UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers
UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Allen HenriAge: 28Westminster Tool Inc.Plainfield, CTTool,” said companypresident Raymond Coombs Jr.,“is a company that promotes“Westminsterinnovation and continuousimprovement, and Allen has been a perfect fit forthis philosophy.”As head of Westminster’s aerospace productiondepartment, Allen is the company’s youngest managerand is credited with creating Westminster’s AerospaceDivision about three years ago.How it happened, Allen explained, was that “a customerbrought a part to us that they hadn’t had any luckgetting made. My brother[who also worked at Westminster]started the projectand then he handed it overto me. Someone once toldme that when you’re facedwith a problem somebodysays is impossible to solve, you take what they did anddo the opposite. That’s sort of the approach I took insolving this problem.”“Since then,” Coombs said, “Allen has developedall of the processes necessary to create a completeturn-key system for the Aerospace Division.” In addition,Allen solved a crucial problem for “our leadingaerospace customer."“A part we were making for this customer,” Allensaid, “has to be coated with a resin once it’s completed.The part can’t be used, however, if resin gets inside itbecause it reduces the size of the cavity beyond therequired tolerance. These parts are expensive and thecomponent they go into is even more expensive, so Imade this little handheld tool and ground up a form toolwith a couple of bearings that can be used to clean outthose resin deposits.”"Someone once told me that when you’refaced with a problem somebody says isimpossible to solve, you take what theydid and do the opposite. That’s sort of theapproach I took in solving this problem."UNDER THIRTY“That solution,” Coombs said, “saved our customerin excess of $300,000.”Allen joined Westminster Tool upon graduating fromthe Machine Technology program at Windham TechnicalHigh School (Willimantic, CT). “My older brotherwent through the program,” Allen said, “and I’ve alwayslooked up to him. Plus, they had exploratory coursesin 9th grade so you can experience all the differentshops—architecture, carpentry, auto, manufacturing.Manufacturing came sort of easy to me.”Coombs added that Allen is always willing to learn.“He has completed 18 of the 20 on-the-job trainingmodules [Westminster offers]and has taken numerouscourses at the localcommunity college.”And Allen is also willingto help teach. “He led thewinning team from H.H.Ellis Technical School (Danielson, CT) in a workbasedlearning program project sponsored by theQuinebaug Manufacturing Institute [QMI].” QMI is apartnership between Quinebaug Valley CommunityCollege and area manufacturers, including Westminster.QMI’s goal is to provide programs that preparepeople to work in manufacturing.“About 20 companies are now participating,” Allensaid. “Each gives a person to a high school once aweek to serve as a project expert. Ellis had a problemwith its work-study program.” With Allen’s help thestudents formed an employment agency in the schooland hosted an actual job fair where several manufacturers,colleges, temp agencies, and other expertsprovided advice and tips on interviewing and resumewriting. “About four or five kids have gotten jobs already,”he said. METHIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES8 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013
Ananya RajagopalAge: 14StudentDublin, OHAnanya Rajagopal is someone for whom lookingforward and giving back are both important.Shortly after being interviewed forthis profile, the ninth grader e-mailed usasking that we include what she feels to be verycrucial points concerningher attitude towardmanufacturing, engineeringand STEM education.“Along with going tocollege,” she wrote, “fiveyears from now I also wantto promote women in the STEM field. I think it is veryimportant that girls and women become involved in thisfield because we have lots of new ideas and opinions tooffer. I have always been the minority, being a girl. Manytimes, we are overlooked.“Sometimes I have to work twice as hard in order toprove myself. Once I graduate from high school, I hopeto talk to other schools and encourage girls to try outthis field. I know lots of girls my age that would love todo Robotics, but they don’t because not enough of theirfriends are involved. Promoting women in STEM is definitelyanother part of what I want to do later in life.”So far in life, Ananya has already accomplishedquite a bit.For four years in a row her science projects havebeen included in the state science fair. Her experimentshave ranged from testing the Vitamin C content in differentbrands of oranges (6th grade) to testing materialsthat could be used in cell phone cases to block radiofrequencies in order to protect users from harmfulradiation (9th grade).In 8th grade, she was elected project manager forher FIRST Lego League (FLL) team, which she joined in"I think it is very important that girls andwomen become involved in this fieldbecause we have lots of new ideas andopinions to offer. I have always beenthe minority, being a girl."UNDER THIRTY6th grade. (Being in high school this year she participatedin the FIRST Robotic Competition.)“This is a role in which she excelled,” said PaulGlaubnitz, who was Ananya’s FLL coach and who nominatedher for 30 Under 30. “Ananya divided the workamong the team members,taking their interests intoaccount when possible. Shealso took a generous shareof the work for herself. If ateam member wasn’t pullingtheir weight, she nicely butfirmly let them know they were letting the team down.They got the work done soon afterwards.”“We created an erasable bar code,” said Ananya, “tokeep consumers from buying contaminated food. It’s atime and temperature-based innovation. A part of thebar code is covered by ink that is released when themeat reaches the maximum safe time it can be exposedto dangerous temperatures.”The project won the FLL Global Innovation Award.In addition, Ananya said, “My team filed a utilitypatent on it, and we also came together to form ourown LLC.”Ananya definitely wants a career in engineering.“I might go into chemical engineering or biomedicalengineering,” she said. “For college I want to go to YaleUniversity or Carnegie Mellon or possibly Ohio StateUniversity.”The soon-to-be 10th grader has interests outside ofthe classroom and STEM as well. “I was on the swimteam for five years for my district and I was on thecross-country and lacrosse teams for three years. I alsovolunteer at COSI (the Center of Science and Industry inColumbus, OH).” METHIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES9 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013
- Page 4: Catherine RossAge: 30National Insti
- Page 9: Sri AtluruAge: 28Sandvik Machining
- Page 16 and 17: Aubrey Kelley-CogdellAge: 24Sandvik
- Page 18 and 19: Jandre TerreBlancheAge: 26SigmaTEK
- Page 20 and 21: Lauren WelchAge: 27Dow ChemicalSeou
- Page 22: Amanda NixonAge: 21StudentFlint, MI
- Page 25 and 26: Daniil PopovAge: 20StudentVancouver
- Page 27 and 28: Lotheronie RabyAge: 28Dow Chemical
- Page 30 and 31: Ryan BoehmAge: 25Omax Corp.Kent, WA
- Page 32 and 33: Jesse PaschallAge: 20StudentAllenda
- Page 34: THIRTY UNDER THIRTYHonorable Mentio
Ananya RajagopalAge: 14StudentDublin, OHAnanya Rajagopal is someone for whom lookingforward and giving back are both important.Shortly after being interviewed forthis pr<strong>of</strong>ile, the ninth grader e-mailed usasking that we include what she feels to be verycrucial points concerningher attitude towardmanufacturing, engineeringand STEM education.“Along with going tocollege,” she wrote, “fiveyears from now I also wantto promote women in the STEM field. I think it is veryimportant that girls and women become involved in thisfield because we have lots <strong>of</strong> new ideas and opinions to<strong>of</strong>fer. I have always been the minority, being a girl. Manytimes, we are overlooked.“Sometimes I have to work twice as hard in order toprove myself. Once I graduate from high school, I hopeto talk to other schools and encourage girls to try outthis field. I know lots <strong>of</strong> girls my age that would love todo Robotics, but they don’t because not enough <strong>of</strong> theirfriends are involved. Promoting women in STEM is definitelyanother part <strong>of</strong> what I want to do later in life.”So far in life, Ananya has already accomplishedquite a bit.For four years in a row her science projects havebeen included in the state science fair. Her experimentshave ranged from testing the Vitamin C content in differentbrands <strong>of</strong> oranges (6th grade) to testing materialsthat could be used in cell phone cases to block radi<strong>of</strong>requencies in order to protect users from harmfulradiation (9th grade).In 8th grade, she was elected project manager forher FIRST Lego League (FLL) team, which she joined in"I think it is very important that girls andwomen become involved in this fieldbecause we have lots <strong>of</strong> new ideas andopinions to <strong>of</strong>fer. I have always beenthe minority, being a girl."<strong>UNDER</strong> <strong>THIRTY</strong>6th grade. (Being in high school this year she participatedin the FIRST Robotic Competition.)“This is a role in which she excelled,” said PaulGlaubnitz, who was Ananya’s FLL coach and who nominatedher for 30 Under 30. “Ananya divided the workamong the team members,taking their interests intoaccount when possible. Shealso took a generous share<strong>of</strong> the work for herself. If ateam member wasn’t pullingtheir weight, she nicely butfirmly let them know they were letting the team down.They got the work done soon afterwards.”“We created an erasable bar code,” said Ananya, “tokeep consumers from buying contaminated food. It’s atime and temperature-based innovation. A part <strong>of</strong> thebar code is covered by ink that is released when themeat reaches the maximum safe time it can be exposedto dangerous temperatures.”The project won the FLL Global Innovation Award.In addition, Ananya said, “My team filed a utilitypatent on it, and we also came together to form ourown LLC.”Ananya definitely wants a career in engineering.“I might go into chemical engineering or biomedicalengineering,” she said. “For college I want to go to YaleUniversity or Carnegie Mellon or possibly Ohio StateUniversity.”The soon-to-be 10th grader has interests outside <strong>of</strong>the classroom and STEM as well. “I was on the swimteam for five years for my district and I was on thecross-country and lacrosse teams for three years. I alsovolunteer at COSI (the Center <strong>of</strong> Science and Industry inColumbus, OH).” ME<strong>THIRTY</strong> <strong>UNDER</strong> <strong>THIRTY</strong> PROFILES9 <strong>Manufacturing</strong>EngineeringMedia.com | July 2013
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