Going Nuclear

While the students are finishing Autumn quarter, and taking finals, we’re still catching up on summer internships!
Here’s a report and a photo from MSE senior Niko.

This past summer I worked at the Region II office of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in Atlanta, GA. I was a student engineer in the Division of Construction Inspection and was a member of the mechanical/materials/welding branch.

I enjoyed my internship because I was exposed to the nuclear industry from the regulatory side. I worked on a project that had a direct impact on the company, and visited five different sites related to the nuclear industry.

My project was a large literature review about how duplex stainless steel will be used in an upcoming reactor designs. Writing this document and presenting my findings helped reinforce what I learned the past several years.

There were five other interns with majors from Civil, MechE, NucE,  and EE. We were from different schools including Gerogia Tech, Florida, and one other Ohio State intern, a MechE.   Small world, too!  In my branch were three Ohio State Welding Engineering alumni.

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Go, Team!

For the past three summers, MSE 3rd-year student Tiffiny has interned at Babcock & Wilcox — Nuclear Operations Group, in the following departments: Environmental, Health, and Safety, Materials Engineering, and Industrial Engineering/Manufacturing Management.

Here’s what she says about her experiences there.

Tiffiny has worked at B&W for the last three summers

Working at B&W has reinforced how important it is to work as a team. Everyone has their individual job working towards specific goals. Even though everyone is doing something different, it is so important to realize how your one job contributes to the overall success of the company. Nothing will get accomplished unless all departments can learn to work together in harmony. Whether you are a maintenance employee working to assure a machine gets running smoothly or an engineer working on designing the next fixture to be used, your role is crucial. No one job is more important than another; it does not matter if it involves a college education or technical skills, or if it is on the factory floor or in the office, every job is critical for smooth operation.

I have been able to narrow down what I want to do with my career from my experience. I am learning what I find intellectually stimulating and what I would hate doing for the rest of my life. From this, I hope to find a career I enjoy upon graduation.

There are a lot of fellow Buckeyes up at B&W facility in Euclid, Ohio. But my supervisor this summer was a Michigan fan. It’s funny to think that I would report to some who worships that “state up north”. But after working with him, I realized that maybe not all Michigan fans are crazy. Putting aside our Ohio State & Michigan rivalry, I have a great deal of respect for my supervisor.  I’m hoping maybe he’ll see the light and become a Buckeye fan.

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She won’t get foiled again!

MSE Senior Courtney, reporting on her co-op with PCC Airfoils.

Courtney is co-op'ing with PCC Airfoils

I am currently working at PCC Airfoils SMP plant in Wickliffe, Ohio.  In simple terms, we make pieces for jet engines. And any good materials scientist knows how hot jet engines get and how the pieces inside need to be able to withstand said high temperatures.

My co-op started in July and will continue until the end of the year. My official title is “process engineering co-op,” which means I work with a process engineer.  Unfortunately my mentor is a Michigan fan and we disagree on all things Ohio State! But I still wear my scarlet and gray on Fridays.

The coolest thing about my position is that get to work with GE Aviation and all of their partners.  For example, I help with the land-based engines for Nuovo Pignone which is a GE Italian partner.  I really like being able to “flex” my metallurgical muscles.  You don’t realize how helpful certain classes are until you are able to explain solidification to your office mates.

My biggest fear starting my co-op was that I wouldn’t deliver what they hired me to do. That feeling disappeared after day one. The most surprising thing for me was that I actually like working in an industrial plant atmosphere. Plant life is not very glamorous; however wearing jeans and steel toes everyday isn’t bad. And the people who work on the floor are absolutely amazing and I think I would miss that working in an office environment.

This has been an amazing experience for me, because I have learned so much about what it is like to be a real working engineer and I have gained so much confidence in myself as an engineer.

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Summer Happenings in OSUMaterials

While our students are busy with summer jobs, internships, and classes, here are a few things going on in the department this summer.

The OSU’s Women in Engineering program holds a variety of outreach camps throughout the summer.  One group of rising high school seniors stopped by Dr. Guan’s lab in the MSE Department to learn about the use of polymer gels, stem cells, and the regeneration of heart tissue.  Here, students inject stem cells mixed in a polymer hydrogel (liquid at low temperatures, and more solid at body temperature) into a pig heart.  Read more about Dr. Jianjun Guan’s work here: Hydrogels for Cardiac Tissue Engineering.

Women in Engineering campers learn about biomaterials

In addition, the department acquired a new “toy” that will be used in classes and welding demonstrations to show a type of solid state welding called “cold pressure welding.” The hand-held device welds wire pieces together without the use of heat. Forcing two wires through a die several times, exposes pure areas of metal (copper, in this video) to come in close contact with each other, so that metallic bonding occurs.

In this video, visiting high school teachers learn about materials and solid state welding at an ASM Materials Teachers camp held in the department this summer.

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What are you doing this summer?

This summer -

MSE Students are interning at: Owens Corning,General Motors, Oshkosh Corporation,DNV Columbus,Steel Dynamics Inc,Honda,Nuclear Regulatory Commision,The Ohio State University Department of Nuclear Engineering, Hendrickson Trailer Suspension Systems, Marathon Petroleum, Ridge Tool Co., Entrotech, HA International, Emerson Climate Technologies, The Timken Company, Swagelok, TIMET, Unilever, UES, Inc.

MSE students are doing: Materials & Process Engineering Intern, Lab maintenance, material evaluation, failure analysis research, steel manufacturing, Engines engineer , Manufacturing, Student Engineer, not sure yet, Student Researcher, Research, Metallurgical Intern,   Research with some manufacturing, Metallury Co-op, Maintenance and Inspection, Metallurgical Engineering, Product Engineering, research, manufacturing, material selection, Composites Design, Carbon fiber research, Purchasing Division Associate, Lab assistant, Quality control/development, data analysis, metallurgical work, research, Composites sourcing intern, buying and shipping parts from other companies, Sheet and Plate Metallurgist, Manufacturing

MSE students are making per hour average: $16.94

Have a happy summer, everyone!