Scientist Spotlight – Daryn Dever

Daryn Dever is a research associate at SoarTech, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in modeling and simulation at the University of Central Florida (UCF) School of Modeling, Simulation and Training. She also earned both her bachelor’s degree (psychology, 2015) and her master’s degree (instructional design and technology, 2020) at UCF.

Daryn came to SoarTech because she was excited about the work done by the company. “It is a change of pace from my current research,” she explained. “I appreciate the interdisciplinary work and the learning environment provided at SoarTech. It challenges my current skillset. My favorite thing about working here is the collaboration between the different disciplines that contributes to the success of the company.”

Daryn said she definitely did not want to be a scientist growing up. “I thought the work would be boring,” she said. Instead, she wanted to be a juvenile defense attorney until she realized that studying to be a lawyer would be just as boring.

“But when attending UCF for my undergraduate degree, I finally understood the different advantages to being a transdisciplinary research scientist, including working on collaborative projects and continuously educating myself in different fields across disciplines like education, defense, and medical,” she said.

When Daryn isn’t working at SoarTech, she enjoys participating in soccer pick-up games at the park and trying out different food places. “My favorite is Cloak & Blaster,” she said.