AIST Steel Intern Scholarship
Valeria E. Villagomez-Lopez
Being part of the steel industry for a summer increased my passion for it. Being part of the development of activities to obtain fundamental products for human daily life fills me with complete satisfaction. The love for what you do is full of learning, commitment, experiences and I confirmed this during my summer internship.
I was part of the Ternium México Universidad Plant in San Nicolás de los Garza, N.L., Mexico, for two months, with a tutor who helped me with my training and development of my projects. I had the great opportunity to have co-tutors who were fundamental pieces for my learning and for my love for the steel industry grew.
I was in the coating area, with the help of Robert E. Freites, Alejandro Treviño and Armando Estrada, developing my main project, which was to make a prediction of the life of the clad-type boiler for galvanizing, I had to dive deep to understand what had failed years before, propose alternatives to avoid said failures, design an inspection plan, experiment with test tubes to see the wear that zinc, aluminum and iron have towards low carbon stainless steel. Some additional projects were designing equipment for collecting sheet samples, cleaning design for an area where there was a lot of scale, I accompanied a colleague in the development of his project that consisted of changing variables of the air blades of the baffles.
The commitment to do the job in a responsible, committed and passionate way was the greatest thing I learned; steel is part of our daily life, so it is necessary to have such commitments to obtain the best products. Ternium is a company committed to making quality steel with a fundamental focus on meeting the objectives for specific products, in addition to saving the integrity of its employees and with this I emphasize how important safety is for everyone. Galvanized was my most special project and my biggest challenge. I arrived with high expectations, but being closely involved in the processes clarified all the engineering behind it.
An engineer in the steel industry has the capacity for invention and creativity, to transform his environment, shape great projects and improve people’s quality of life. The essence of them centers on the spirit of search and creation, of solving what is presented.
Thank you to Ternium and AIST for giving me these experiences and opportunities for my development. Thank you, Monserrat Cornejo, for your unconditional support. Thanks to my classmates and tutors for their great guidance and company.