Meet Camden Shuman | The UTK student keeping engineers connected
Shuman was the third place winner of the spring Vol Court pitch competition at the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
The future of career development for engineers could be in the hands of a student in the Tickle College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Camden Shuman is an intelligent Junior-year student, who is lighting the way for other young engineers and professionals to excel in their careers and classrooms.
Shuman is a recipient of the Beacon Scholarship, which invests in a high school student who has tremendous leadership potential. He was the salutatorian of his school in Asheville, North Carolina, which is an academic title given to the second highest-ranking student in the class. Lucky for us, he is a student at UTK.
Shuman started a newsletter, “The Engineering Way,” which publishes weekly tips, tricks, and advice for engineering students and engineers in industry. He has produced about 28 editions since the publication’s launch six months ago. The goal is to help encourage other engineers to embrace their social capabilities and level up their marketability with new skills.
Shuman is the perfect person to publish something like this. He is an excellent communicator and helps teach other engineers how to break down complex topics into digestible information.
“I wanted to create this for both students and young professionals as a resource. Also, I consider myself to be a lifelong learner, and you can always find people to learn from, just by listening to their stories and advice,” he said.
Furthermore, he can apply the concepts he learns at his internship with Siemens Healthineers.
One of the key series in “The Engineering Way” features the Dean of the Tickle College, Dr. Matthew Mench. In it, Mench shares advice for the future of engineering. Other article topics authored by Shuman include how to grow at your job, seven books every engineer should read, toolkits for creativity, and sketching for engineers.
“One of my favorite stories was about sketching for engineers. So many people go straight to computer-aided design (CAD), that they waste time on things that aren’t going to work. I learned that if you sketch things out first it will save you time, help you be more creative, communicate your vision clearly, and give you a better result at the end,” he shared.
The article, which was shared around Tickle College, inspired other students to start sketching out some of their big ideas.
Teknovation.biz first became acquainted with Shuman during his engagement with the Vol Court Speaker Series and Pitch Competition through the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI).
On top of his undergrad studies in engineering, an internship with Siemens Healthineers, and producing a weekly newsletter, Shuman also had time to conceptualize a Knoxville drone-cleaning company, pitch the business idea, and secure third place in the Vol Court competition.
Shuman has been a Part 107 certified commercial drone pilot for a few years, flying for seven years, and has a fascination with how drones could change our world. He came up with a business idea in Knoxville centered around drones cleaning commercial surfaces.
It would mitigate the risk of sending a person down the side of a building in a harness, and create an overall better, more consistent clean, Shuman said.
“I didn’t have any expectations going into it,” Shuman said. “I just wanted to learn more about entrepreneurship and how it could work with my engineering degree.”
However, he walked away with the confidence that he could start his own business as an engineer and is even considering furthering his education with a master’s in business administration.
As a junior in college, Shuman still has time to decide what he’s doing next. In the meantime, his focus is increasing awareness for “The Engineering Way,” growing subscribers, making connections, and learning from his internship.
To subscribe to “The Engineering Way” click here.
