Graduate Success Stories
Many students have found the course offerings here at Clemson's Zucker Family Graduate Education Center the perfect fit for pursuing their graduate education and putting them on the path toward achieving their dreams. Here, we share the stories of several students who have benefited from their educational experience.
Caroline Requierme
Caroline graduated from Clemson’s Zucker Family Graduate Education Center in 2020, where she completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Digital Production Arts (DPA). Currently, she works as a Resident Technical Director in Simulation at Pixar Animation Studios. Throughout her time in the program, Caroline was able to explore the full digital animation pipeline through interdisciplinary coursework in computer graphics, visual art, and production. Her favorite courses focused on physically-based animation and character effects. She found that these disciplines challenged both her creative and technical skills, and they ultimately inspired a passion for character cloth and hair simulation. Through DPA, Caroline had the opportunity to apply these interests in the creation of films and games in collaborative production projects. Her work in the program culminated in a thesis project that explored the implementation of stylized costumes in animated films from design, to construction, to simulation.
Caroline says her experience at the Zucker Family Graduate Education Center fostered valuable skills—namely, the ability to create in a team-based production environment, familiarity with and aptitude in industry-standard software, and the flexibility to solve both technical and artistic problems within the animation pipeline—that made her an attractive candidate when applying for positions in the film industry and make her a valuable part of the team as a resident at Pixar.
Kayley Seawright
Kayley completed her master’s in mechanical engineering from Clemson University at the Zucker Family Graduate Education Center in 2019, while working full time at Boeing as an Aeromechanics Structural Analysis Engineer in Boeing Research & Technology. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2014 from Clemson University, where she served as the 2013 Student Body President. After an adventure as a performer at Walt Disney World, she joined the Boeing team in Charleston, SC, where she’s been for over 5 years. During those years, she’s supported a variety of programs including: the CST-100 Starliner, 787 Dreamliner, future commercial airplane wing optimization trade studies, Space Launch System, and the Navy’s MQ-25 program. Per Kayley “Zucker’s classes offered complementary learning” that she applied to her job. She’s most enjoyed getting to be a part of Boeing Clemson collaborations and hopes to continue to facilitate a strong partnership moving forward.
Kayley is the REACH South Carolina Regional Chairman, leading a team of 40 volunteers in community, development, and networking engagement opportunities for Boeing South Carolina. Kayley also serves at the Boeing Clemson Focal, leading an Alumni Team, and facilitating engagements between the University and Boeing. She served on the North and South Carolina Council for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), as the Education Relations Chairman. She is also actively involved in Boeing Women in Leadership, the Society of Women Engineers, Charleston Young Professionals, and the Charleston Clemson Board. In her free time, Kayley loves being out on the water: surfing, skiing, boating, paddle boarding, and kayaking. She also makes it a priority to travel, play the violin, cook fun and healthy meals, and to read.
Kunta Lowe
Kunta Lowe is a 2019 Digital Production Arts graduate (M.F.A.) from Clemson University’s Zucker Family Graduate Education Center. Currently Kunta is a Software Engineer/Pipeline Developer at Epic Games in Cary North Carolina.
Kunta expressed that one of the best experiences he had at Zucker was being able to interact with multiple disciplines of students and professors from computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering as well as applied sciences. This broadened his curiosity about several topics in the sciences like networking protocols in computer science and electrical phases in electrical engineering.
While at Clemson Kunta was an IT assistant. According to Kunta this enabled him to problem solve issues for these disciplines in the context of computer software and hardware needs. This experience was a big focus during interviews for the Pipeline Developer position at Epic Games.
Kunta’s thesis involved research on how to create an effective way to use film production pipeline for the Digital Production Arts program. This involved using industry software tools to prepare students for careers after graduation. Kunta stated that his “part-time job in IT influenced my thesis by providing insight into the current software and hardware infrastructure available to students and how to leverage that in various types of art productions like games and live-action or animated films. This unique coupling of thesis and work experience I believe was the driving force of my current position at Epic Games.”
