WISE residence program spotlight: My Summer at TARDAC

This summer I became exposed to the inner workings of TARDEC, Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Michigan. I spent my ten weeks at TARDEC working on a project to be displayed at the annual Summer Hire Expo.

My project involved injury-risk assessment of soldiers exposed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). I handled this assessment by analyzing data of four previously conducted physical tests, and by helping the senior engineer I worked with develop a computer simulation. This simulation replicates a person's movements due to vertical accelerations. With this simulation, the effects on a person's body due to these accelerations can be replicated without actually performing a physical test. This process will help reduce costs of testing.

In addition to my own project, I was also able to observe other projects handled by engineers at TARDEC. I attended weekly meetings where I heard about a variety of projects pertaining to safety and reliability concerns involving soldiers and military vehicles.

At the end of the ten weeks, during the Summer Hire Expo, I got a chance to see the other projects worked on by Summer Hires. Overall this summer allowed me to get a preview of engineers in the work environment and see a variety of engineering used by the Department of Defense.

Liz Boettner is a second-year WISE RP peer mentor studying engineering.

October 2008 eNews

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