2024 Steel Intern Scholarships
R. Gibson Cheney
Thanks to the AIST Foundation Scholarship, I was able to continue my co-op working for Nucor Corp. at their plate mill in Tuscaloosa, Ala., USA, this summer as a metallurgy co-op in the meltshop. I worked alongside our metallurgists, supervisors, and maintenance and production teammates on both long-term and smaller daily projects with an emphasis on increasing safety and efficiency. The work I was able to accomplish this summer covered a broad spectrum of metallurgy, production processes, data analysis and environmental reporting.
I have been with Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Inc. for over a year now and have been gained invaluable hands-on experience learning about primarily the melting, refining, and continuous casting of steel, and insights into the rolling and further downstream processing of steel plate. With Nucor, I wasn’t just an intern or a co-op; I was treated with the same mutual respect as every other teammate on-site, and this respect was evident in the consistent commitment to safety and the projects I was tasked with. Every morning meeting was spent discussing safety in and out of the workplace, and from this, I was able to safely develop legitimate process improvements that will aid in increasing our efficiency.
Additionally, I had the opportunity to attend the Southeastern Nucor Intern Summit in Blytheville, Ark., USA, where I was able to tour two mills and learn more about the beam and sheet processes. I also was able to connect and learn from steelmaking professionals and other interns from all over the southeast.
As I continue my studies at the University of Alabama, I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity from both Nucor and the AIST to grow in both knowledge and experience in steelmaking and look forward to similar opportunities in the future.