AIST Foundation Steel Intern Scholarship
Molly G. Meyer
This summer, I had the opportunity to work for Nucor Steel–Nebraska, an engineered bar mill in Norfolk, Neb., USA. I interned as a roll mill metallurgist in the quality assurance department. During that time, I gained hands-on experience in the hot rolling process and developed a strong understanding of the importance of safety, quality, and teamwork in a steelmaking environment.
Through this role, I got to shadow teammates throughout the mill. Seeing the challenges the mill faces in producing quality steel and how they overcame them taught me how to understand and solve problems in an industrial environment. I learned the importance of trusting and relying on your team to address all aspects of an issue.
Nucor prioritizes the safety of teammates above all else, and I saw this safety culture in action this summer. The other interns and I were constantly encouraged to speak up if I saw any safety concerns, which demonstrated the importance of constantly reevaluating Nucor processes to ensure no safety concerns were overlooked. One of my projects involved finding a way to improve hand safety in a common process in the quality lab. Working on this, I learned that even if it may be a slight inconvenience at first, a safer process leads to more efficiency and better quality in the long term.
Additionally, I had the chance to work on relevant projects to improve customer satisfaction with Nucor steel. One of these included improving the precision and efficiency of a lab testing method by testing multiple methods for accuracy and determining the cause of variation in the current test. Through this, I learned several technical skills such as equipment operation, sample preparation and microscopy. Cooperating with the lab and working within the mill’s parameters helped me develop my soft skills, improving my communication and adaptability.
Working with Nucor this summer further sparked my interest in the steelmaking process and pushed me to grow as a metallurgist and an engineer. I am grateful to both Nucor and AIST for this amazing experience, and I am excited to further explore the steel industry in the future.