David Zwick Age: 22
University of Florida Gainesville, FL
UNDER THIRTY I
t looks like taking a risk and becoming a teaching assistant in undergraduate school led David Zwick to his life’s work.
“That was a major turning point when I started as a teaching assistant,” said Zwick, 22, of Gainesville, FL. “It convinced me to pursue a PhD and also helped me figure out my teaching philosophy; I want to see every student succeed.” If it’s possible to be a natural teacher, Zwick may be one. During his first semester as a TA, he taught numerical methods for engineers to a group of 20 students. An older student dropped the class, but showed up the next semester sitting in the front row. The student had taken time off because he lacked the math literacy needed to be an engineer. “Despite this, he decided to try again and chose me as his recitation leader because I was the only teaching as- sistant he had found that made accommodations for every student to succeed despite their background,” Zwick wrote in a personal essay to support his ap- plication for a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
The older student ended up succeeding in the class, and so did Zwick; not only was he named outstanding ASU teaching assistant as an under- grad, he was awarded the NSF fellowship earlier this year.
“I was so excited [about the NSF award] I called my family in Arizona” without noting the western state is two hours behind Florida, said Zwick. “It
seems like doors are opening for me even now in graduate school.” Fortunately, Zwick’s father, Robin, was up getting
“I was captivated by the complex geometrical patterns that formed in the desert dust and swirled around in the air as I watched helicopters land.”
ready for work at the time the phone rang. Robin Zwick, a manufacturing engineer for The Boe- ing Company (Kennedy Space Center, FL), was David Zwick’s inspiration to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. The older Zwick worked in a machine shop to support his family while earning his undergrad- uate and master’s degrees. “Even now, I still remember watching him study at night after a long day of work,” said David Zwick. Unlike his dad, David Zwick is headed for a career in academia and plans to study and research fluid mechanics, specifically particle interactions in the presence of shock waves. The work has practical applications in
volcanic eruptions, geysers, powder snow avalanches, explosives, dust storms, and other phenomena. Speaking of dust storms, one of Zwick’s earliest inspirations came when he was a child and his father took him on a tour of Boeing’s Mesa, AZ, facility, pro- duction site of the AH-64 Apache helicopter. “I was captivated by the complex geometrical pat-
terns that formed in the desert dust and swirled around in the air as I watched helicopters land,” Zwick wrote to the NSF. “At the time, I did not realize my observa- tions related to the field of fluid flow, but the experi- ences provided lasting impressions that continue to motivate me to advance my education so that I can educate others.”
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | July 2016
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