The Many Forms of Industry Engagement

The Ohio State University is fortunate to have a growing network of companies both near and far who engage with members of our institution on many levels. There are many reasons for collaboration but the foremost objective is to enrich the educational experience of our students. The College of Engineering’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), which offers degree options in Materials Science and Engineering and Welding Engineering, seeks relationships with companies, alumni, and societies who voluntarily offer their resources to enrich the core engineering curriculum. The opportunities can be quite focused within welding engineering or materials science and engineering or they can be interdisciplinary and involve academic units across the university and college centers, including the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, Center for Automotive Research, Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis, Aerospace Research Center, and Transportation Research Center. The possibilities are limitless.

Chat leads to capstone project

The motivations to engage with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering varies from one company, alumnus, and society to the next. However, we always seek to bring value to each stakeholder. Allied Mineral Products’ Dana Goski, VP Research and Development and DMSE External Advisory Committee member, noted that it was not until a chance conversation with Kevin Readey, Associate Director of Development with the College of Engineering, that her employer entertained the idea of submitting a capstone project. Although Allied Mineral Products had engaged by other means over the course of five years, a capstone project was off their radar.

One capstone. Two perspectives

Allied Mineral Products logo

Allied Mineral Products, a manufacturer of monolithic refractory products with global headquarters in the greater Columbus area, submitted a capstone in 2018 to challenge students with analyzing failure in a refractory during and after operation.

 

Stacy Gibson, a fourth year Materials Science and Engineering student took on the project after considering the 20 projects presented to her and her fellow students taking the year-long Design and Professional Practice sequence. The project presented Stacy with “an opportunity, outside of the normal internship or co-op routine. Additionally, the project involved metal-ceramic interactions.” Stacy noted, “My coursework at the time concentrated on those topics”.

photo of Stacy Gibson presenting her sponsored capstone results at The Ohio State University.

Stacy visited the expansive industrial site on the west side of Columbus often to submerse herself in activities, which included conducting tests in the lab, working alongside engineers from various disciplines and mastering x-ray measurements. It challenged her to combine practical lab methods and thermodynamic software in a real-world setting.

Matt Lambert, Manager Special Products at Allied Mineral Products and Ohio State alumnus (BS Ceramic Engineering 2003, MS Materials Science and Engineering 2005), worked with Stacy throughout the project. He shared that the collaboration with students from Ohio State’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering allowed his employer access to a great number of resources that his employer would not have otherwise. For example, Stacy’s experience with thermodynamic modeling expanded scope of activities beyond what is typically used by Allied Mineral Products.

Lambert chose Ohio State’s Material Science and Engineering Program for their capstone submission based on the program’s reputation.

“Ohio State has a great MSE program, and it is right down the street from our world headquarters. We have learned that submitting projects at Ohio State helps us determine the feasibility of programs we have considered but not developed. Likewise, empowering an engineering student frees up time for us to focus on other things.”

Lessons Learned

As most of our Watts News readers are former engineering students, they can recall how a capstone project marks the summit of the undergraduate journey. The lessons learned during a project are invaluable, often surprising, for these seniors.

"At one point during my capstone project, I was without a clear direction on how to proceed. The first approach, used for nearly an entire semester, was not proving informative. It was time to reassess how to spend my last semester on the project. I had a meeting with all the individuals at Allied Mineral Products working, in some way, on this project, and we came up with a new design of experiments. The following semester, our new approach did result in more defined results, even though they were found to be inconclusive.”

"Sometimes in a career, it is important to take a step back and reevaluate if your work makes sense. I learned not to accept the path you are on if you see a better way to proceed, even if you are halfway through the allotted work time” - Stacy Gibson

 

Stacy graduated in December and works for DNV GL in Dublin, OH, as an Engineer in their Integrity Solutions group.

Allied Mineral Products is currently drafting their second capstone proposal,  which will be effective for the autumn 2019 semester.

Donation of Resources

Materials

The donation of resources is one of the most valuable efforts of industry and individuals. The foundry within DMSE has been gifted with sand, liner material, and equipment donations from Allied Mineral Products with the help of Pete Satre (Manager Corporate Engineering, BS Metallurgical Engineering 1994).

Time

Matt Lambert volunteers his time within DMSE by lecturing to students, and he is an ambassador with The Ohio State Honor and Scholars Speakers program.

His colleagues have lectured to the foundry class and Tim Hoyt, Manager Product Services Engineering at Allied Mineral, serves on the Foundry Education Foundation (FEF) Industrial Advisory Council at Ohio State at the invitation of Dr. Alan A. Luo, FEF Key Professor in DMSE.

Equipment

A recent example of another donation of resources occurred in the beginning of the Spring 2019 semester when Lincoln Electric surprised each of the incoming Welding Engineering students with head-to-toe personal protective equipment. See the full story here.

 

Mutually beneficial relationship

Our department looks to industry to help develop cutting-edge experiential learning and the resources to implement it. Ongoing relationships with industry enables DMSE to train students to respond to societal needs and prepare them with market readiness, including project implementation, teamwork, time management, communication skills, and engineering ethics.

Industry partners like Allied Mineral Products have expertly advised members of the college when writing proposals for grants. Industry partners can aid in establishing a fundamentals-to-applications pipeline. It enables a more innovative and competitive end product for the industry partner and DMSE researchers. Goski adds that Allied Mineral Products has tapped the College of Engineering’s Ohio Manufacturing Institute for advice and referrals.

Allied Mineral Products is a testament to the harmony harvested through an academia-industry partnership. “We have a huge university resource in our backyard and have leveraged it more and more. The Ohio State University is always looking for capstones and senior projects, and we look forward to submitting others based on our latest experience. With our corporate headquarters 10 minutes away from campus, it makes sense to invite them in to appreciate the operations in our quarter-mile-long manufacturing facility – to show how Systems Engineers, Materials Engineers and Mechanical Engineers perform together and independently in industry.

Mentoring and enriching DMSE students who will be joining the industrial workforce in the near future is a responsibility we welcome.”

Submit a capstone idea

If you or your employer are interested in engaging with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, including Welding Engineering, we invite you to submit a capstone project idea by using this link.

 

 

Propose a capstone project

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering, including Welding Engineering, invites you to submit a capstone idea. Fill out this basic questionnaire, and someone from Materials Science and Engineering or Welding Engineering will be in touch with you.

Click here

Allied Mineral Products Engages

@alliedmineral

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Locations

alliedmineral.com

Additional means of engagement

Kevin Readey
Associate Director of Development
College of Engineering
614-316-3382 

readey.5@osu.edu


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