Tri-County Alumna Elaine Hunt Is Internationally Known as
Expert in the Field of Rapid Prototyping and Direct Manufacturing

CONTACT: LISA GARRETT, EXT. 2315

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12/14/2000
(By Lisa Garrett)

Elaine Hunt felt like she had two options when she graduated from Palmetto High School in the early 1960's – get married or get a job.

Like many young women, she married two weeks after graduation and stayed home for years taking care of the house and children. When she did enter the workforce, she worked as a nursing assistant, laundry worker, blanket maker and sewing room operator. It was only after she discovered Tri-County Technical College 16 years later during a textile layoff in the 80's that she found her niche in the then male-dominated field of electronics.

Today, Hunt is internationally known as an expert in the field of rapid prototyping and direct manufacturing. She is director of the Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping at Clemson University and a self proclaimed "solution provider." Since 1994 has led this industry-driven consortium to educate and transfer this advanced technology.

"I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be in this position," said Hunt, who is one of a kind in her field. She doesn't solely serve as a resource for Clemson. She receives a wide range of requests from industry representatives, doctors and others to design prototypes ranging from a hip implant, to a model of a trachea of a two-year-old who had a breathing defect, to an industrial part, to a cookie cutter.

Active on both national and international levels, for two years Hunt served as chair of the Educational Rapid Prototyping Consortium and was chair of the North American Stereolithography Users Group and was a two-year member of the SME/RPA Advisory Board.

She says that her confidence level today is a far cry from the woman who used to literally shake so hard in class that she frightened the instructor when she first returned to college at Tri-County. "Returning to school after such a long break was really terrifying to me since I had no idea of direction for my life, only dreams," the Pelzer native recalls.

"I was so afraid of failure that I wouldn't take the admissions test," she remembers. "Students were at least a decade younger than I was and I literally had no idea I could pass." The Palmetto High honor graduate registered for a remedial math class and soon surprised herself by earning the grade point average that qualified her for induction as a charter member of the Alpha Zeta Beta honor society.

She says she found a "comfort level" during her second term, and at the suggestion of a former high school teacher who was now a Tri-County instructor, she worked as a interviewer for a survey Tri-County was doing of local industry. The results of that survey – which revealed that industry needs associate degree level technicians -- led her to choose Electronics Engineering Technology as a major. At first the curriculum was like a foreign language, but Hunt kept trying and she persevered. "Everything opened up, and I began to love the computer end of EET," she said.

"Most of all, Tri-County gave me confidence," she said.

After graduation in 1981, she accepted a job as the first female technician for Engineering Services at Clemson University. After nine years as a computer technician and systems analyst, she was asked to take a position as manager of the rapid prototyping laboratory. "Since it was a two-year contract and there were less than 100 of these systems worldwide, I was very uneasy about the future since I had no advanced degree and my computer skills would be no longer current," she said.

In 1991 she returned to Tri-County to take core courses for a bachelor's degree to gain management and organizational skills. She earned a B.S. at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg via night courses in a whirlwind two-and-a-half years. She completed her master's degree in Computer Systems and Information Management at Webster University 16 months later just before her 50th birthday – all while working full time at Clemson.

In her current job, she is instrumental in reducing industrial product design cycles, production tooling costs and the improvement of overall product quality. She works closely with industry to facilitate the transfer of existing and emerging technologies to participating industries.

"Today there are more than 5,000 of these machines in the world that take CAD data and build prototypes. We can quickly build things no one else can. We work with companies or industries in building prototypes. It's extremely fascinating. You never know what will happen next," she said.

Hunt credits Tri-County as being the impetus for her success today.

"Tri-County has not only been a starting point of change in my life, but a source of constant help and assurance," she said. "Faculty, staff and fellow classmates are highlights of my memories. Without the available resources of Tri-County, I wouldn't have enjoyed the success that has blessed my life. But even more important I realize that without my education, my three children would not have been assured that the doors of any educational institution would be open for them. The four of us remain forever grateful to Tri-County and the resources that have been made available to the citizens of this state."
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