Over 150 composites professionals, technicians and students attended the Built2Last Composites Durability Workshop February 23-24 in Nashville, Tennessee held in partnership with Composites One, MVP and the Closed Mold Alliance. The two-day workshop drew a national audience, including new IACMI member Steelhead Composites based in Colorado, and engineering students eager to learn more about the composites industry from Iowa State University.
Held at the Vanderbilt University Laboratory for Systems Integrity & Reliability (LASIR), the academic sector was well represented with presentations from esteemed researchers such as Doug Adams with the Vanderbilt School of Engineering, Dayakar Penumadu with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Robert Steffen from Western Carolina University.
“The workforce training events are highly beneficial to me and other university researchers. The content presented provides fresh perspective on current trends and challenges in composites manufacturing as it is executed on the manufacturing floor,” said Dayakar Penumadu, Fred N. Peebles Professor and JIAM Chair of Excellence, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “As a faculty member, it was especially beneficial for me to see the state-of-the art materials and manufacturing technologies demonstrated at this workshop, which I can now take it back to the class room to train the future workforce on this unique area of science and engineering associated with fiber reinforced composite materials.”
In addition, Ted Townsend, Chief Operating Officer for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, spoke to attendees about the state’s commitment to job growth.
Three other workshops in this series will be held later this year, including:
- April 18-19: Composites in Wind 2017 – Boulder, Colorado
- May 16-17: IACMI Vehicle Scale Up Facility – Detroit Michigan
- November 7-8: Indiana Manufacturing Institute at Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana