HIGHL IGHTS 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 | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 5 8 THE FACE OF MATERIALS ENGINEERING This profile series features members from around the world at all stages in their careers. Here we speak with Sarah Graham, associate technician at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Knoxville, Tenn. What does your typical workday look like? My typical workday involves mostly metallographic sample preparation but regularly will include performing other characterization tasks such as microscopy, metrology, and mechanical testing. What part of your job do you like most? It is difficult to choose. I enjoy training others and teaching them how to perform their work in the metallography lab, located in the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, but a very close second is making my small contribution to such a wide range of interesting and exciting projects throughout the facility. What is your greatest professional achievement? In my current role, I believe my greatest professional achievement has been starting a fully functioning metallography lab in a facility that has undergone significant changes due to COVID and rapid growth. Developing the processes, procedures, and tools we use to support our stakeholders is a point of pride. Best career advice: I think it was President Eisenhower who said, “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” I have found that being deliberate andmethodical when evaluating problems but flexible and adaptive when executing solutions has been the key to my success. What are you working on now? As a characterization technician, most of the work I do involves “destroying” most of the experiments our researchers are creating or manufacturing, but lately I have been learning how to operate a laser powder bed fusion printer. It requires a different skillset and is very challenging but making things is one of the reasons I enjoy science and engineering as a career. What’s the last book you read? Reading has become a rare treat lately, but a friend of mine recently let me borrow her copy of Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s autobiography, “Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back.” Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. She is truly an Ameri- can hero. VOLUNTEERISM COMMITTEE Profile of a Volunteer Brittnee Mound-Watson, Ph.D., manufacturing engineering associate manager, Optical Components Center, Lockheed Martin, Orlando, Fla. Brittnee Mound-Watson is all about science. She is also very much a people person. In her early 30s, she has already earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering and advanced to an associate manager role at Lockheed Martin in a center that makes optic lenses for military defense systems. Mound-Watson’s interest in materials science was sparked during high school when she needed a bone-anchored hearing system with a titanium implant. “I got interested in what the metal was they were putting into my skull, and I came across biomaterials. That ledme to study materials science at the University of Florida where I really enjoyed the research aspect.” During doctoral studies at the University of Tennessee, she joined the local Material Advantage chapter and got involved in the Oak Ridge Chapter of ASM. “It was a very professional and inspiring group of scientists and engineers. Even though I was only a grad student, they encouraged me to be on the executive board as secretary, which I did for three years. I’m so grateful because that helped build my confidence and skills to communicate in materials science. I wouldn’t be where I am today without that.” Mound-Watson also found ASM helpful when she briefly moved to New Hampshire after graduating and needed contacts in a new city. “I used the ASM Boston Chapter to network, but now that I’m into my career, I’ve joined the Emerging Professionals Committee at the national level to help other members grow technically and professionally.” She finds that leadership skills gained through ASM, including a role as mentor for high school students in a Materials Camp, have improved her abilities as a manager, especially in facing the challenges to communicate virtually during the pandemic. Though she gives less time to ASM now as a busy manager at Lockheed Martin, a wife, and a mother to her 16-month-old daughter, Mound-Watson encourages members to be involved as they can be. “Professional societies like ASM are very important in our field. It’s good to get involved at whatever level you can. You never know what opportunities will come from it.” Mound-Watson Graham VOLUNTEERISM COMMITTEE
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