September_AMP_Digital

FEATURE A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 6 2 13 of materials science and engineering to area high school students in Illinois and Iowa through its ASM Materials Day Camp. ASM International, also a CHTE member, is dedicat- ed to bringing greater awareness to this field—through the ASM Materials Camp program—with the goal of recruiting top talent to the industry. The Quad Cities annual camp has a strong heat treat andmicrostructuremodule, which allows students to heat treat steel to change its properties. The camp is conducted in collaboration with Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois. Black Hawk staff provides the facilities and an instructor; John Deere provides publici- ty, volunteers to staff the camp, a tour of the Harvester com- bine manufacturing plant, and use of the John Deere Moline Technology Innovation Center for publicizing the event. The ASM Chapter Executive Committee promotes and organiz- es the camp, develops the program using a proven format of hands-on activities, provides food for students and vol- unteers, and professional transportation for the industrial tours. Arconic (formerly Alcoa) also provides volunteers to staff the camp, a tour of their aluminum production plant, and a student lunch for the event. According to Robert Gaster, a retired John Deere senior staff engineer, president of the ASMQuadCities USAChapter, and past CHTE Committee chair, “By igniting passion for ma- terials science and engineering in the excellent students we attract to the camp, we are performing an invaluable service both for the students’ benefit, and for the heat treating and materials industries.” The organizers of this event have been able to deter- mine that at least four of the students attending these camps have gone on to study materials science in recent years. Gaster stresses that the goal of these camps is to en- able high school students to be aware of materials science engineering opportunities before they leave high school. His own introduction into the heat treat industrywas accidental. His physics teacher offered his high school class a chance to tour Iowa State University and learn more about materials science. When others didn’t respond, Bob raised his hand. He had no clue what he was getting into, but as often hap- pens when you help someone else, this spontaneous action on his part resulted in a well-suited career path in the heat- treating industry. INTERNSHIPS TRAIN FUTURE TALENT In addition to supporting camps and organizing col- lege and industry visits, CHTE and its members are active- ly involved in a highly successful internship program. CHTE members—Bodycote, Caterpillar, Cummins, John Deere, and Thermatool—have all hired employees who first worked with them through CHTE’s internship program. The CHTE internship program, which is part of the WPI philosophy of bringing students and industry together, co- ordinates and makes every effort to recruit qualified and interested students to meet specific member requests. Final matching and selection are accomplished with direct inter- views between the sponsoring organization and student. If desired, a sponsor representative can also serve on the stu- dent’s thesis committee along with WPI faculty. According to Steven E. Ferdon, P.E., director of Global Engineering Technology, Cummins Electronics & Fuel Sys- tems Business and former chair of CHTE, attracting and maintaining “good and capable” talent is critical for Cum- mins Fuel Systems Business to maintain its competitive ad- At the ASMQuad Cities Material Camp in June 2019, chapter volunteer, Chuck Nielsen, helps a student take out a through- heated tensile test bar for quenching to transform the micro- structure from the original pearlite-ferrite structure to a fully martensitic structure, which significantly increases its strength. Tensile test of a through-hardened and tempered tensile test bar. The student interns define the tempering temperature to obtain an assigned ultimate tensile strength. 14