Lincoln Electric Hosts Welding Engineering Students at Annual Boot Camp

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering values learning beyond the walls of classrooms and labs. The broader community offers our students opportunities that heighten perspectives, enrich education and, for many fortunate students, lead to jobs. The partnership between industry and academia is a lifeline to a sustainable and competitive workforce. To that end, our programs value all types of industry support to enrich the educational experience. Support is realized through funding, equipment donations, capstone projects, mentorships, and internships, among other means. Lincoln Electric is an example of an industry partner that welcomes our students to their facilities in an effort to provide experiential learning.  

It is fitting that a major provider of global welding and cutting solutions hosts a concentrated and hands-on boot camp for our Welding Engineering students on an annual basis. A group of 40 Ohio State Welding Engineering students descended on Lincoln Electric’s world headquarters in Cleveland during the week of December 17. The format of the four-day boot camp complemented the technical and metallurgy curricula in the classroom and applied basic welding practices taught on campus.

Peer-based Instruction Model

Lincoln Electric employees who have just completed a year of intense training and are recent welding engineering graduates typically lead the sessions. This structure lends itself to an interactive model in which the students view the instructors as peers. Each Ohio State welding engineering student accrues four hours of hands-on welding daily in addition to watching live demonstrations and touring the facility. Lincoln Electric also arranges for roundtable discussions so their staff engineers can explain what they have done with their welding engineering degrees. Upon completion of the boot camp, each welding engineering student earns one credit hour and actively participates in both traditional and specialized welding processes, including MIG, TIG, sub arc, flux core, hybrid laser welding, and additive manufacturing.

“These students are experts in technical theory and metallurgy, but we offer Ohio State’s welding engineering undergrads an extended hands-on experience at our boot camp. We have found that the students learn so much more about the welding processes by actively applying that knowledge while being submerged in the environment.

Their senses are engaged when they learn welding techniques. They see the electrodes, feel the heat that comes off machine welds and smell the fuel powering the machinery. This opportunity connects the dots between their classroom learning and the physical process”, explains Elliott Ash, Lincoln Electric Applications Engineer and 2007 OSU Welding Engineering Graduate.   

Equation for Success

Lincoln Electric has hosted this boot camp for Ohio State’s Welding Engineering students for over 15 years. While experiential learning is the primary objective of the boot camp, Lincoln Electric knows this industry-academic collaboration is mutually beneficial. It provides Lincoln Electric with a pool of future recruits. There are currently 111 Ohio State alumni employed by Lincoln Electric around the globe; 20 hail from our Welding Engineering program. Two to three Ohio State Welding Engineering students are hired by Lincoln Electric each year. These students go on to become Applications Engineers, Automation Engineers, and Technical Sales Representatives, working in the consumables R&D space, arc performance R&D, or managing the 76 welding cells at the global headquarters.

A partnership that provides a broader educational experience and lends itself to a stronger workforce is an equation for success. If you or your employer would like to host an experiential learning event for Materials Science and Engineering and/or Welding Engineering students, please reach out to Libby Culley, Department of Materials Science and Engineering Communications Coordinator. (culley.36@osu.edu

 

 

 

 

Interested in providing experiential learning?

If you or your employer would like to offer a hands-on learning experience to our Welding Engineering or Materials Science and Engineering students, please contact DMSE Communications Coordinator Libby Culley.

culley.36@osu.edu