Judith Cottingham works with Clemson Apparel Research in Pendleton, South Carolina, where she develops software and performs general research for the textile industry. Clemson Apparel Research (CAR) is affiliated with Clemson University and is primarily funded by the Defense Logistics Agency with the mission of helping U.S. apparel manufacturing. In executing that mission, CAR has a demonstration manufacturing facility on site and employs researchers and academicians whose backgrounds include mathematical science, computer engineering, and, of course, textiles.
Although Judith has the title of Assistant Professor, it is not an academic, tenure track position, but a research position. She performs a wide range of tasks working for Clemson. In addition to developing software, she assists in training people to use the programs she writes and writes training manuals for the software she develops. Among the software she has developed is a program which automates size assignment of shirts for women in the military based on their measurements. Another is a form automation program for generating the necessary U.S. Army paperwork for special measurement shirts. The variety in her research is a by-product of working with some of the excellent researchers on faculty at Clemson University. Judith has been with Clemson Apparel for two years.
She has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in mathematical science with a concentration in discrete mathematics from Clemson University and a B.S. in computer science from Northeast Louisiana University. Although Judith finished Clemson expecting to teach in academia, she accepted a position working with other researchers at Clemson Apparel and found the work interesting and challenging. She believes her work could not be done without the use of advanced calculus, statistics, and operations research and believes she is effective because her education included both theoretical and applied mathematics. Although busy, she is also able to continue her research and publishing. She recommends that someone interested in a career in industry should seek out educational experiences involving teamwork and take courses in modeling and simulation, as well as, computing.
