WEST BETHESDA, Maryland -- Dads sometimes leave work a little early to go watch their children compete in a race, but in David Heller’s case, the race came to him. His daughter, Clara Hellersund, is a support diver for the Virginia Tech team, which has two submarines entered in the International Human-Powered Submarine Races happening at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in West Bethesda, Maryland.
Heller is a mechanical engineer in Carderock’s Facilities Engineering Branch and stopped by to watch his daughter’s submarine make it to the finish line on June 24. The 2019 races are being held June 24-28 in Carderock’s 3,200-foot David Taylor Model Basin.
“I think it’s great she’s on the team,” Heller said. “I’m so proud of her.”
Hellersund is no stranger to Carderock. She interned with the Center for Innovation in Ship Design in 2017 between graduating from George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Virginia, and starting at Virginia Tech. That’s also when she first saw the submarine races.
“I saw the races and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to do that,’” Hellersund said.
Initially, Hellersund was going to be an ocean engineer, but she recently changed her major to industrial and systems engineering. She said while her parents did not outwardly encourage engineering, it was always part of their life.
“Engineering was something I was always aware of because dad was in engineering,” Hellersund said, adding that ultimately, though, she chose engineering.
As an intern at Carderock, Hellersund participated in an additive manufacturing challenge, where they were tasked to design a boat that could filter water waste from garbage patches in the water. Her teams’ boat was called the Pacific Area Cleanup-Manned Vessel, or PAC-Man. This experience solidified Hellersund’s path to engineering.
After she graduates from college, Hellersund plans to work in industry as an industrial and systems engineer, though she doesn’t know where yet.