75 Years of WE at Ohio State testimonials

When I chose Welding Engineering as a degree path as a junior in high school I had no idea what the degree would do for me or where it would take me. It turns out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

My BSWE has taken me through a prosperous and interesting career in manufacturing and sales. It has taken me to parts of the world I may never have seen otherwise. Being part of this unique community has been a great part of my working life, and I have met many wonderful people as a result.

If you are considering Welding Engineering, consider how it will enable you to work in a wide variety of fields, technologies, and work environments. I have never regretted the path I took and hope the same for all considering the Welding Engineeringi Program as well.

I can say that I lived a testimonial to The Ohio State University Welding Engineering Program. Being in the welding business gave me the opportunity to see into a wide range of industries from food processing to shipbuilding, to construction, aerospace, etc., etc.  Few technical careers give an engineer the opportunity to see such a wide range of enterprises because so many depend on welding to produce their product or service. 

In contrast to those who might believe that welding is a small part of manufacturing, I say that it can expand the “world view” of most engineers, if they let it do so.

Become a Welding Engineer and see the (industrial) world.

Although Welding Engineering was my second bachelor's degree (my first being a BA in Sociology (OSU 2003)), my WE degree has taken me to some interesting locations. I currently work as a Government Project Manager at EWI, in the Navy ManTech program. My first introduction to shipbuilding was my 2011 summer internship at General Dynamics - NASSCO, in San Diego, CA. I was really taken in by the size of the ships being built and especially how much welding impacts and affects the shipbuilding industry.

A few years after graduating with my WE degree, I had the opportunity to work at Ingalls Shipbuilding, located in Pascagoula, MS. Although I am not a shipbuilder anymore, I get to still help out the shipbuilding industry by working Navy ManTech and NSRP projects. One of my first projects at EWI was working on finding a way to improve welding productivity on a ship that is involved with submarine rescue efforts. This project was important to me because, although a submarine sinking is extremely rare, it is a very real possibility and the sooner the submarine rescue ship can get out to the location of sinking, the sooner those sailors can be rescued. I was grateful to be a part of that, even if it was a small part.

Nonetheless, many people think shipbuilding is a dirty industry that is stuck in the past. But the reality is that shipyards are looking to the future and that future involves new alloys and their metallurgy, and new welding processes, avenues that Ohio State WE's should be capable of handling. It is because of new alloys and new welding processes that it is always important to keep learning - Ohio State's WE program certainly plants a firm foundation for such things.