When Caroline Weeren, \u201924, was accepted to The Citadel, she hit the perfect trifecta: military ROTC, a competitive mechanical engineering program and a spot playing Division I soccer. Now, commissioned as a civil engineering officer in the Air Force and ready to begin her master\u2019s degree in engineering management, Weeren knows she made the right choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A student in the Honors Program and captain of the soccer team her senior year, Weeren knows a thing or two about productive time management, so it should come as no surprise that the mechanical engineering major decided to pursue research on efficiency in building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guided by Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Lt. Col. James Righter, and in partnership with Francis Marion University, Weeren contributed to an ongoing research project to determine how to refine the assembly line process. \u201cWe are determining how the way you get taught to build something affects your efficiency in building it, and we\u2019re measuring consistencies and inconsistencies during building,\u201d said Weeren. \u201cWe want to streamline the process and make it as efficient as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weeren equipped herself with wrist sensors that measured the speed, consistency and orientation of her movements, then built small kits into mini robots, cars and catapults. Repeating the process over and over, she and her team were able to track the way her performance changed with repetition and experience. \u201cIt gave me a different perspective than I normally get in the classroom,\u201d said Weeren. \u201cThis showed me a real-life application of how things work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her research experience is preparing her for her upcoming graduate program. \u201cWhen I\u2019m getting my master\u2019s degree, I\u2019m going to have to do a research project, but I won\u2019t be diving in blind,\u201d said Weeren. \u201cI\u2019m learning how research works. We have to do a lot of paperwork before we even get to the trials. This kind of experience expands your horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Caroline Weeren, \u201924, was accepted to The Citadel, she hit the perfect trifecta: military ROTC, a competitive mechanical engineering program and a spot playing Division I soccer. Now, commissioned as a civil engineering officer in the Air Force and ready to begin her master\u2019s degree in engineering management, Weeren knows she made the right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"yoast_head":"\n