Biomajor Scores Trip Through the Clouds

Biomajor Scores Trip Through the Clouds

Biology major Joy Duer was definitely intrigued when she heard that she could win a ride in an F-15 fighter if she helped personnel ant Seymour Johnson Air Force Base solve a communication problem.  The task was part of the Hacking 4 Defense class and required Duer and her teammates, Mary Gooneratne and Linda Zhang, to invent a fallback system if normal communication networks were knocked out in battle.  The team's idea, employing lasers and drones, emerged only after multiple interviews with Air Force personnel and lots of teamwork.  Teamwork and the value of "radical candor" were Duer's biggest takeaways from the experience--along with the acrobatic maneuvers at 600 miles per hour, of course.