Tyler S. Rigby - 2015 Steel Internship scholar
The AIST Steel Internship Scholarship has helped me and my family financially, and me personally, with a fantastic opportunity. With rising tuition costs, this award could not have come at a better time in my academic career. Along with the monetary funding, this scholarship has provided the opportunity to secure a paid internship in the steel industry for the summer. I got the unique chance to travel out of my home state of Pennsylvania and go to Norfolk, Neb., USA, to work for Nucor Steel.
Nucor Steel–Nebraska is an SBQ mill in Norfolk. They produce various grades and sizes of round, channel, flat, and hex steel products. I worked in the engineering department, where I was assigned a variety of projects and tasks. Safety equipment, machine guarding and finished product handling equipment were just a few of the things I was able to work on. Within the projects, I was able to utilize knowledge from my engineering courses to perform real calculations and make new designs. On top of my own knowledge, I was able to learn new information about how a steel mill operates and what the engineers do on a day-to-day basis. Problem solving was done with the help of maintenance and operations during daily meetings and collaboration. Another very important part of my summer was safety. This is the number one priority, and I received great training from Nucor to ensure that I went home every day just the way I came in.
This experience has definitely had an impact on my future. I can honestly say I would work with Nucor again in the future as an intern or even a full-time employee. The steel industry has been presented to me in a great way, and I really enjoyed the opportunity I had this summer. I cannot thank AIST and Nucor enough for helping me with this scholarship and internship!