Panel Discussion — February 2013
The AIST Midwest Member Chapter hosted a panel discussion on Tuesday, 12 February 2013 at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. The panel discussion topic was Advanced High-Strength Steels — Development and Applications, and included panelists: Benda Yan, manager — applications technology, ArcelorMittal Research; Hyun Jo Jun, senior research engineer, ArcelorMittal Research; and Robert Ives, director — quality assurance, U. S. Steel – Gary Works. There were 375 attendees at the dinner. Also at the dinner, the 2012 AIST Reliability Achievement Award – Silver was presented to ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor for its PRSB Descale System Redesign and Reliability Improvement Project.

Dinner Meeting — January 2013
On Tuesday, 8 January 2013, the AIST Midwest Member Chapter hosted a dinner meeting at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. The keynote speaker was John Seaman, primary and energy project manager at ArcelorMittal USA. His presentation was entitled, “Blast Furnace Gas Flare Capture Project at Indiana Harbor.” There were 392 attendees at the dinner. A one-year AIST Membership was awarded to Paul Wojcik of AIM Machinery, sponsored by the AIST Midwest Member Chapter.

Christmas Dinner Dance — December 2012
The Midwest Member Chapter’s annual Christmas dinner dance was held on Saturday, 1 December at the Chicago Marriott hotel in downtown Chicago, Ill. The sell-out crowd of 499 guests enjoyed a wonderful evening of dinner and dancing. Music was provided by the Stanley Paul Orchestra.

Young Engineers Night Dinner Meeting — November 2012
The Midwest Member Chapter hosted its annual Young Engineers night on Tuesday, 13 November at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. The event was moderated by Paul M. Behnke, director — materials management for United States Steel Corporation and Midwest Member Chapter second vice chair. The Young Engineers for the event included: Ryan McCance, maintenance manager steel, U. S. Steel – Gary Works; Aaron Betker, metallurgical engineer, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor East; Lauren Legler, environmental engineer, U. S. Steel – Gary Works; and Brandon Lasota, mechanical planner, ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor. There was a sell-out crowd of 404 attendees, a record number for this meeting. A drawing was held for a gift certificate donated by the Radisson Star Plaza Hotel. The drawing winner was Kaitlyn Conley, structural engineer at Superior Engineering.

High School Engineering Seminar — November 2012
The Midwest Member Chapter hosted its 5th Annual High School Engineering Seminar on Wednesday, 7 November 2012 at Purdue University – Calumet. The one-day seminar is directed toward high school juniors who have the potential and interest to pursue a college degree in the field of engineering. The program focused on certain engineering disciplines: civil, electrical, mechanical and metallurgical/material science. A “hands-on” format provided students the opportunity to learn about each discipline in a classroom/lab setting. Each lab included a speaker from the steel industry and a professor to supervise the labs. There was also an opportunity for students to network with university representatives and industry leaders.

Kickoff Meeting – October 2012
The Midwest Member Chapter hosted their annual Kickoff Dinner Meeting on Tuesday, 9 October at the Radisson Star Plaza Hotel in Merrillville, Indiana. The keynote speaker for the event was John D. Mengel, Chief Operating Officer of ArcelorMittal USA Plate.  Also at the dinner, Paul Behnke of U. S. Steel – Gary Works was honored as the 2012 Midwest Member Chapter Outstanding Service Award recipient. Barry Felton of ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor was also recognized for his service as the Chapter Chair 2011-2012. There were nearly 600 attendees at the event.

Vendor Fair – September 2012
On Tuesday, 18 September, the Midwest Member Chapter hosted its annual Vendor Fair at the Radisson Star Plaza Hotel in Merrillville, Indiana. This year’s event hosted 98 exhibiting companies and welcomed more than 580 attendees. 

Golf Outing – August 2012
The Midwest Member Chapter hosted a golf outing on 16 August 2012 at the White Hawk Country Club in Crown Point, Ind. The event was sold out, with 216 golfers. Due to the generous support of the local vendor/supplier community, more than $9,000 was raised to help fund the Midwest Member Chapter scholarship fund, which awards more than $23,000 annually. The Midwest Member Chapter hosts two golf outings each year (June and August) to support their scholarship program.

Golf Outing – June 2012
On Monday, 4 June, 2012 at the Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park, Ill., the Midwest Member Chapter hosted its annual golf outing. The outing had 240 participants this year.

Softball Challenge – May 2012
On Saturday, 19 May 2012, the Midwest Member Chapter held its first Softball Challenge at the U. S. Steel Yard in Gary, Ind., home of minor league team, the Gary Railcats. A total of 12 teams participated in a single-elimination tournament, including: U. S. Steel – Steel Producing, ArcelorMittal – No. 3 Steel Producing, The American Group of Constructors (TAG), Emerson, Pyro Industrial, EQ Engineers, Tranco, CET, NALCO Co., Falk PLI, Paul Wurth and DLZ Industrial. Between the event participants and their families, more than 600 people attended the event. In addition to the softball tournament, there were kids’ games and activities on the field, including running the bases, a hula hoop contest, potato sack race, bean bag toss and more. The events were held to raise funds for the Midwest Member Chapter scholarships. The Midwest Member Chapter would like to extend a special thanks to TAG for helping to host the event; Gary Steindler of Bemcor Inc., A Beatty International Co., who umpired all nine games; and the Railcats’ administration for all of their assistance. Congratulations to the team from Paul Wurth — the 2012 AIST Midwest Member Chapter Softball Challenge champions.

Dinner Meeting – April 2012
On Tuesday, 10 April, the AIST Midwest Member Chapter hosted a dinner meeting at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. There were 250 attendees at the dinner. Mark Schlichting, Castrip process development engineer at Nucor Steel– Indiana, presented, “Energy and Environmental Advantages With the Castrip® Process.”

Dinner Meeting – March 2012
The Midwest Member Chapter hosted a dinner meeting on Tuesday, 13 March at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. There were 310 attendees at the event, which featured a presentation by Kurt Johnson, research engineer at ArcelorMittal Global R&D. Johnson’s presentation was entitled, “Combustion Efficiency and Economics.” Also at the event, the Midwest Member Chapter selected a non-member attendee, Daniel Quinn, from the audience to receive one year of AIST membership, paid by the chapter. Midwest is currently the second largest AIST Member Chapter, with nearly 1,300 members. A member attendee, Ken Munger, was also selected from a drawing to receive a free copy of the 2012 AIST Directory Iron and Steel Plants.

Dinner Meeting – February 2012
The AIST Midwest Chapter’s 7 February meeting was also held at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. The keynote presentation was delivered by R. Joseph Stratman, executive vice president, Nucor Corp. Stratman is also the 2011–2012 AIST president. An audience of nearly 300 people gave Stratman a standing ovation following his presentation. The AIST Reliability Achievement Gold and Bronze level awards were also presented to ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor (gold) and Steel Dynamics Inc. – Columbia City (bronze).

Dinner Meeting – January 2012
On Tuesday, 10 January, the Midwest Member Chapter hosted a dinner, which included a panel discussion on the theme, “Managing Coke and Iron,” at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. The event was moderated by Stephen D. Horvath, process and operations manager — iron producing, ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor. Panelists included: Timothy L. Candiano, division manager — coke plant operations, ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, and Jason W. Entwistle, division manager — iron producing, United States Steel Corporation. There were more than 325 people at the dinner.

Christmas Dinner Dance – December 2011
The Midwest Member Chapter’s annual Christmas dinner dance was held on Saturday, 3 December 2011 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown. The 504 attendees enjoyed dinner and then dancing, with music provided by the Stanley Paul Orchestra.

Young Engineers’ Night – November 2011
On Tuesday, 8 November 2011, the Midwest Member Chapter’s Young Engineers Night dinner meeting was held at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Ind. There were 350 attendees at the event. Presenters included Mahin F. Islam, reliability engineer, ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor West; Mark Kimberlin, maintenance manager, U. S. Steel – East Chicago Tin; Michael Ng, engineer, ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor; Craig Griffes, maintenance manager, U. S. Steel – East Chicago Tin; and Michael Mathieu, project engineer, 80-inch hot strip mill, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor East. The moderator for the event was Paul M. Behnke, director, materials management, United States Steel Corporation.

High School Engineering Seminar – November 2011
The fourth annual AIST Midwest Chapter High School Engineering Seminar was held on Wednesday, 2 November 2011 at Purdue University Calumet. Ten high schools participated, including 150 students and 11 faculty members. The following high schools were in attendance: Bishop Noll Institute, Crown Point, East Chicago Central, Gavit, Griffith, Lake Central, Marquette, Morton, Munster and West Side. The following universities, industries and engineering firms participated: Purdue University Calumet, Valparaiso University, ArcelorMittal USA, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, United States Steel Corporation, AIM Machinery, Ambitech Engineering Corp., CET Inc., EQ Engineers, GE Energy, K&S Engineers Inc., SNC Lavalin – Capital Engineering and Superior Engineering. Also in attendance were members of the AIST Midwest Chapter, along with students and faculty volunteers from Purdue University Calumet and the Center for Innovation Through Visualization and Simulation Center.