Episode 1: A Celebration in STEM in Industry with a Mechanical Engineer

Transcript

Welcome to BLaST the Airwaves with BLaST Intermediate Unit 17. Here at BLaST Intermediate Unit 17, we strive to transform lives and communities through educational services. For this season, we have a special guest co-host who is working to create and sustain pathways to employment in our region by uniting her community around common goals in STEM learning. This season’s guests come from 9 counties total, representing different local industries all across Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. I’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Konsur-Grushinski, STEM Services Coordinator for NEIU 19 and current lead of NEPA STEM Ecosystem. Alexandra, welcome! Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be able to work with you for our Celebration of STEM in Industry this year. Our STEM Ecosystem is holding a weeklong series of free events and opportunities highlighting industry partners and the benefits they have in our 5 county region. Our hope is that by listening to the wide variety of employment opportunities available in our region from folks in our community who live it everyday, we can shed a light on what’s possible for our young people. On this podcast, we will provide you with educational solutions and resources for all, no matter the learning environment. So teachers, administrators, students , caregivers, industry partners, what are you waiting for? What would happen if we started questioning? What if our students and educators got the opportunities to sit down with members of the community? What if we bridged that gap? What connections would we discover? It’s time to blast the airwaves.
Rebecca: Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Aaron Loyack, Mechanical Engineer for General Dynamics Land Systems and Alexandra Konsur-Grushinski, STEM Services Coordinator of NEIU 19 and current lead of NEPA STEM Ecosystem. Aaron, Alexandra thanks so much for joining us today to discuss STEM skills used in your industry. Specifically, we will be discussing how knowledge of different STEM skills are important in your current job position. Are you ready to blast the airwaves?
Aaron: Absolutely!
Alexandra: You bet!
Rebecca: Great! So Aaron, why don’t we start by telling us a little bit about your role in Industry and what your position is.
Aaron: Sure no problem. Currently, at my job I’m acting as plant engineer for like you said General Dynamics Land Systems in Eynon, Pennsylvania. General Dynamics Land Systems is a government contractor, so we supply various components to mostly the Army, but to the US military in general for different vehicles such as tanks and that sort of thing. So, we manufacturing things in house that then get sent out for assembly elsewhere and my job is kind of from everything from a fan on the roof to a machine on the floor keeping the facility running day to day.
Rebecca: That sounds fascinating.
Aaron: Um Hmm. It’s always interesting.
Rebecca: Great.
Alexandra: Never the same day twice.
Aaron: Nope, Never the same, that’s a good way to put it. It’s something new every day, so.
Rebecca: Great.
Alexandra: So Aaron, now that you’ve had a chance to kind of tell us a little bit about your role in Industry, can you describe for us, maybe dig in a little bit more in and describe your typical day.
Aaron: So, a typical day I don’t think really exists, but you know everyday, like we said, is completely different. You walk through those doors and everything, everything is different than yesterday. But to give you the rundown, I guess the typical day you know involves working with the maintenance team, production supervisors, facility management, those types of people and again everything from “Hey, the fan up on the roof isn’t running”, to “where should we put this new piece of equipment.” So, a lot of days I’m working with the maintenance staff I’m again people will bring stuff to my attention that isn’t running correctly or maybe needs to be addressed quickly we then divert the labor to maintenance and decide who is best suited for fixing the issue, and again we also I deal with a lot of plant layouts. So, we’re constantly adding new products to what we’re manufacturing here. New pieces of equipment come in and I sit down with management, other plant engineers and my boss, and we kind of layout: Ok, does it make sense to put the machine here? Does it make sense to put it there? How does product flow? What are some of the problems the guys might have while creating this problem? So it’s really, it’s really a team effort here, but I’m that’s kind of my kind of an overview of not just day-to-day of a kind of a bunch of days mashed into one synopsis there for you. Stuff I do here at the facility.
Alexandra: Thank you Aaron. And just a little bit additional information, if you could tell us if any of that has changed throughout the year. It sounds to me like your day, your work changes constantly. What is that like, to live and to work in a job where it is constantly changing like that?
Aaron: Um hmm. Well, that actually so this job is fairly new to me. I’m here 6 months. For the previous three years of my career, I was working actually out of the area for a manufacturer of pipes and valves and so on. So, my job is changed a lot in the 6 months that I’m here because I used to be on the floor everyday kind of directly working with machines on diagnosing and that sort of thing; whereas now I’m kind of you know in an upstairs office where I kind of overview the whole plant instead of just being on the floor. So it’s really kind of changed, but I love what I’m doing I’m so that’s always important and again I think you know a lot of people in the STEM field don’t like to sit still, don’t like to, you know, have the same task everyday. We like to be challenged, and I think that’s definitely, you know, if you have that desire to be challenged every day and to, you know, be hit with something you never expected before, I think that’s really critical to knowing that you’re in the right field. You know, if you enjoy a good challenge every day the STEM field is definitely where you belong, so.
Rebecca: That’s a great segue. Alexandra, don’t you think?
Alexandra: It is. Yes!
Aaron: (laughs)
Rebecca: So Aaron,
Aaron: (laughs) Let’s go.
Rebecca: So Aaron, Now that you’ve started talking about the STEM skills… How do you use those STEM skills in your position?
Aaron: So, those STEM skills, whether you’re talking about science or engineering of course, in math, technology I mean really what each of those has in common in those fields is problem solving. You know you have a math problem 2 + 2. You have an engineering problem how does how does this beam bend? whatever it is, you know, the problem solving is really what STEM enforces in a student or in or in a job. You know, engineering solution really requires an understanding of kind of not just one part of a of a task or or a daily event, but really how does it work in the whole system. And again, that’s engineering, but the math involved it’s it’s not heavy everyday, but it it you know, it still adds up and it is still important. So it to the STEM field again, I just keep harping on that the everyday challenges are what STEM reinforces and teaches you how to how to handle the problem everyday.
Rebecca: Definitely. Even just our little trainings here when when we’re doing STEM trainings I just feel perseverance and thinking outside the box, and I know I’m probably leading into our next question a little and you’ll probably bring that up. But,
Aaron: Umm Hmm.
Alexandra: Systems thinking.
Rebecca: Yes!
Aaron: Umm Hmm.
Alexandra: When everyday is a challenge that is unknown, you really do have to understand all the pieces.
Aaron: Absolutely. Absolutely. It affects. Making a little change over here can affect something much farther down the line and that’s really important for the foresight of it.
Alexandra: Umm Hmm. Right. So, because we brought that up, I really think like it would be great for you to lay out the skills that you use every day in your position and the connection between what you use and what the students would be learning in school. And so, can you draw any parallels between things that our students learn in school, and those can be academic subjects or they can be just individual skills, and how those connect kind of to what you do every day.
Aaron: Um hmm. So, I think probably the biggest skill to take away, as much as sometimes you don’t like it in school it is and. And I shouldn’t say it that way. But I can say it that way but working working as a team is a big deal, and I shouldn’t say people don’t like to do that, but you know you’re always going to be frustrated with “hey he’s not working as harder he could be” or “he’s taking the lead, and I want to be the lead”. But working well as a team I think is probably the most important thing. Especially in the STEM field because you’re never ever going to be the expert on everything, as much as you’d like to think that , and we all get set sometimes in our ways of thinking, but working as a team it is so important. It’s much more important to understand that the right answer is not always right in front of you, but if you know where to find the answer that’s what I think is most important in surrounding yourself with a team where this guy’s an expert on engineering. This one’s an expert in math. This one is an expert in light bulbs, I don’t know. You know surrounding yourself with a team that each have their own niche, their own specialty is so important. And again, in school, sometimes you can put in a group that you don’t like, but learn to like it. Learn to understand hey John’s good at this; Matt’s good at this. How do we use my skills and theirs as a team to complete the whole. So, I think teamwork again as much as sometimes we don’t like it in school getting jammed in these groups that I don’t like that kid. You have to do it, and it’s working as a team that’s so important, so so important to Industry.
Alexandra: And are there any other skills you can think of besides working as a team? Clearly that’s very important.
Aaron: Yeah, so working as a team, I think I may have mentioned it. It kinda goes with all STEM fields is the critical thinking.You know looking at something from a different angle. The answer isn’t always black and white or or wet and dry. It’s it’s something different every time. There’s different angles to look at everything. Don’t get so narrow-minded that you think the only answer is x when there really are fifteen other pieces to the puzzle that you have to look at.
Rebecca: Yeah that’s great. The teamwork piece, I always feel like you know you’re better together. I know Lexie and I work a lot together on different projects including this. And it’s always our ideas get bigger and bigger when you add teammates along with the ride, so.
Aaron: Um Hmm.
Alexandra: And I’m sure Aaron is aware that working with people can be messy.
Rebecca:Yeah.
Aaron: Yep.
Alexandra: I think you mentioned a little bit. Um and you can’t always choose who you work with. It’s great when you can. Like Rebecca and I have kind of self-selected. Working on some things together and you may have had that opportunity to do that in your position, but in your experience, is it more common that you are in a team that you’re placed in a team, or rather than you’re choosing and forming your own team yourself?
Aaron: Umm. So it, it, umm, that’s tough. I mean it goes both ways. I’m placed in a department where say I didn’t let’s say choose that team. But then, I get to choose on a daily basis maybe who’s going to assist me when it comes to maintenance team I mentioned I work with the maintenance team everyday and I know that that John is a little better at this job than Mike so I’ll pick John over Mike and that’s not that Mike isn’t good at something it’s just that John will do a little better at this task. So it’s a little bit of both. You know you don’t get to choose like I said I’m plant engineer sitting in the plant engineering department, so I didn’t I I chose the job of course, but I didn’t choose the other colleagues in the office, but then daily I get to choose who is going to assist me today. So, it it’s kind of both. You get to choose, and sometimes you don’t. And sometimes you’ll have to work with people that you don’t necessarily like, but getting over that, and just learning to grab hold of their strengths and combined them with yours is very important to to any job and especially in in a field where so much critical thinking is is is everyday. You know you’re at your hit with these hard tasks not always the hardest but sometimes very challenging tasks and knowing your strengths and where to find someone with the right strength is really important.
Rebecca: Yeah, I want to go back to just before we get into our Blast 5. I want to go back really quickly because you talked about how your job has changed over the years, and that your job has changed positions.
Aaron: uh huh.
Rebecca: If I’m a high-school student or a middle school student going into your career path, how would you set yourself up? If I’m a student, how would I set myself up for success? Like what are my steps? What should I study in college? or is it just I’m going straight to Career? What would I do?
Aaron: So, I think college of course is great. You know, you get the, not just the basics, but you get a lot of advanced stuff. But it’s the stuff that you kind of keep in the background. You know college didn’t prepare me. It prepared me for my first job with all the skills that I kept in the back of my head, but you know college didn’t teach me in my first job how to change the oil in a machine that I was working on on the shop floor. But what it taught me was okay hey I can use my brain to to look at all the resources available, and say hey there’s a book on this. There is a guy with more experience than me. And in school, you know you definitely learn all the core educational, intellectual values that you need to problem solve everyday. So, school doesn’t teach you, oh man, the boiler just just sprung a leak and I have to go patch it with something. And so you always have these big overviewing topics at school. Sometimes, it feels like nonsense when you’re learning it. You’re thinking, “why am I learning this?” And of course, you may not directly apply calculus right here right now, but understanding the fundamentals of it really help you excel in any field. And I’m sure it’s like that across not just STEM fields, but any fields: education, anything.
Rebecca: So, do you receive those kinds of trainings like on-the-job training? Do they pay for your professional growth?
Aaron: So, I think on the job training at least for me is where I excel. You know when it’s not formalized training, you know it’s kind of, I hate to say get thrown to the wolves, and you learn. That happens a lot, and it’s not a bad thing. Of course, it can be scary, but I think learning that way like on your feet is a really good skill to have. Because a lot of times you know the job you signed up for isn’t always exactly the job you get. You know, you look at a job posting, and it gives fifteen bullet points, and honestly you may only do two of those in that. Even a 30-year career at your job that you may have fifteen others that really are what you do on a daily basis. So it’s, it’s always, always changing.
Alexandra: So learn by doing, right?
Aaron: Yup. Learn by doing absolutely. And for me, at least you know people learn different ways. That’s how I learned. I have to get out there and do it, stick my hands in it and put my nose in it, and in see what’s going on. And I think I think a lot of my colleagues you know even in college and stuff were always about doing. You know sitting back and watching a teacher push something out on a screen isn’t at least the way I learned. I had to sit down and do it. And I think even in your job, you’re still constantly learning. So, find the way you learn best, and and hold on to that, and do the same in your career.
Alexandra: Speaking of how you learned best, how did you decide that you wanted to be an engineer? When did that epiphany happen for you?
Aaron: Hmm. I ah, I don’t know when that happened. I think I knew I’m sure I knew junior year of high school and that sort of thing. But, I always liked problem solving. I was always tinkering with stuff in the garage with my father or with neighbors or anything. And then I was really actually fortunate. I graduated from Lakeland High School in Scott Township and at the time I believed I know my class was kind of like the pilot group that was going through a course funded by Lockheed Martin called Project Lead the Way. So it’s a STEM based program and you know I joined it. I think we started freshman year, and we kind of learned some engineering basics, used some engineering tools, and really through that I found out okay I really really love this you know, so I’d say even by freshman, I I kind of thought I wanted to do it, and then my senior year, I was really confident that that’s what I wanted to do so.
Rebecca: Great.
Alexandra: It’s clear that you love what you do.
Aaron: You have to love what you do. You know if you wake up everyday and want to go to work I think you found it so.
Rebecca: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, it is my favorite part of our podcast series we do the Blast Five. No pun intended. But for you, I’m not going to blast you with five different questions. I’m just going to ask you off the top of your head, and we talked about like two or three of them, what are five top skills needed in your industry for students today?
Aaron: Ok, so, five top skills first I think I mentioned teamwork. That’s so very important.
Rebecca: Okay one.
Aaron: Kind of opposite of that is Independence. Sometimes you need to be independent and you know kind of go out on your own and do a little bit extra research to assist in a project, work a little bit harder than the guy next to you maybe. Teamwork. Independence.
Alexandra: That’s two.
Aaron: Yup. Critical thinking. I mentioned I think a few times, critical thinking. There’s a different problem every single day: people skills you may have to work with people outside of your team that you know. It’s one thing to be a member of a team and be comfortable around everyone and not be afraid to say what you think. But next thing you know, you’re on a phone call with with another company or a board of directors and you need to be, you know, able to communicate not just with people you’re comfortable around but with new people everyday and with that I think I think I think I’m on number five.
Alexandra: Yeah you’re up to four. You’re up to four. One more.
Aaron: Ok. So, with that it’s kind of the same but I’m going to say it. Confidence. So if you think that you’re right, stick to it, but in the same token be ready to be wrong. I think that’s also important but confidence is definitely key, you know, if you believe that your answer is right be confident in it be open to the possibility that you’re also wrong. So at that’s I guess that’s another two really confidence and the ability to say you’re wrong.
Rebecca: We’ll give it to you. We’ll give it to you. Those were really good responses, and you nailed it.
Aaron: Oh ok!
Rebecca: Those are normally not when you ask skills. We normally get responses like communication, but those were unique and really interesting.
Aaron: Ok! Well, I’m glad. I’m glad.
Rebecca: I really liked them, Aaron.
Aaron: Thank you!
Alexandra: Well done, Aaron!
Aaron: Off-the-cuff I’m not too bad!
Alexandra: We even got a bonus skill!
Aaron: There you go. You got six.
Alexandra: He’s doing great.
Rebecca: So, before we sign off here if any of our listeners would want to learn more about your field or more about where you work, is there any energy of a website that they could go to and we’ll plug that in our our website as well for our industry.
Aaron: Yeah absolutely. You can just search General Dynamics. Just Google it…a huge company. You’ll learn a lot about it, and they have, you know, I work for General Dynamics Land Systems. We also have General Dynamics Electric Boat which does stuff with submarines, and they have a huge Aeronautics field. I’m so looking up General Dynamics would really help, but I think another thing to do is just find if you’re interested in manufacturing, local manufacturers you know I can name ten off the top of my head that are fairly local that a lot of times you know people say there’s not much work in the area. Well, if you look around there is, and there’s a lot of interesting stuff happening in the area and other than General Dynamics, there are great places around here to work that you can certainly look into.
Rebecca: Wonderful, thank you Aaron. Well it has been a blast with both you, Aaron and Alexandra. Alexandra will be returning for this episode; she’s our special guest here. So, she’ll be returning for other interviews, but Aaron, we celebrate you and what you do everyday in STEM here with the NEPA Ecosystem and EPIC Ecosystem, so again, thank you for taking some time today to connect with us and our listeners. It has been a pleasure to have you on the podcast, and hopefully we can talk again soon.
Aaron: Absolutely! Anytime. I’ve had a pleasure being here. Thank you.
Alexandra: Thanks again Aaron.
We would like to thank you for blasting the airwaves with us today. If you like the show, please subscribe or leave a review. If you want to know more, check out www.iu17.org for further resources and show notes. If you’d like to learn more about NEPA STEM Ecosystem and the work we are doing in STEM and job pathways, please visit them at www.nepastem.org. As always, we want to thank you for what you do every single day. Remember, keep shining. We’ll be back next episode to provide you another educational solutions for all, as we continue to transform lives and communities through educational services.