ATTRACTING AND PREPARING FUTURE LEADERS IN

WELDING AND BRAZING

Iowa Association of Businesses and Industry

Des Moines Area Community College
Southridge Campus
October 25, 2013
Nancy C. Cole
2013 President

Dire shortage of welders and welding

professionals in
manufacturing
infrastructure
energy
Need to be skilled and properly
educated

URGENT: U.S. WELDER SHORTAGE

COULD REACH 250,000 BY 2019

To meet the shortage we need to

improve
The IMAGE of WELDING and
interest more people
Welding and brazing are great occupations
Opportunities in many different types of
work
Need to publicize role models

The pay is good and by increasing

skills and education it can lead to
increased compensation by
climbing the stairs of success

Common paths lead to a career in welding

and/or brazing

Developed by Dr. Dave

Dickenson for Weld-Ed

Factory
Construction site
Pipeline
Shipyard
Clean room
Motorsports

Power plant
Repair shop
Underwater
Laboratory
Training facility
Oil platform

Weld-Ed Partnership
AWS joined with representatives of several industries,
community and technical colleges and universities to create
the National Center for Welding Education and Training
(Weld-Ed) with a grant from the US National Science
Foundation.
Partnership is committed to increasing the number and quality
of welding and materials joining technicians to meet industry
demands.

Careers in Welding Trailer

Inspired by past AWS President William Rice, and a
large donation from The Lincoln Electric Company,
AWS designed and built a tractor-trailer to travel the
U.S. and Canada to promote Careers in Welding.
Lincoln Electric donated five VRTEX 360 virtual
welding simulators to give a realistic feel for
welding..

VIRTUAL
WELDING IN
AWS TRAILER

Social Media
AWS has become actively involved in
Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
AWS has launched a Facebook page that
actively promotes careers in welding.
AWS has retained an outside consultant
to advise in social media issues, and has
hired a staff expert in social media.

All of that is great and we are

making progress
BUT that is not enough.
We are missing out on 50% of
the population

Women are an underused

resource
Women represent only 6% of the welding
and brazing workforce (Dept. of Labor)

History has shown that women have

stepped up in times of need.

Young woman brazing in WW II

Springfield Armory

CELEBRATE
WOMEN IN
WELDING

HOT CHICKS
and BRAZING WOMEN

Welder
Welding since 9th grade
Associate Degree in
Welding and Fabrication
Triangle Tech, Sunbury, PA
Nuclear welding and
welding for shale gas
companies

Melissa Hall,
Member of Local Union 520
Plumber and Pipefitters Union

Welder
I would love to
inspire other women
to be welders as well.
I think it's very neat
that I had past family
members that were
welders on both
sides.

Callie Jones-Hughes
P&H Mine Pro
Evansville, Wyoming

Trainer
Chris Monroe
Hobart Brothers Co.
Troy, Ohio

Theres an opportunity in
this industry to have a career
for life. You can work on the
manufacturing floor or in
the field as a welder, or as
an ironworker building a
stadium. You can become an
engineer and develop
welding products or travel
around the country as a
Certified Welding Inspector.

Sheila Graham
Welding Teacher
Pella Academy
Pella, IA
Started as waitress,
Marshalltown Community College
3.8 GPA Medical Records
Pre-school teacher
Vermeer welder training school

Mental health counselor and

former college professor of
wellness and psychology
Wellness Welder

Shanen L.
Aranmr

Metal sculpture and fabrication perfect

stress management technique to share with
students. Began with blacksmithing.
Degree in welding technology.
Taught community college welding classes in
Arizona.

At Miller Electric, ITW, provides a one-day welding sculpture

workshop designed to empower women and adolescent girls.
Co-chair for the National SkillsUSA Welding Sculpture Competition

Welding Quality
Assurance
Hands-on educator and
management executive, CWI
B.S. Agricultural Mechanization,
Occupational Education, Animal Science

Welding Engineering Technician

25 years of experience:

Anna Petroski, co-founder

Atema Inc.
quality, fabrication, standards writing
Chicago, Illinois
U.S. Navy quality assurance and

quality control
nuclear and non-nuclear welding
engineering program

Naval Engineer
Maria Posada is the friction stir
welding technology lead within
the Welding, Processing and
Nondestructive Evaluation
Branch of the Naval Surface
Warfare Center.
John Deloach and Maria Posada
Naval Surface Warfare Center
West Bethesda, Maryland
Presented award by AWS
President Mendoza

89032

Nan Samanich
AWS District 21 Director
CWI
Welding & Metals
Technology Instructor

AWS BOARD
OF
DIRECTORS

Desert Rose High School and

Career Center
Las Vegas, NV

Pierrette Gorman
Incoming 2014
AWS District 20 Director
B. S Welding Engineering
Laser and Soldering
Specialist
Sandia National Laboratory
Albuquerque, N.M.

Brazing Engineer
Microchannel heat
exchanger brazing
Hui Zhao
PhD, Mechanical Engineering
University of Ky
Creative Thermal Solutions
Urbana, Illinois

Materials Engineer
Responsible for metal brazing
processes of pumps and
motors for commercial and
naval products.
Robin Gourley
Curtiss-Wright
Cheswick, Pa.

15 yr active member of AWS Brazing and

Soldering Committee
Presents papers at numerous International
Brazing Conferences and Seminars
Writes for the AWS Brazing Handbooks

Tech Marketing
I am enjoying the
opportunity to provide
solutions to companies
to keep productive
manufacturing in the
USA. I am also actively
involved in the
development and
marketing for our virtual
reality welding solution.

Deanna Postlethwaite
Lincoln Electric Co.

Local AWS Section Chair

Karen M. Gilgenbach

CWI, CWS, CRAW-T, WTC-WI

B.S. Engineering Mechanics
Weld Process Specialist, Airgas, Inc.
Chair, AWS Milwaukee Section

Welding Sales
Four years after starting at
Arc Welders, I was asked if I
wanted to sell our products
to end users. I jumped at
the possibility since I would
be the first woman in the
Baltimore area to ever have
accomplished this feat.

Claudia Bottenfield
College business
courses
Single mother raising 2
sons
Arc Welders,
Baltimore, Maryland
AWS District Director,
2000-2002

President & COO

Welding Supply Business
B.S. Human Resources
President & Chief Operations
Officer
Responsible for all of the 8
locations
1st female president of
GAWDA (Gases And Welding
Distributors Assn.)
Strong civic leader

Jenny McCall
WESCO Gas & Welding
Supply
Mobile, Alabama

Lori and Traci Tapani

Co-Presidents
Women
Owned
Business

Stacy, MN

Anna Wald, CWI

Quality Manager

Becky Tuescherer, Vice President, ITW,

Commercial Welding at Miller Electric
Mfg. with markets around the globe
B.A. Accounting, MBA Business Adm
Began in 1988 as a Financial Analyst
Held a number of financial roles
Including Business Unit Manager
She and her team focus on growth
strategies in the North American
Commercial Welding platform.

CEO
Since I was a young child I
have always been interested in
the mechanics of how things
work.

Diane Warren
Innovat Corporation
Marion, Virginia

Niche market repairing welded printed circuit boards

in industrial equipment.
Offers welding distributors and end users an alternative to
purchasing new equipment.

 Have good female role models

Need to get the word out
Encourage females in all possible ways
Be a mentor
Give her an opportunity

PROVIDE SCHOLARSHIPS
Currently within the AWS Foundation,
scholarships exist for females. Two are
available for a 4 year engineering student
concentrating on welding. One is available for
a female studying at either a 2 yr or 4yr
college or university.
Now its up to us to interest and
encourage females to take up
welding and to take advantage of
those scholarships

Airgas
Discount
for AWS
Women
in
Welding

Pam Swanson
President of Airgas North
Central

Karen Gilgenbach
Weld Process Specialist
Airgas North Central

Tracy McDowell
Regional Vice President,
Airgas North Central

Susan Fitch
Area Vice President,
Airgas Southwest

Amy Marquart
Vice President of Hardgoods
& Safety Products,
Airgas North Central

Future (near-term): Girl Scout Proficiency Badge

Future (long-term): one-to-one female/male ratio

Welding at Floresville High School, TX

"In the 1980s, U.S. manufacturing was 80%

brawn and 20% brains, but now it's 10%
brawn and 90% brains."
Ed Hughes, President and CEO of Gateway
Community and Technical College in Kentucky

[By 2020]
The scientific
Until
recently,
welding and
itself was
engineering
principles
behind
a skill that craft
people
could
welding
must replace
learn without
a real the art of
welding
for it to of
achieve
its
understanding
the science
potential
as a preferred state-ofbehind it.
the-art manufacturing process.
Vision for Welding Industry

Weld-Ed Partnership
National core curriculum model for Welding Technician programs.
Listing of the core body of knowledge for the classroom and lab.
Provide professional development modules for secondary and postsecondary educators.
Includes the student learning outcomes from the core
curriculum model
Prepares educators for successful instruction in a welding
technician program.

AWS Volunteers C3,Brazing and Soldering

Committee

plus Website, Online Forums & International Standards

Anyone, Any time, Anywhere

Science

Technology Engineering

Education

Math

Certification
and Training

Instructor
Support

Centralized
Information
Source

Crowd
sourcing
Open
Education

STEM
Education

Learning
Pathways

Competition
Support

Pathway to the CWI

Welding Fundamentals
Safety in Welding
Math for Welders I and II
Welding Symbols
Metallurgy and NDT

Total AWO Content

100

110+
Hours

80
60
40
20

25
Hours

26 Hours

AWO Paid AWO Free

Content
Content

Tooling U

20 Hours

Hobart
Online

AWO Overview
AWO Blog
Multiple times per week
Experts sharing knowledge
Career information
Science Fridays expansion

AWO Overview
AWO Podcast
Professional Program Presentation
Sharing of scientific research
New technologies and products
Watch online or download to devices

AWO Overview
Virtual Conferences
IBSC 2012
Education Annual Program
ITSA Conference
Health and Safety Conference
Non-Destructive Testing Conference
Weld Cracking Conference
Pipeline Conference
Codes and Standards Conference

IBSC 2012
54 Speaker Presentations
Over 13 Hours of educational content
Release Date: July 18th

IN CONCLUSION:
There is a dire need for skilled and educated
welding professionals.
AWS is concentrating on improving the image
of welding to interest young people, women
and the people who influence them.
Weld-Ed and American Welding On-Line are
some of the newer ways that AWS is using to
enhance the traditional classroom delivery of
STEM and welding related knowledge.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
David Hernandez, AWO
Monica Pfarr, Weld-Ed
& Jeff Weber

THANK YOU