Mentors are an integral component of being successful in any new adventure. Mentors motivate, lead by example, have a vision, encourage teamwork, teach, coach and inspire. Dr. Jur and his team have been extremely influential in the creation of our wearable device and development of unit plans that integrate STEM concepts. They have provided an in-depth view of concepts they are developing everyday as well as tools we can use in the classroom to help introduce this concepts to our students.
Often times, the mentor benefits from this process as well. Dr. Jur and the ASSIST lab will benefit from serving as my mentor in the following ways: (1) recruiting students into the engineering programs at NC State, (2) acquiring ideas of wearable devices that may be invented in the future, (3) ensuring that teachers are preparing students to become engineers and (4) recruiting teams to compete in the One Health initiative. Over the next 10 years, the wearable device industry is expected to grow into a 12 billion dollar industry. My mentor is essentially assisting middle school and high schools students and teachers with curriculum and resources to prepare them for the collegiate level. Upon graduation, our students will be better prepared to develop the world’s next big invention!
