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 Division of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE).
Pittman’s first publicity to the army and engineering came about throughout her undergraduate years at america Army Academy West Level.
“I keep in mind again in highschool, my dad form of planted the seed of going to a army academy,” says Pittman. Whereas she admitted to feeling overwhelmed concerning the prospect of going to varsity at the moment, her father’s rationale for West Level resonated together with her. “I’m a structured particular person and I like routine,” she says — two points the atmosphere at West Level offers.
Whereas 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 helpful views on West Level. It ended up being the one undergraduate program Pittman utilized to. “I simply needed to be a part of one thing greater than myself, and all the chance West Level 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. Though West Level didn’t provide an structure program, she selected civil engineering, a discipline that allowed her to mix her love of math and design.
After graduating, she was commissioned as an engineer officer within the U.S. Military 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 many causes she selected to pursue her graduate research in CEE was the division’s openness to discover various 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, slightly than being introduced with a restricted set of analysis choices,” says Pittman.
After receiving her grasp’s diploma, Pittman will return to West Level as a school member for 3 years after which proceed her service obligation within the Military. She credit her mentors at West Level 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 needed to have the ability to return and provides again to a spot, and the folks that gave me a lot help and room to develop and discover my ardour. Each step has been made in my profession to this point to get again to West Level and educate within the civil engineering division.”
Pittman additionally acknowledges and values the Military for the alternatives it has supplied her, significantly the possibility to pursue her grasp’s diploma at MIT, the relationships she has constructed alongside the best way and profession path it has opened.
“I’ve loved attending to know the troopers from all around the world and seeing them on this atmosphere the place you would possibly give one another a tough time, however on the finish of the day you already know that you’ve got one another’s again.”
Jacqueline Orr, additionally a U.S. Army Academy graduate, is at present pursuing a grasp’s diploma in structural engineering beneath the steerage of Josephine Carstensen, the Gilbert W. Winslow Profession Improvement Affiliate Professor for Civil and Environmental Engineering. Impressed 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 primarily based in Vicenza, Italy — a unit famend for its historical past, fight readiness, and essential a part of the Military’s joint integration with NATO.
Reflecting on her expertise, Orr says, “Airborne models, like many nice models within the Military, require overcoming a further litmus check — on this case, conquering the concern of leaping from high-performance plane, lots of of ft above the bottom.”
Whereas she loved her time within the Military, her experiences finally led her to pursue a profession extra intently aligned together with her ardour for engineering. “After I was learning mechanical engineering, I developed a powerful curiosity in buildings throughout my senior design undertaking,” she says.
She significantly loved studying the best way to mannequin buildings and analyze how they reply to numerous forces. She felt that the normal strategies taught in her courses 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 buildings and their habits beneath completely different forces — motivated her to hunt graduate applications specializing on this discipline. Orr utilized for and was awarded a Division of Protection (DoD) SMART Scholarship that introduced her to MIT to review topology optimization within the Carstensen Lab.
“MIT was the best 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.
Trying forward, Orr plans to use the information gained at MIT to a research-oriented profession as a part of her obligation as a DoD SMART Scholar. However for now, she’s adjusting to life as a graduate pupil. “I’m actually having fun with my courses and attending to know folks within the lab — it’s been a tremendous expertise,” she provides.
