure. Although West Point didn’t supply an structure program, she selected civil engineering, a subject that allowed her to mix her love of math and design.
After graduating, she was commissioned as an engineer officer within the U.S. Army and has served for over seven years. She is now pursuing her graduate schooling at MIT in structural engineering with advisor John Ochsendorf, professor of civil and environmental engineering and structure. Pittman is researching Gothic-style infrastructure for its masonry resiliency and stability over time, particularly Beauvais Cathedral and its structural security. One of the explanations she selected to pursue her graduate research in CEE was the division’s openness to discover numerous analysis alternatives.
“I used to be actually drawn to the flexibility to carve my very own analysis area of interest and have the liberty to determine what actually pursuits me, somewhat than being introduced with a restricted set of analysis choices,” says Pittman.
After receiving her grasp’s diploma, Pittman will return to West Point as a college member for 3 years after which proceed her service obligation within the Army. She credit her mentors at West Point as being instrumental in her tutorial {and professional} journey and hopes to play a task in shaping the lives of future generations of cadets.
“I’ve unbelievable mentors that I nonetheless speak to, and I actually wished to have the ability to return and provides again to a spot, and the those that gave me a lot help and room to develop and discover my ardour. Every step has been made in my profession thus far to get again to West Point and educate within the civil engineering division.”
Pittman additionally acknowledges and values the Army for the alternatives it has supplied her, notably the prospect to pursue her grasp’s diploma at MIT, the relationships she has constructed alongside the way in which and profession path it has opened.
“I’ve loved attending to know the troopers from everywhere in the world and seeing them on this surroundings the place you may give one another a tough time, however on the finish of the day you understand that you’ve one another’s again.”
Jacqueline Orr, additionally a U.S. Military Academy graduate, is at present pursuing a grasp’s diploma in structural engineering underneath the steering of Josephine Carstensen, the Gilbert W. Winslow Career Development Associate Professor for Civil and Environmental Engineering. Inspired by her father to pursue a powerful basis in math and science, she earned a bachelor’s diploma in mechanical engineering. After commencement, she fulfilled her service obligation and served for six years as a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade based mostly in Vicenza, Italy — a unit famend for its historical past, fight readiness, and essential a part of the Army’s joint integration with NATO.
Reflecting on her expertise, Orr says, “Airborne items, like many nice items within the Army, require overcoming an extra litmus take a look at — on this case, conquering the worry of leaping from high-performance plane, a whole lot of toes above the bottom.”
While she loved her time within the Army, her experiences finally led her to pursue a profession extra carefully aligned along with her ardour for engineering. “When I used to be learning mechanical engineering, I developed a powerful curiosity in constructions throughout my senior design mission,” she says.
She notably loved studying find out how to mannequin constructions and analyze how they reply to varied forces. She felt that the normal strategies taught in her lessons lacked an optimization part, which sparked her curiosity in topology optimization as a possible resolution.
This need to additional discover topology optimization — particularly in relation to constructions and their conduct underneath completely different forces — motivated her to hunt graduate packages specializing on this subject. Orr utilized for and was awarded a Department of Defense (DoD) SMART Scholarship that introduced her to MIT to check topology optimization within the Carstensen Lab.
“MIT was the perfect establishment to pursue this analysis as a consequence of Professor Carstensen’s experience and revolutionary work taking place within the civil and environmental engineering division,” Orr says.
Looking forward, Orr plans to use the data gained at MIT to a research-oriented profession as a part of her obligation as a DoD SMART Scholar. But for now, she’s adjusting to life as a graduate pupil. “I’m actually having fun with my lessons and attending to know folks within the lab — it’s been an incredible expertise,” she provides.
