Howard U. Olson
Limelight Steel
My time at Limelight Steel this summer has been an incredibly rewarding experience. As a startup, the company is developing groundbreaking technology, and it was fascinating to witness that innovation firsthand. I was able to take the experience and education I’ve gained so far and put it directly to work solving real-world problems alongside a fantastic team.
Limelight Steel is leading the charge in reducing carbon emissions within the steel industry. Their approach is not only more energy-efficient and environmentally conscious than current standards, but it also creates new possibilities for reprocessing iron sources that were previously considered unusable.
My dual major in metallurgical engineering and mathematics, with an emphasis in data science, provides me with a unique perspective and set of skills to tackle challenges I’m genuinely passionate about. One of my main projects involved redesigning, verifying and expanding a massive database for the site selection of the next steel mill. I was given a great deal of autonomy with this project and managed to complete it in just a third of the expected time. My research was actually important and was implemented into several reports, which gave me a real feeling of accomplishment. Building on that, I applied my coding and data analysis skills to develop an interactive map that helps inform international business decisions and provides valuable insights for driving company strategy. On the metallurgy side, I gained hands-on experience by observing high-power laser experiments and even designing and conducting some of my own. The experiments I developed helped put some actual numbers and practice behind the theory. While not every experiment went as planned, I had lots of support to perform maintenance and investigate what went wrong.
The biggest surprise was how much flexibility a startup demands. Each day held something new and required me to solve new problems. It was quite refreshing to take a break from data science to observe experiments or help around the lab. At first, the autonomy was a challenge because I wanted to finish everything at once. However, as I grew more accustomed to the workplace, I learned how to better prioritize my tasks.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at Limelight Steel and am so grateful for the opportunity. The team went out of their way to ensure I was given meaningful work and that I learned as much as possible. It meant a lot to me to contribute to these projects and be an active part of the future of steelmaking. I’d like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone at Limelight Steel and AIST for their support.