{"id":8766,"date":"2017-03-09T09:14:14","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T14:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=8766"},"modified":"2017-03-09T09:14:14","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T14:14:14","slug":"journey-opportunity-search-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2017\/03\/journey-opportunity-search-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassandra Kwon: Opportunity and Ambition Lead to Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Alyson Tuck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Cassandra Kwon\u2019s career in textiles started with a soda bottle. As a junior at a Raleigh high school, Kwon listened with curiosity while a visiting student ambassador from NC State<\/a>\u2019s Wilson College of Textiles<\/a> held up a plastic soda bottle and described how the bottle, made of polymers, was an example of textile science. Kwon, surprised and intrigued by the diversity of the field, considered a career in science for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 20 years later, Kwon, a Wilson College of Textiles research assistant professor, has come a long way from thinking about the polymers in a soda bottle. Now working as a researcher in prototype development with NC State\u2019s Textile Protection and Comfort Center<\/a> (T-PACC), Kwon turns textile science into life-saving solutions. Her journey \u2014 as a Wilson College of Textiles undergraduate <\/a>and graduate<\/a> student, scholarship recipient and postdoc \u2014 provided rich opportunities to transfer knowledge into action and research into innovative products.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n As an undergraduate, Kwon found her home in Wilson College of Textiles. She quickly discovered that the study of textiles, and the unique opportunities available at NC State, captivated her interest. She thrived in the visual, hands-on approach to the curriculum, in particular the lab courses. Rather than just learning about cotton from a textbook, she conducted experiments in the <\/span>Physical Testing Laboratory<\/span><\/a> that taught her about cotton count and what it means to create cotton fibers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love being hands on, so the vast amount of resources that we have at Wilson College of Textiles was extremely advantageous to me,\u201d Kwon said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kwon graduated with a degree in textile apparel and technology and a concentration in management. Throughout her undergraduate years, the diverse nature of her courses and her faculty gave Kwon a solid foundation in textile science and the industry. Equally as important, undergraduate opportunities taught her the kind of work she enjoyed: interdisciplinary challenges requiring diverse perspectives to produce tangible, real-world solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Several internships, textile-related jobs, and a master\u2019s degree abroad later, Kwon found her way back home to NC State. While working in product development sourcing for a large retail department store, she observed a lack of fundamental textile knowledge in the workplace. Kwon missed being surrounded by technical experts and a culture of innovation. In a bold career shift, she applied to the Ph.D. program at NC State\u2019s Wilson College of Textiles. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m always interested in what\u2019s new, what\u2019s exciting, how can we make something better,\u201d Kwon said. \u201cSo that drove my ambitions to wanting to come back to school. I knew this would be the perfect platform for me to be able to reach something new. I knew that NC State was where I wanted to be. There\u2019s no better place.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Luck and networking, Kwon said, brought her into Dr. William Oxenham\u2019s group in the Wilson College of Textiles as a research assistant. She launched into a research project that examined existing techniques and new methods for testing compression in compression hosiery and bandages. Kwon was thrilled with the interdisciplinary project \u2014 done in conjunction with faculty in the biomedical engineering<\/a> department \u2014 and with the applied nature of the project. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a complete shift from my work experience to all of a sudden have to look into physiological aspects of the human body,\u201d Kwon said. \u201cBut it\u2019s the real world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kwon\u2019s research aimed to help compression hosiery manufacturers understand what they were producing. While medical supply companies were making compression socks for therapeutic treatment, they didn\u2019t really understand the compressive strength of one pair of socks compared to another, and how that might impact their customers. Kwon\u2019s analysis of testing methods, and development of new methods, sought to give manufacturers data on how pressure is applied in their products. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cData is the most powerful tool you can use to communicate how a product actually works and functions,\u201d Kwon said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHands-on Learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hunger for Innovation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n