ELEVATE SYSTEMS
Rebekah Stagg
Mathematics, Fall 2020
150 Hours
PURPOSE
Elevate Systems is an SBA 8(a) Certified Small Business
Engineering Design firm in San Antonio that specializes in
product design and development for clients all over the US.
They work with both federal and commercial clients, and
design and develop products that often combine
innovative engineering with cutting-edge software
development.
One such project commissioned by a San Antonio artist
endeavors to create an affordable, user-oriented product
that allows artists to digitize high-resolution pictures of
artworks without the need for an expensive art
photographer. My role at Elevate Systems was to work on
improving some of the inner workings of this project. I
used a combination of data analysis techniques,
trigonometry, and statistics in order to identify issues in
one step of the project and propose possible solutions.
IMPACT OF EXPERIENCE
My time at Elevate Systems had a number of impacts. First
and foremost, I discovered a passion for applying
mathematics to complex problems in a real-world setting.
While I knew that I enjoyed mathematics in a classroom
setting, my internship at Elevate Systems solidified that
mathematics research and application is where I would like
to build my career.
On the other hand, my internship also impacted the
company. While the rest of the team had a larger focus on
the more technical aspects of the project and on other
projects in progress at Elevate Systems, I was able to delve
deep into a single issue. Consequently, I made progress
towards solutions that the team simply did not have the time
to investigate. Because of this, I was able to move the
project slightly closer to completion, thus aiding both Elevate
Systems and the San Antonio artist that commissioned the
project.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
There were several Learning Outcomes that resulted from my time
at Elevate Systems. The first was Intellectual Dexterity. In order to
fully understand the issue present in the project, I had to develop a
basic understanding of topics in higher-level mathematics that I
have not yet covered in school. I spent several hours across my
internship researching and reading about topics in topology and
higher-level statistics to gain more insight into the problems at
hand. Through all of this, I discovered that I do not have to know
everything: I just have to be willing to learn.
Another Learning Outcome that arose from my internship was
Creative Courage. Although I was asked to keep track of my
progress, I was otherwise given free rein to try anything I could
think of to solve the problem. This was both a trial and a triumph
for me; while I enjoy being allowed to think my way through a
problem on my own, it was daunting to realize that it was now my
responsibility to explore new ideas the team had not previously
considered. In the end, however, I pushed forward and ended up
formulating a new way of looking at the issue mathematically that
will likely be helpful in the future.
Finally, the Learning Outcome that was the culmination of my time
at Elevate Systems was Adaptability and Resilience. Much of the
work I did on the project involved changing one variable at a time
and subsequently running a test to see if it reduced the number of
errors present in the digitized version of the canvas. This was very
tedious work, and I rarely got a completely positive result out of the
countless tests that I ran. Through this process, however, I learned
to keep working even when success seems unattainable, as even
small improvements are a triumph when doing research.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Elevate Systems
1919 Northwest Loop 410 #200, San Antonio, TX 78213