Christy Smith ‘08
Industrial Engineering

imageChristy Smith ’08 says that balancing her academic and athletic life at Lehigh is simply a matter of “a little time management.” This junior engineering student is a force to be reckoned with in the classroom and on the field – a contributing member of the Lehigh field hockey and lacrosse teams, and a contributing member of the Integrated Business and Engineering Honors program with a major in Industrial Engineering.

In her first two years on the field hockey squad, she’s seen significant playing time in all 38 games -- 36 as a starter. But Christy -- a multi-year member of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll and the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I National Academic Squad -- also carries a 3.85 grade point average and is actively involved in research as part of her undergraduate studies.

Recently, Christy had the opportunity to intern for Synthes, a global medical device company. Her responsibilities included constructing a fixture maintenance database, designing a packaging flow station, performing time studies on CNC Swiss Lathes and manual instrument assembly operations, and updating the plant Computer Aided Design (CAD) layout. “I especially enjoyed the packaging flow station project,” she recalls. “I had the opportunity to design a workstation layout with emphasis on efficiency and ergonomics, select the hardware necessary to build the workstation, work with the maintenance department to observe the assembly of the station, and finally see the station in operation.”

Christy says she decided to study Industrial Engineering because it applies to any and every company or organization imaginable. She says that, “with its emphasis on continuous improvement to eliminate waste of time, money, and materials while maintaining quality, the field is an ever-evolving puzzle to challenge current and future industrial engineers.”

In her two years as a midfielder for the Mountain Hawk field hockey team, Christy has scored 16 points -- eight in both her freshman and sophomore seasons. Her sophomore season was capped off with a Second Team All-Patriot League selection. During her freshman year, Smith scored two goals against Lafayette to send the Mountain Hawks into the 2004 Patriot League Tournament -- a performance that earned her Rookie of the Week honors from the Patriot League and womensfieldhockey.com. Smith was also named the Patriot League’s Rookie of the Week on after her performance against Georgetown.

Christy says she sees Lehigh as a perfect fit for her. “I’m challenged to push myself academically, and with a little time management I’m able to participate on two competitive teams.”