Perspectives for Emerging Materials Professionals: Perspectives for Emerging Materials Professionals: Industry and Entrepreneurship
Program Organizers: Umesh Patil, Caterpillar Inc.; Nitin Chopra, The University of Alabama; Mark Tschopp, Army Research Laboratory
Tuesday 2:00 PM
October 9, 2012
Room: Room 409
Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Ctr
Session Chair: Mark Tschopp, Mississippi State University; Olga Rowan, Caterpillar; Leigh Duren, Nichols Portland - Parker Hannifin; Joseph Kaufman, Amsted Rail Company, Inc.
2:00 PM Keynote
The Future of Alloy Design and Alloy Processing: The Revolution Has Started: Gernant Maurer1; 1ASM International
Computational modeling of alloy processing has been advancing on several fronts and is a well-established part of today’s materials manufacturing and applications. Integrating these computational modeling modules will revolutionize our industry and our careers. Young professionals will have a new toolbox to develop new materials and processes at a rate never experienced before. This talk will address how we got to where we are in high performance specialty alloys and will discuss opportunities to develop the next generation of engineering materials. The need for “faster, better & cheaper” has never been so important in a world of global competitiveness. The implications of integrated computational materials modeling and some examples will be discussed. Developing new “enabling” materials is critical in a world where raw materials are becoming scarce, energy production is “skyrocketing” and our needs for engineered materials is growing rapidly. The future of materials engineering is more exciting than ever.
2:40 PM Invited
Can You Spell Entrepreneur?: Larry Hanke1; 1Materials Evaluation and Engineering, Inc
Engineers today are not limited to a career as an employee of a big manufacturing corporation. There are myriad opportunities for engineers to ply their skills starting and running new enterprises. For some, this path can be a highly-rewarding alternative to a long-term corporate career. Materials engineers have some unique opportunities in entrepreneurship. This presentation gives one engineer’s perspective on entrepreneurship as a career path. Advantages and disadvantages, resource requirements, and personal factors relating to starting and running a new business or small company will all be discussed.
3:00 PM Invited
IP&U (Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights Overview): Gary Topolosky1; 1Sole Practitioner -- IP Law
The purpose of this presentation is to provide material scientists and engineers with a high level view of Intellectual Property, particularly recent changes to US patent law that are being gradually phased in over the next several years. The presentation will address issues relating to U.S. and international patenting strategies, how the different types of intellectual property are not mutually exclusive (one doesn't have to choose between a, b OR c), and relative costs. Finally, it will cover the pitfalls of very low cost alternatives like Invent Help, Davison and Legal Zoom.
3:20 PM Break
3:40 PM Invited
Career Decisions and Their Medium-Term Impact: Kirk Rogers1; 1GE Healthcare
Several career examples from GE healthcare, including the speaker’s will be used as a platform to discuss the impact of early career decisions in industry. The difference between technical career paths and operations career paths will be reviewed in the context of advanced degree career progressions in the first 15 years of employment in a large corporation. Daily work content, overall job responsibilities, and leadership requirements at the various career levels will be discussed.
4:10 PM Invited
Microstructure Informatics from a Scientific Concept to a Profitable Business: Ayman Salem1; 1Materials Resources, LLC
Scientific curiosity is a major producer of new ideas. Often, scientists believe their new ideas will change the world, start new businesses, and make a lot of money. However, few ideas make it from the scientist’s notebook to the business world. Very few, become successful businesses. In this talk, the CEO of Materials Resources LLC will share his experience of converting scientific research in Microstructure Informatics to a successful aerospace business during recession. Various challenges will be discussed including the transformation of a scientist to a business man, motivating creative people, and conveying a vision to collaborators/and customers. In addition, a few case studies will be shared to highlight the cost savings achieved by using Microstructure Informatics in aerospace materials.
4:30 PM Invited
Professional Licensure: An Early Career Materials Engineer’s Prospective
: Margaret Bush1; 1Medtronic, Inc.
Professional Licensure for material engineers is not a common occurrence. Professors in many materials engineering degree programs around the country tell graduating materials engineers to not even bother taking the FE exam. Why would materials engineers want to spend the time to obtain a license, including many hours studying and 16 hours of sitting in exams, if it isn’t even necessary? This talk will discuss insights into the Metallurgical and Materials Professional Engineering licensure track and highlight the benefits of taking the exam for early career professionals (even those outside of consulting).