UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers

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John GiraldoAge: 25Sandvik CoromantFair Lawn, NJAlot of things had to happen for mechanicalUNDER THIRTYengineer John Giraldo to be able to get towhere he is today. Where he is, is SandvikCoromant’s Aerospace Application Center,where he works as a CAM Programmer, and where “hiscontributions...have been astounding,” according to hismanager, Sean Holt.How he got there is quite a story—in fact it’s a versionof the USA’s oldest story: that of someone comingto its shores to create a better life.It goes like this: John was four years old and fatherlesswhen his mother made the hard choice to leavehim and his little brother with grandparents while sheleft their home in Colombia to find work in the US. Itwasn’t until six years later, when he was ten, that Johnand his brother were able to join her here.John was expected to make the most of his schoolyears, and remembers school as being difficult at firstas he struggled to learn his subjects while concurrentlylearning to speak and write in English. In time he beganto excel in mathematicsand the sciences.College didn’t appearto be in the cards forJohn, however, giventhe family’s low income.Unwilling to give up hope, John attended collegerecruitment fairs anyway. During a college fair he metwith representatives of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’sEducational Opportunity Program, who saw hispotential and recruited him.Right after his high school graduation, John begana multi-week intensive summer academic enrichmentprogram, courtesy of NJIT. It was “a boot camp” for collegeprep, as John remembers it: “We were up at dawnand in classrooms and labs all day. We weren’t allowedto use cell phones or to contact our families except atset times...we stayed in dorms and followed curfews.We lived and breathed academics.”The discipline he learned that summer helped whenhe later had to balance a full course load at NJIT withtwo jobs—including an internship where he helped researchprocess improvements for a local manufacturer.After four years he graduated with a degree in MechanicalEngineering—the first member of his family to evergraduate college.“The most memorable moment in my life,” Johnsaid, “was accepting my diploma and looking out towhere I knew my family was sitting—and seeing thelook on my mother’s face.”Now, at the Aerospace Application Center, Johnhelps customers optimize their processes for makingaerospace parts. And during a statewide eventdedicated to building student awareness of careers inmanufacturing, Johngave tours and demonstrationsto hundredsof students.“Showing themthat manufacturing isso much more than just working with machines andgetting your hands dirty—that was rewarding,” Johnremembers. He has already proven to be an inspirationto at least one student, notes Sean Holt: “John’sbrother looks up to him as his role model.” Thatbrother is now in his third year at NJIT, with a major inmechanical engineering—the next chapter in this old,new story. ME"The most memorable moment in my life wasaccepting my diploma and looking out to whereI knew my family was sitting—and seeingthe look on my mother’s face."THIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES22 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013
Daniil PopovAge: 20StudentVancouver, WADaniil Popov graduated at the top of his highschool class in 2011 but wasn’t sure whichway to turn after graduation. Daniil, who atthe age of four had moved to Washingtonfrom Uzbekistan with his family, figured he would takea job in the family tile-setting business and help hisparents with the bills. “I didn’t want my parents to haveto pay for me to go to college,” he said.However, his outlook changed completely after finishingan internship at the local Frito-Lay manufacturingplant in Vancouver, WA.nConnect STEM Coach Manlio Castillo was the onewho set Daniil up with the internship. “A career centerspecialist at my high school told me that since I was reallygood in math andscience, I should meeta former mechanicalengineer—ManlioCastillo,” Daniil recalls.“I met Manlio and started asking questions about engineering—thetype of education he’d had, the difficultyof it, his experiences. The more I talked to him about it,the more interested I became.”The internship opportunity soon followed.Frito-Lay’s factory needed efficiency improvementsto minimize waste generation. During his internship,Daniil worked with the site’s packaging specialist andother interns to minimize packaging waste at the foodproduction lines. Daniil and others interns also learnedSix Sigma processes and lean manufacturing.Daniil verified that particular machines were runninga minimal amount of waste and then recorded theprogram settings. He would then transfer those idealUNDER THIRTYsettings to a spreadsheet to keep track of the code thatmakes the machine run more efficiently. This data wasmade available to subsequent manufacturing runs toensure that the same recipe was being followed.The result: because of Daniil and the other interns’work, the company saved an estimated $400,000 byminimizing waste.Through this experience Daniil realized that given theproper education and training, he could be doing thiskind of analytical work for the rest of his life instead ofbreaking his back for much less money.“I didn’t know exactly what I would be doing afterhigh school,” Daniil recalled, “and through thisinternship I learned that engineering is something Iwant to pursue.”He has just finishedtwo years at ClarkCollege and in the fallwill enroll as a junior atWashington State University, where he’ll work toward aBS in Mechanical Engineering.One thing that most people don’t appreciate aboutmanufacturing is how it feels to be a part of such agroup effort, according to Daniil. “There’s such a varietyof people, each with a specific task that makes successpossible,” Daniil noted: “In manufacturing, you understandthe role you have in the process, and realize thatwithout a combined effort, the process will fail.”nConnect’s Manlio Castillo recommended Daniil forthis 30 Under 30 recognition, writing that he believesthat “with his analytical aptitude and inquisitive disposition,Daniil has great potential to lead the future inengineering and manufacturing.” ME"In manufacturing, you understand the role youhave in the process, and realize that withouta combined effort, the process will fail."THIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES23 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013
Page 4: Catherine RossAge: 30National Insti
Page 9 and 10: Sri AtluruAge: 28Sandvik Machining
Page 11: Ananya RajagopalAge: 14StudentDubli
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 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

UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers

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