UT Art, Engineering Host METAL Bootcamp
The UT School of Art is collaborating with the Tickle College of Engineering to train the next generation of metal casters and forgers.
Last month, faculty, staff, and graduate students from the SOA’s sculpture program helped to facilitate the first of three UT-hosted metallurgy bootcamps through the Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship & Learning (METAL) program, an initiative led by the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) to strengthen the U.S. casting and forging industry.
Although skilled metal workers are vital to the U.S. defense supply chain, there is a severe lack of such professionals in the workforce, according to the Department of Defense. The METAL bootcamps, which are supported by the DOD’s Industrial Strategy Program, aim to address that shortage by providing college-aged participants with intensive, hands-on training in metallurgy. UT and Pennsylvania State University are currently the only two universities hosting the bootcamps.
The School of Art’s foundry, tucked into the first floor of the Art + Architecture Building, provided a perfect location for the week-long METAL bootcamp, which also took place in TCE’s facilities. The 600-foot foundry houses a controlled burn out kiln, two melt furnaces, a sand pit, and a monorail system with electric pull chain. While the equipment is primarily used by UT art students who wish experiment with new materials and technologies in their creative work, it also allowed the bootcamp participants – primarily, graduate students from TCE and from the SOA – to get hands-on experience with metal melting and pouring.
“I think we can add a new dimension to the METAL program, which is really focused on developing industry in the US by showing how the technologies and processes can be used creatively to create new forms, new designs, and express ideas,” said SOA Director Christopher McNulty.
“We also think the METAL program will raise the visibility of our program and what we do here. I think it’ll come to a surprise to a lot of people that we actually have a foundry at UT, even though we’ve had it here for 40 years.”
Read more about the recent bootcamp on the Tickle College of Engineering website:
Photos by Megan Cunningham and Emily Ellis