UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers

Alexandria MoseleyAge: 23Graduate, Oregon State UniversityNewberg, ORAlexandria Moseley distinguished herself asa manufacturing leader during her collegecareer at Oregon State University.She recently graduated with two bachelor’sdegrees, one in industrial engineering and theother in manufacturing engineering. Alexandria saidshe chose the two degrees because she found them tobe a “good balance of theory and hands-on work.” And,she proudly noted, “I have spent a lot of time in machineshops, even smaller machine shops.”But her double major and straight As weren’t allthat set her apart. Alexandria has been an ambassadorfor the manufacturing industry and a leaderas the chair of her SME student chapter, wrote KarlR. Haapala, Ph.D., assistant professor, School ofMechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineeringat OSU. “She is a wonderful student, communitymember, leader, and most importantly, person,”Haapala wrote. “Alexandria has positively influencedour School and College.”Alexandria’s leadership has been recognized before.National Engineers Week 2012 recognized her as oneof the “15 New Faces of Engineering—College Edition,”which was sponsored by SME. She has received severalscholarships, including the SME Directors Scholarship,in 2010 and 2012.In addition, she is participating in the MECOP program,which places high-achieving students into two6-month industry internships during their last two yearsof school. While interning at A-dec and Welch Allyn fora total of 15 months, she used lean principles to reducerework, identify root causes of quality issues, andimprove the flow of finished good production processes.She helped save over $17,000 per year in direct laborat A-dec and helped uncover a 3% defect rate in amajor product line at Welch Allyn.UNDER THIRTYShe also served the College and School as a researchassistant, teaching assistant, and as an OSU EngineeringAmbassador. She has spent the past four years raisingawareness of career paths in manufacturing amonghigh school and college students. Whether giving acampus tour or presenting to a classroom, she emphasizedthe key roles that industrial engineers and manufacturingengineers play in sustaining the economy.As chair of the SME student chapter, she facilitateda series of club events that developed technical andprofessional skills of engineering students. She volunteeredto assist with the 2011 SME North AmericanManufacturing Research Conference and a project tomachine key chains for the 2011 Beaver Open Houseto hand out to prospective students. She was also aguest speaker at the 2012 SME Annual Conference inCleveland, OH.Alexandria lamented the fact there “were so few”women in her classes, but she thinks that is changingquickly because of many new outreach efforts. And sheherself tells potential students that manufacturing andengineering is really about design, which has a lot ofappeal to her peers. “I tell them … every product is notonly designed but engineers design the way it is built.”Alexandria’s next steps are to pursue a master’s degreein engineering management at Technical Universityof Denmark in Copenhagen.“I would like to work in operational management,”she said. “I’d like to manage a production facility ormany production facilities.” In particular, Alexandriasaid that she is interested in food production andautomation.Despite her achievements, Alexandria says she isn’tso much scientific in her thinking as logical and processfocused. “I have always been logically oriented,” shesaid. “I do experiment with crafts and cooking.” METHIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES6 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013