Kent State Today will be following a group of six Golden Flashes for the 2024-25 academic year chronicling their efforts and successes during the fall and spring semesters. The group of students are at various places in their Kent State University academic careers and will share their experiences throughout the year as they take part in our distinctive programs, research and global experiences.
“An interested person is an interesting person.”
– Gene Youngblood (1942-1921), American theorist of media arts and politics
Kent State University sophomore Jude Carver is an engaged and very interesting student. He is a mechatronics engineering technology major in the College of Aeronautics and Engineering. Cleveland is Carver’s hometown and his interests include history, geography, drawing, Japanese culture and combat robotics. He’s a member of the KSU Combat Robotics Team and has participated in competitions both on and off campus. Trent True, M.T., lecturer and Foundry Education Foundation Key Professor is the team’s faculty advisor.
The programs, activities and student organizations at Kent State give students like Carver opportunities to explore different careers as well as their interests and hobbies – and connect with other students who share them.
‘Here I am Putting Together Stuff and Writing Code’
Carver said that if he were meeting someone for the first time, the thing about him he’d like them to know is that he is in the field of mechatronics engineering technology, because it is something that people may have heard about but that he is actually doing.
“I would want them to know that I have experience in the fields of robotics – machines and industrial-type experience,” he said. “Here I am putting stuff together and writing code. All that goes into mechatronics engineering technology. So, I’d want them to know that first, because I’d find that pretty impressive if I were to know someone in that field.”
Preparing for Competition
Right now, Carver is working on designing and building a combat robot for an on-campus competition in March. He describes the ‘bot as being shaped like a gondola rail car, which is a long car on a train with low sides and an open top; almost like a boxcar that has been cut in half.
The design, Carver says, will be practical in housing both the ‘bot’s drive and control system on one end and the combat weapon on the other, for balance and stability. He will be able to share photos of his creation as it gets closer to completion.
Kent State Today will keep up with Carver as he prepares for this exciting competition in March and will share how his creation performed in ‘bot-on-‘bot combat.
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Exploring Japanese Culture
At the start of fall semester, Carver declared a minor in Japanese Language. It’s a logical complement to his interests in Japanese culture.
Learning Japanese presents more challenges to an English speaker as it requires them to memorize a new set of characters to learn how to read – and write. Carver’s talent for drawing is likely helpful as he practices rendering the letterforms on style sheets that are much like the pages grade-school student use when first learning how to write the alphabet.
In speaking Japanese, Carver said that there are very subtle differences in pronunciation that can give similar-sounding words different meaning. He said that he is enjoying the challenges that studying Japanese presents.
He is ‘A Wealth of Information’
Carver’s mother, Becky Cline Carver is a medical assistant at the Cleveland Clinic. She describes his studies in mechatronics engineering technology as “fascinating, because it’s still new.” When she found that her son would be featured in Kent State Today, she said, “He's declared a minor in Japanese & is building a new robot for his KSU Combat Robotics Club so he will definitely be a wealth of information for you.”
