Materials Engineering Overview - Overview PDF - PowerPoint - Podcast

	1990 - BS Ceramic Engineering, Alfred University 1993 - MS Ceramic Engineering, Alfred University
	Research & Development
	"Concentrate on the basic science classes: chemistry, physics, and math."

"My title is ceramic engineer and I'm responsible for the research and development as well as the daily quality control of all ceramic-related processes here at Buffalo China. You think of an industry that works in clay and especially making plates, that you would think everything is known, you know. We've been doing this a hundred years, we know about everything there is to do. But that's really not true. There are a lot of areas that are really like black magic, you know, something changes and people just say the clay is changed, we don't know what it is. So you actually get into it on a chemical level and you realize there are a lot of little things as much as the tap water seasonally changing. Or clay mines will get flooded, so instead of digging out of one mine, they dig out of another. And that all impacts our process and the things that we do here. And one of my jobs is to figure out how all of these things change and how it affects the final process so that we can make china better. And when you think about it, we dig all of our stuff out of the ground. It's all basically dirt to everybody else and we mix it all together and try to make the same item every day."

Typical Day

7:00 AM - Work day starts at 7:30 AM
8:00 AM - Meetings (Production Review)
9:00 AM - Review Daily Control Information
10:00 AM - Gathered by Lab Technicians (Paperwork)
11:00 AM - Walk through factory.
12:00 PM - Lunch 30-60 minutes
1:00 PM - Work with clay making operation
2:00 PM - Follow clay through process
3:00 PM - Engineering meetings.
4:00 PM - Paperwork.
5:00 PM - Leave @ 5:30
6:00 PM - Gym/Bike/Outside stuff
Evening - Sleep

Career Experience:

• Buffalo China Inc., Ceramic Engineer
• Buffalo China Inc., Process Engineer

Honors and Awards: Keramos (Ceramic Honor Society), Deans List for 8 semesters.

Best Preparation: "Extra curricular activities: soccer, fraternity. But school had a lot to do with it."

Getting First Job: "Through the Career Placement Center at Alfred University and networking with Alfred alumni."

Advice: "Concentrate on the basic science classes: chemistry, physics, and math."

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