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Danielle Carr has made history as the first-ever female FAMU student to be awarded the prestigious SMART scholarship from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The mechanical engineer from Pompano Beach, Florida, will receive full tuition and a yearly stipend from the SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program, sponsored by the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center-Philadelphia Division.
DoD's SMART scholarship is the graduate equivalent of FAMU's "Life Get's Better scholarship".
“I am super excited about this and am proud to be a part of this historic moment,” said Carr.
Carr’s research on the design and control of a finger-based haptics wearable device earned her the scholarship that will fully fund her doctoral studies for the next three years. The device allows people to interact with objects and other people from varying distances.
The scholarship award guarantees civilian employment with the DoD upon degree completion. The scholarship goes to the brightest students in the nation for work in a leading defense facility.
Carr recently worked on a project with NASA, Lockheed Martin Space, and the University of Nevada - Las Vegas, that focused on remote teleoperation capabilities to produce plants and food in a remote environment. Engineers performed the work with a teleoperator located in Littleton, Colorado, and a robotic system located 1,300 miles away in Palo Alto.
She compared teleoperation to controlling an entertainment system such as a remote control and TV.
She will be working at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Philadelphia Division and believes the US Navy is interested in her research because of the remote work possibilities.