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GGP & ASM INTERNATIONAL
GGP Connects with ASM International to Help Students Connect and Grow
ASM International, or American Society for Materials (formerly “Metals”), headquartered in Newbury, Ohio, is an esteemed organization known as the “world’s largest and most established materials information society.” The professional membership that studies and disseminates information to professionals concerned with materials like metals, alloys, plastics, composites, resins, and various coatings used to make products we use every day. ASM houses a massive research database available to its 20,000+ members in 80 chapters worldwide. There are currently around 70 employees, a mix of on-site and remote workers. Though the organization began to take root in Detroit in 1913, generations of residents of Geauga County may recognize ASM International by its iconic geodesic dome (aka “The Dome”), designed by architects John Terrence Kelly and Buckminster Fuller, and built in 1958 on property just south of State Route 87.
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Education, networking and professional development are central to ASM’s mission, and Geauga’s high schools have a unique opportunity to take part in student internships at the college and high school levels. The program supports three or four interns every summer, and a few more throughout the year. Additionally, Eisenman Materials Camp, an allexpenses-paid camp for junior and senior high school students interested in materials engineering, is hosted for one week at the Dome every summer. The camp is open to students from all over the country (and sometimes internationally), about 30 annually, and is sponsored by ASM Materials Education Foundation. Geauga Growth Partnership’s (GGP) Summer Incubator Program (formerly known as their Summer Internship Program) since its inception in 2013. Each year they hire and mentor select interns researching careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Afina Lupulescu, Senior Product Developer, has taken a very personal interest in the program since she joined ASM nearly 10 years ago. Over the years, Lupulescu has helped nurture several professional success stories among former GGP referrals. She’s impressed with the next generation’s technical expertise and passion for learning, particularly Geauga’s own. “I am very pleased with the quality of interns from the Incubator Program - they keep me young,” She laughs.
One such student was Ryan McGinnis, a West Geauga graduate, who had already completed another internship at Mercury Plastics in 2021 when he joined ASM ahead of his first semester at the Colorado School of Mines in the fall. Last summer, McGinnis won
Eisenman Camp: GGP’s Incubator Program:
a scholarship from GGP for an essay he wrote about his time at ASM. The assignment was to outline his aspirations and challenges going into the program, before reflecting on his accomplishments and what he’d learned by the end of summer. In his essay, he outlined his course of study as a Materials Engineering and Data Ecosystem Intern, where he would immerse himself in data science to “explore the broad implications of the role artificial intelligence can play in supporting manufacturing in the fourth industrial revolution.”
McGinnis was open about being intimidated going in. “A major obstacle was my lack of materials engineering knowledge,” he wrote. But by the time he’d completed the program and worked alongside peers and mentors - especially making professional connections - he felt fully prepared for his upcoming college courses. At first, McGinnis worried about not being exposed to in-person collaboration, but found that he actually thrived in the hybrid model of sometimes working from home. “I learned about the importance of balance in those meetings. Virtual collaboration is essential when your colleagues live all over the world.”
ASM’s membership has its privileges (McGinnis got to work on a project for NASA), and fosters an environment where interns are respected team members. Some of the advantages students receive (besides exposure to the worlds of aerospace and robotics, to name just two), are getting to network with professionals and student peers, being compensated up to 40 hours a week, and even having a voice at the board of trustee meetings. Of McGinnis, Lupulescu says, “I think Ryan has a bright future ahead. He’s very determined. He’s very intelligent, and he has the tenacity and audacity to become an amazing professional. Whether he finishes with materials or directs himself toward another field, he has that curiosity that only top scientists have, and I’m very happy for him.” She likes to keep tabs on the students as they progress in their professional development, is still in touch with many of them years later, and is known for her recommendation letters.
Due to the pandemic forcing two years of cancellations, McGinnis wasn’t able to attend the Eisenman Camp himself, but now plans to return as a counselor one day. He is grateful to GGP for facilitating his two local, life-changing internships. “I passionately believe that with such an amazing opportunity located in Geauga County, more young students should participate in the program that is specifically geared to assist their growth and enable their success,” he says.
WHO IS GGP?
Geauga Growth Partnership (GGP), a membership-based, economic development nonprofit, recognizes that no matter the size of your business, no one can do it alone. Since 2010, GGP has been helping area businesses problem-solve, strategize and network with peers and mentors for the betterment of the community. Perhaps none of the vital work GGP does is more impactful than preparing today’s youth and tomorrow’s young adults to enter the workforce, and supporting them in determining their career path, wherever it takes them. GGP fosters preparedness through a number of supplementary educational programs targeting students in grades 6-12, and plans to develop customized programs for K-5 classrooms in the future. The programs that are open to teens include career exploration, open houses, workshops, and coursework to prepare for interviews and presentations. As well as direct exposure to employers through the 8-week GGP Youth Workforce Summer Incubator Program.
A Conversation with the First Woman CEO in ASM’s 110 Year History: Sandy Robert
WHAT DREW YOU TO ENGINEERING & PREPARED YOU TO BECOME A CEO?
I grew up in Michigan primarily, and my dad was a metalsmith by training. I really loved the idea of making things with my hands. After college, one of my first jobs was at the Eastern Michigan University where I led a group called the Center for Entrepreneurship. Our service model was to put together a membership organization to help people who didn’t have any real formal training in leading companies to learn those skills. I was their assistant director for about nine years. Most of the companies I worked with there were second and third tier automotive suppliers, and I loved the way they solved problems. From there I moved to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, where I held a variety of roles for 13 years. I’ve had three sequential jobs as an executive directorslash-CEO of STEM societies, including the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE), and the CEO of the Association for Women in Science. Last summer, a recruiter who knew how much I love manufacturing and engineering contacted me about ASM, and here I am.
ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING?
Not only is manufacturing one of the most long tail industries, every job an engineer has, there are about six jobs that support it that have to do with logistics, warehousing, distribution and sales packaging. It will always be important to our economy, because aside from plants and nature, everything around us was made. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Eastern Pennsylvania, New York; That’s where the big swath of machine tool and heat treating expertise in our nation is. We continue to play a really large role in educating people that manufacturing’s not going away, and if anything, it’s becoming more efficient and much of it more automated.
BEING AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SWITCH TO MORE REMOTE WORK, POST-PANDEMIC?
Some of the professional opportunities at this point in my career have traditionally been held by someone who lived not only in the county, but sometimes onsite. There’s an old farm at the edge of the ASM property, where the executive director used to have to live. Part of it is, as a professional of a certain age, I already have the infrastructure of my life set up in a different place. At ASM, the staff and the board developed confidence that we can run the organization remotely quite easily. I think that allowed them to open the door to someone like me who brought unique qualifications, loved the job, had a strong background in STEM society business models, and knew I needed to not be here full time. I have a place that I rent in the county, but my permanent home continues to be in Michigan.
AS RECENTLY AS 2019, WOMEN REPRESENTED ONLY 34% OF THE STEM WORKFORCE, THOUGH THOSE NUMBERS SEEM TO BE RISING. WHAT HAVE YOU OBSERVED?
Being a woman who’s worked in this profession for 36 years, I think it’s changed so much, and is now much more inviting to women. But the long and the short of it is that girls and women are 50% of the population and we don’t yet see that reflected in the STEM professions, so I’ve dedicated a big part of my focus towards doing what I can to mentor. People have questioned how long I’ll last in a position as the first woman to have this job in 109 years; I think the bigger question is, what impact will I have, and can I help create the realization that women are just as capable in leadership as men. One of the things the staff has commented on is that I don’t wear three piece suits every day, that I’m approachable, and that I’m interested in what they have to say about helping to redesign what we do and make things better. If women can’t show up and have jobs in STEM, what does that say about how innovative our industry’s solutions are going to be?
HOW ABOUT GEN Z’S APPROACH TO WORK AND NEW INFORMATION?
What I see with the next generation is how much they want to work on solving some of these problems, like how we’re going to get clean water to places in subSaharan Africa; how we’re going to build cars that are 95% or more recyclable, or to reclaim rare earth metals when we create all these batteries. I’ve heard numbers as high as 40,000 people a day leave the workforce because Boomers are retiring. We have to be thinking about who’s going to replace that brain trust. Every year the ASM board has three student members in its composition, and what I notice is how much they inspire me. They’re not afraid to speak up and say the change they want to see. They haven’t been in business for decades and been told that’s not the way we do things. I think a lot of it is both appreciating the innovation and the potential contributions of the younger generation, and really leveraging the fact that many of them are fearless. In fact, one of the things that they’ve helped us see as a board, is that they’re not interested in being part of an organization that doesn’t align with their values - how refreshing.
WHAT DO YOU WANT THE GEAUGA COMMUNITY TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT ASM BRINGS TO THE AREA BESIDES ITS EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES?
The 11 and a half story-tall geodesic dome on the property that was co-designed by Buckminster Fuller isn’t something that every community has. In the post World War II era, we had a lot of GI’s coming back, and we needed to find ways to create affordable housing. It was in this context that Fuller created a structure that doesn’t need to have beams going down through it, but the hexagons that come together can support themselves if designed the right way; that was revolutionary. To be able to come here and see the architecture that surrounds the building like a large umbrella, I hope that it inspires people as they walk through to talk about how beautiful it is and understand more about the world that materials play in our lives.
MAJORS AND PROGRAMS FOR IN-DEMAND CAREERS
IN-DEMAND PROGRAMS
We’re part of an engaging eight-campus system with two locations in Burton and Twinsburg, offering more than 20 associate and bachelor’s degrees. Many of our programs will prepare graduates for in-demand jobs in the area.
