Engineering in action: What a lab STEM coordinator learned from racing human-propelled submarines
Charlotte George wasn’t sure what she wanted to do in her career until her high school calculus teacher told her that “someone good at math and science and mechanically inclined - maybe good with their hands - might want to consider going into engineering,” says George.
So that’s what the first-generation college graduate majored in at Florida Atlantic University. Her desire to stay in Florida and close to the beach helped her decide on Ocean Engineering.
It was in her third year that things really began to crystalize. Looking for an extracurricular activity, she joined the school’s Human Powered Submarine Club where members collaborate and build underwater vessels. The club entered the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s (NSWC) International Submarine Race - a design competition for human-powered underwater vehicles.
Over the course of a week, the team tested and discussed aspects like the proper submarine shape, propeller mechanics, propulsion system, steering system, and life support system. Her team went on to win the absolute speed award with their one-person prop entry.
The experience changed her life.
“What I remember most is just like you have to tackle the problem and go from there one problem at a time,” she says. “It showed me that kind of exposure that I never really got before and didn't realize I needed; a look into a workplace where they have thousands of scientists and engineers and technicians working on naval problems.”
After the competition, she went on to apply for a Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program and was placed at NSWC. She says that the contest and the internship were instrumental in better understanding what an engineering really does.
“When you're getting a degree, they're really teaching you the fundamentals of how to be an engineer, not everything that you need to actively work
Over a decade later, she is back at the lab where the foundation for her career journey was laid. She started in 2012 as a marine engineer and naval architect but four years ago was tasked with her current mission, the lab’s STEM and Outreach Program Director - a job that has reaped numerous rewards.
George overlooks numerous division offerings, like the Carderock Math Contest and SeaPerch Platform - both of which are primarily offered to middle schoolers to give them hands-on experience in STEM fields.
The lab also continues to host NREIP interns as well as high school interns through the Science & Engineering Apprentice Program (SEAP).
She strives to help students access the division’s numerous STEM opportunities. Those that could inspire them to consider a similar career path she undertook thanks to guidance her calculus teacher once gave her.
"It has to be a way to try on these different careers - like these different jobs, these different ways of approaching engineering - because once a student even decides they want to be an engineer, there are so many different paths somebody can take,"" she says. "The more that you try on those high school and college pursuits, the more informed you are to make a better decision about the career path you choose upon graduation."
George promotes the idea that students can intern at so many levels - from middle school all the way through graduate school
"We've had folks that come from our SeaPerch programming in the middle school level, or have attended in our Carderock Math Contest and have participated in that as a middle schooler, come back and they're a high school intern with us,” she says."
And many times, these interns’ observations and ideas influence even the experts.
"I think there are just so many little moments where we are just blown away by the work and the research the students are able to provide," says George. "Whether it's through patents that they're accredited to during their time here or whether it's towards programs and software that they've helped us institute during their time that we're using well after they leave."
