From CAPS to Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich

Sean Weaver is a BVN graduate who attended CAPS during the 2010 – 2011 school year. Sean was a student in what was then called CAPS Engineering Design and Development. He went on to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute receiving a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Robotics Engineering. Sean worked in automation and test engineering at Apple before heading to Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich where he received a Master of Science in Robotics, Systems, and Controls Engineering. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Labratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Sean’s ultimate goal is to teach and conduct research at an academic institution.

We posed a series of questions to Sean regarding his CAPS experience and this is what he had to say:

Did your CAPS experiences help you understand what you wanted to pursue in college and where you wanted to go?

I already knew what I wanted to pursue in college, but CAPS let me take courses and have a learning experience, which aligned more with my chosen path than a standard high school course.

Where there things at CAPS that helped prepare you for success in college?

Throughout primary and secondary school there is always a lot of structure around learning. You go to class, you have a lesson, some exercises, a few papers and a test or two. While some of that structure is maintained in universities, much of it goes away and the onus is on the students to set and meet their own learning goals. If you are not careful, that amount of freedom can be somewhat paralyzing. CAPS helps to ease the transition from a high school environment to the freedom faced at university.

What was your biggest take-away from your CAPS experience?

My biggest takeaway would either be the elements involved in project planning and the engineering design process, or the importance of professionalism.