Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1319500
30 PCB007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2020 Sam Willard, Quality Engineer 1 Year Intern, 6 Months Operator, 2 Months Quality Had you worked in a different industry prior to this? I have had internship experience in the phar- maceutical and personal care industries. I also have experience in academic research. Was electronics manufacturing something you sought out? The electronics industry has always been of interest to me (mostly a curiosity) so I ap- proached Calumet at the Michigan Tech ca- reer fair with the hope of being able to sell my cheminformatics degree and experience to help with process improvement. What attracted you to the printed circuit board fabrication industry? The biggest reason I decided to stay with Cal- umet Electronics after graduation was that I felt like I could make a bigger impact working here than anywhere else. With electronics penetrat- ing every part of daily life, the ability to make effective circuit boards efficiently and accurate- ly can make huge improvements to daily life. Another major reason is the atmosphere here; everyone is super friendly and always willing to guide me and answer my questions. What's your educational background? I attended Michigan Technological Universi- ty where I earned bachelor's degrees in Bio- chemistry and Cheminformatics. Do you find you use your degree in your job? I use most of my degrees at Calumet Elec- tronics. While the biology is not the most ap- plicable, chemistry and computer science are a large part of what we do here since much of the manufacturing process uses chemi- cal processes and we generate a surprising amount of data that can be analyzed to im- The Calumet Files: Interviews With Young Engineers Feature by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 To bring this issue on hiring and training into focus, we reached out to Calumet Electronics and asked them to showcase a few of their young engineers. We wanted to gather a perspective from those who are just entering the workforce, and specifically the printed circuit board indus- try. Here are their answers in their own words.