ICI draws global attention
Tuesday, June 7, 2016 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
More than 8,000 miles away in her native India, Khushboo Pareah caught wind of a unique investment casting course that takes place in a small town in the United States.
“We have a foundry back home in India, and I had heard a lot about the investment casting course in America,” Pareah said. “I had heard it was a unique course that really covered a lot of different material. That’s why I’m here in Pittsburg.”
Pareah was one of more than 30 students at this year’s
Investment Casting Institute, conducted annually at Pittsburg State
University’s Kansas Technology Center.
The course, in its 16th year, gives industry professionals a chance to hone their skills in investment casting techniques and processes. The curriculum includes lessons on casting design, waxes, metallurgy and casting finishing.
“It’s the only course like it in the world,” said Russ Rosmait, PSU faculty member and director of the Investment Casting Training Center. “There are no other universities that have the equipment and capabilities that we have here at the tech center. That’s why, every year, the ICI hosts students from across the nation and around the world.”
The course, Rosmait said, is part of an international effort to recruit young professionals into the investment casting field. Many of the students at this year’s ICI are in their 20s and 30s.
Pareah, 26, said the hands-on training that takes place at the ICI is what makes it attractive to professionals who are relatively new to the industry.
“It’s been very helpful to me,” she said, “because we get the hands-on learning experiences that are hard to find in other places. The facility here at PSU is amazing. I’ve never seen this many instruments together in one place.”
Jim Ristow, who works at Wisconsin Precision in East Troy, Wisc., has been in the investment casting industry for approximately six months. He said the ICI is a valuable learning tool for new professionals.
“For someone like me who has only been at this for about six months, it’s an incredible experience because you learn so much,” he said. “The tech center is very nice and has everything you need to get an all-around education in investment casting.”