Assessment of Corrosion Education (2009) / Chapter Skim
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3 Conclusions and a Recommended Path Forward
3 Conclusions and a Recommended Path Forward
Pages 63-94
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From page 63... ...
In this chapter the committee analyzes the degree to which the existing education system has equipped the workforce at all levels to mitigate and minimize corrosion and assesses whether this education is adequate, whether current educational trends are going in the right direction, and whether a different path is needed. It concludes by recommending a path forward, with specific actions recommended for government, industry, academia, and the corrosion science and engineering community.
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From page 64... ...
It has been estimated that remedial actions based on a better and more widespread understanding of the corrosion phenomenon could reduce significantly the financial burden of corro sion to the nation. Although insufficient corrosion education in the engineering profession is not the only reason for the absence of such actions, the committee has concluded that it is a major one.
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From page 65... ...
Such advances will require corrosion-knowledgeable engineers and an active corrosion research community. CONSEQUENCES of THE CURRENT STATE OF Corrosion Education As discussed earlier in this report, most curricula in engineering design dis ciplines require engineers to take a course in materials engineering, which typi cally covers some basics of the relationships between structure, properties, and processing. While such a course would make an engineer aware of issues related to materials selection, corrosion, if covered at all, is usually discussed in only one lecture at the end of the course.
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From page 66... ...
Strategies for making technological advances and the development of best practices in the management of materials will depend on • Understanding current design practices for corrosion control; • Utilizing methods for predicting materials life and performance; • Exploiting advanced technologies for the research, development, and imple mentation of new and better corrosion-resistant systems; and • Developing strategies for realizing savings. The ability of the nation's technology base to develop these methodologies and technologies depends on an engineering workforce that understands the physical and chemical bases for corrosion as well as the engineering issues surrounding cor rosion and corrosion abatement.
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From page 67... ...
Undergraduate engineering students in other design and engineering dis ciplines such as mechanical, civil, chemical, industrial, and aeronautical engineering; and 4. MSE graduate students who upon graduation should be very knowledge able in materials selection and in some cases will go on to be experts in the field of corrosion.
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From page 68... ...
Practicing Engineers in Government and Industry The lack of exposure to corrosion engineering principles and practices in their educational experience is a serious flaw in the training of many practicing materials engineers and design engineers. It appears to the committee that government agen cies are particularly lacking in in-house corrosion experts.
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From page 69... ...
As trained corrosion engineers retire, the committee is concerned there will be a shortage of trained people to hire as replacements. The implementation of effective corrosion prevention strategies requires an educated workforce of practicing engineers.
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From page 70... ...
More compelling data were gathered for a recent report published in Materials Performance. The article reports that the NACE career center received 168 job postings between January 1, 2007, and October 24, 2007, up from 162 job postings in the whole of 2006. Cor rosion positions in the engineering category accounted for 30 percent of the job postings, followed by technician (20 percent)
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From page 71... ...
C o n c lu s i o n s and a R e c o m m e n d e d P at h F o r wa r d 71 Primary Job Function 1% 0% Engineer 1% 2% 0% 1% Management 2% 3% Technician/Technologist 6% 25% Sales/Marketing Inspector 8% Scientific Research Consultant Contractor Professor 8% Maintenance 18% Other 10% Chemist Retired 15% Designer Purchasing Education Level 5% 3% 9% Bachelor's Degree 42% High School Master's Degree 17% Associate Degree Other Doctoral Degree 24% FIGURE 3-2 Results of NACE survey of its membership. SOURCE: Aziz Asphahani and Helena Seelinger, NACE Foundation, "The Need for Corrosion Education," Presentation at the Materials Forum 2007: Corrosion Education for the 21st Century.
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From page 72... ...
SOURCE: Aziz Asphahani and Helena Seelinger, NACE Foundation, "The Need for Corrosion Education," Presentation at the Materials Forum 2007:3-3.eps Figure Corrosion Education for the 21st Century. come from service companies, 40 percent from pipeline and operating companies, and roughly 5 percent from state transportation departments.
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From page 73... ...
The number of respondents was 41. SOURCE: Aziz Asphahani and Helena Seelinger, NACE Foundation, "The Need for Corrosion Education," Presentation at the Materials Forum 2007: Corrosion Education for the 21st Century.
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From page 74... ...
This situation is aggravated by the projected retirement of the few people with corrosion expertise and the absence of corrosion engineering experience in new hires. Despite the importance of materials selection in the design of any new engineering system, materials engineers typically make up only a small fraction of the engineering workforce.
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From page 75... ...
Army Corps of Engineers, have developed internal corro sion action teams to provide short courses and in-house training for practicing engineers who have little or no corrosion education. While there is no doubt that experiential learning is valuable, some organizations interested in diagnosing a corrosion problem and remediating it will require workers who understand the fundamentals, which comes from formal education aimed at producing a corro sion expert.
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From page 76... ...
• Staff attend short courses presented by professional societies such as ASM and NACE International. • In-house training programs are often the solutions of choice -- that is, people are hired and taught what they need to know.
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From page 77... ...
The cost of product recalls necessitated by inadequate attention to corrosion at the design stage is monumental, exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars in the automotive industry alone, where significant improvements in corrosion control have been made. Finding. Management, especially of small to medium-sized companies, often depends on vendors to supply materials specifications for corrosion control.
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From page 78... ...
CONCLUSION 6. DOD's recent proactive stance on corrosion control will be undermined by the shortage of engineers and technologists with sufficient corrosion engineering education.
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From page 79... ...
C o n c lu s i o n s and a R e c o m m e n d e d P at h F o r wa r d 79 TABLE 3-2 Materials and Metallurgical Engineering Degrees Awarded in the United States, by Degree Level and Gender of Recipient, 1966-2004 Bachelor's Master's Doctorate Academic Year Ending Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men Women 1966 792 785 7 400 397 3 211 209 2 1967 836 828 8 444 443 1 267 266 1 1968 881 863 18 460 458 2 215 213 2 1969 952 942 10 441 435 6 280 279 1 1970 977 967 10 429 423 6 303 302 1 1971 916 903 13 480 472 8 306 305 1 1972 909 893 16 524 513 11 294 291 3 1973 885 870 15 582 569 13 299 292 7 1974 821 789 32 521 508 13 280 277 3 1975 711 676 35 500 483 17 272 267 5 1976 704 661 43 475 447 28 252 244 8 1977 738 679 59 504 481 23 248 238 10 1978 835 728 107 506 468 38 247 242 5 1979 1,045 862 183 529 475 54 236 228 8 1980 1,303 1,076 227 598 539 59 273 259 14 1981 1,434 1,164 270 666 587 79 234 217 17 1982 1,696 1,372 324 632 560 72 255 238 17 1983 1,392 1,104 288 672 567 105 268 238 30 1984 1,355 1,033 322 726 605 121 271 245 26 1985 1,276 990 286 713 600 113 303 271 32 1986 1,259 924 335 810 673 137 305 281 24 1987 1,152 854 298 765 600 165 392 347 45 1988 1,211 891 320 749 597 152 374 341 33 1989 1,114 853 261 815 634 181 380 335 45 1990 1,166 895 271 802 650 152 440 391 49 1991 1,166 912 254 787 607 180 489 412 77 1992 1,091 846 245 796 653 143 485 416 61 1993 1,216 956 260 849 682 167 535 449 78 1994 1,106 866 240 910 723 187 539 452 83 1995 1,046 799 247 852 668 184 588 489 95 1996 1,004 781 223 774 599 175 574 483 84 1997 1,063 804 259 724 550 174 582 470 106 1998 1,007 772 235 698 528 170 565 477 84 1999 NA NA NA NA NA NA 469 376 88 2000 972 704 268 759 558 201 451 367 83 2001 930 667 263 709 536 173 497 392 105 2002 933 648 285 630 459 171 396 315 80 2003 950 674 276 720 537 183 474 373 101 2004 865 595 270 800 601 199 509 419 90 NOTE: NA, not available. Detailed national data were not released by the National Center for Education Statistics for the academic year ending in 1999.
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From page 80... ...
CONCLUSION 7. Industry compensates for the inadequate corrosion engi neering education of practicing engineers through on-the-job training and short courses.
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From page 81... ...
The committee's tactical recommendations have several themes. One is that the corrosion education system depends on a substantial corps of corrosion teachers, which in turn depends on the health of the corrosion research community.
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From page 82... ...
The committee is convinced that improv ing the education of the corrosion workforce, broadly defined, will hinge on the government's development of a strategic plan for fostering corrosion education with a well-defined vision and mission. An essential element of the plan will be how government can provide incentives to the educational sector to expand and revitalize corrosion engineering education.
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From page 83... ...
The skills sets should be tied to actual case histories. Such an ongoing effort would enable the setting and periodic updating of learning outcomes for corrosion courses.
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From page 84... ...
• Professional societies, such as NACE International and TMS, and g overnment-supported materials research centers, such as NSF's Materials Research Science and Engineering Research Centers, should develop and provide materials for MSE and engineering departments that do not offer courses on corrosion engineering or do not have instructors with the relevant expertise. These educational modules would help nonexperts to deliver effective corrosion education.
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From page 85... ...
Improving the overall awareness of corrosion control will require that more engineers have basic exposure to corrosion, at least enough to "know what they don't know." • MSE departments in the universities should set required learning outcomes for corrosion into their curricula. All MSE undergraduate students should be required to take a course in corrosion control so as to improve the cor rosion knowledge of graduating materials engineers.
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From page 86... ...
Should partner with universities to offer corrosion-related internships for students. Federal Should provide incentives Should strengthen the provision of government to the universities, such as corrosion courses by publishing and endowed chairs in corrosion publicizing skills sets for corrosion control, to promote their hiring technologists and engineers.
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From page 87... ...
supporting research and development in the field of corrosion science and engineering. Should support graduate Should help develop a Should increase support for the student fellowships in foundational corps of participation of their engineers in short corrosion engineering by corrosion faculty by courses.
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From page 88... ...
Engineering departments should incorporate a corrosion course into all engineering curricula as an elective. Should partner with industry to create industry-guided capstone design for corrosion courses for undergraduate engineering students.
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From page 89... ...
To education courses for practicing identify faculty with the engineers. expertise to provide corrosion instruction when no corrosion experts are on staff, departments should consider faculty who are expert in areas such as batteries and fuel cells, surface science, condensed matter physics, nanotechnology, and electrodeposition.
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From page 90... ...
Non-MSE, Bachelor's-Level Engineering Graduates To improve the overall awareness of corrosion control among all graduating engineers, so that all engineers have a basic exposure to corrosion, enough to "know what they don't know," • Engineering departments in universities should incorporate a corrosion course into all engineering curricula as an elective. • Industry and government agencies, such as DOD, the Army Corps of Engi neers, and the Bureau of Reclamation, should help to increase the avail ability of such courses by disseminating skills sets for non-MSE engineers.
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From page 91... ...
To identify faculty with the expertise to do that, pro grams should consider faculty who are expert in areas such as batteries and fuel cells, surface science, condensed matter physics, nanotechnology, and electrodeposition. MSE Bachelor's-Level Graduates To improve the corrosion knowledge of graduating materials engineers, • MSE departments in the universities should require all MSE students to take a course in corrosion control.
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From page 92... ...
• Professional societies, such as NACE International and TMS, and govern ment-supported materials research centers, such as NSF's MRSECs, should develop and provide materials for MSE curricula that currently do not cover corrosion engineering and for MSE departments that do not have instructors with relevant expertise. These educational modules would assist nonexperts in delivering effective corrosion education to MSE students.
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From page 93... ...
• Industry and the federal government agencies, such as DOD's Office of Corrosion Control, should provide incentives to the universities, such as endowed chairs, to promote their hiring of corrosion experts. The new DOD Faculty Fellowship follows this model.
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