July 25, 2006 — A Navy-bound triathlete and a  clear-headed analyst of the prospects for digital manufacturing of Barbie are the two latest USC recipients of $2000 Tau Beta Pi Dodson scholarships.

Brian P. Kirk and Cameron E. McAllister will receive the honors, awarded “on the competitive criteria of high scholarship, campus leadership and promised of future contributions to the engineering profession.”

Both Kirk and McAllister are members of Tau Beta Pi, the 121-year-old national engineering fraternity.

Kirk,(right) a junior majoring in chemical engineering, came to USC from his Chico, CA hometown because because “I liked the engineering program here and they also have one of the best Naval ROTC programs in the country. 

"I like the people and the diversity on campus.  I also like the fact that USC is located in the heart of Southern California and there is an abundance of things you can do here. My interests and hobbies include triathlon (I'm on the USC Triathlon Team), swimming, running, scuba diving, climbing, and anything outdoor-related.”

His plans: "Graduating with a strong GPA and preparing for the next phase of my career.".

McAllister,(left) a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering from Niceville, FL reports that “looking back on my childhood, I think of how many hours I spent playing with Barbies.” For Professor Marshall Burns Class in Digital Manufacturing. McAllister is currently engaged in an effort “to understand the entire process of how dolls are manufactured, including the effects on the environment.  Then, I will analyze how easily dolls could be made from a digital fabricator, determining if any changes should be made to the design of dolls and/or the design of current fabricators.”

Her experimental testbed case is the Barbie Doll and her voluminous and detailed study of the possibility of further automating Barbie building can be found at http://misscambo.tripod.com/index.html

"I chose USC because it fit my personality - I liked how it is a "well-rounded" university with the right combination of superior academics and extracurricular activities," she reports.  "I also had many family members attend USC and most of my family (besides my immediate family) lives in the area. 

"I am planning to attend graduate school next year, hopefully at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.  I would like to pursue a Masters degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a focus in Operations Research. My main interest at USC besides academics is my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, of which I am president this year.  Outside of USC, I love to travel and I love water sports.

"This summer I am interning on Eglin Air Force Base in the Air Armament Center's Engineering an Acquisition Excellence Directorate's Analysis Division.  My division performs analyses to quantify how well weapons will achieve specific military objectives."