Welding Engineering

Welding engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field whose areas of emphasis include processes, materials, design, nondestructive evaluation and joining of plastics and composites. Welding and joining are critical “enabling technologies” that are pervasive in modern society. They impact the economic and security base of industrial nations through their widespread use in all aspects of manufacturing and due to their influence on the cost, reliability and quality of so many products and systems. Unlike other engineering disciplines, welding engineering is a relatively new and evolving engineering field and requires the knowledge and contributions of holders of graduate degrees in order to advance the overall scientific and engineering base of the field and to provide solutions to fundamental welding problems.

About the Department

The Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering at Ohio State was established by the merger of the industrial and systems engineering and the welding engineering departments in 1994. The IWSE department’s 26 full-time faculty members serve a student population of 500 undergraduate and 150 graduate students. The department offers master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial and systems engineering and in welding engineering. In addition to these majors, minor programs of study are available in manufacturing and engineering management.

Starting in 2005, in collaboration with Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business, the department also offers a master’s degree in business logistics engineering.

Major areas of study in the IWSE department:

Human Factors and Ergonomics
Manufacturing Processes and Systems
Operations Research
Welding Engineering

The IWSE graduate program was 17th in the nation in the U.S. News & World Report 2007 rankings, and it is consistently recognized as having two of the top specialized programs, human factors/ergonomics and manufacturing engineering, in the United States.

Opportunities for Students

Welding engineering is a relatively new and evolving engineering field and requires the knowledge and contributions of holders of graduate degrees in order to advance the overall scientific and engineering base of the field and to provide solutions to fundamental welding problems.

Graduate Specializations

Welding Processes: Welding process development, modeling and simulation, and automation and control Faculty: Charles Albright, Richard Richardson, David Dickinson, Dave Farson
Welding Metallurgy: Weldability testing, microstructure and properties of welds, and failure analysis Faculty: John Lippold, David Dickinson
Welding Design: Heat flow, residual stresses and distortion, weld analysis and design Faculty: Avi Benatar, Chon-Liang Tsai
Non-Destructive Evaluation: Development, modeling and use of inspection methods Faculty: Stanislav Rokhlin
Joining of Plastics and Composites: Welding process development, modeling and control, adhesive bonding and mechanical joining of plastics and polymeric composites Faculty: Avi Benatar
Micro/Nano Material Processing, Characterization and Joining: Develop material processing, characterization and joining methods at the micro/nano scales Faculty: Stanislav Rokhlin, Dave Farson, Avi Benatar

Employment Opportunities

Welding engineering graduate students are employed by a wide range of industries, universities, national laboratories and independent research organizations. Industrial opportunities include power companies, nuclear power plant design and construction, aerospace, automotive, appliance, consumer items and much more. Due to the uniqueness of the program, welding engineering graduates are highly sought after both nationally and internationally.

Master’s Degree Program

The welding engineering master’s degree program provides opportunities for individuals to expand their knowledge of welding and materials joining through a coherent program of study that includes a concentration in one of the areas of specialization listed above and a breadth of understanding in the other areas. Students with bachelor of science degrees in welding engineering or other engineering disciplines, such as mechanical, electrical, industrial, manufacturing and materials science, are ideal candidates for this program. In addition, students with bachelor of science degrees in science and mathematics will be considered for the program.

A Web-based master of science degree in welding engineering was established at Ohio State in 2003. Applicants to this program must have previously earned a bachelor’s or professional degree in engineering or physical sciences and meet the other admission requirements for an master’s degree. This program is designed for individuals who are working in a welding engineering or welding-related job and wish to achieve a graduate degree, or obtain graduate credit, in welding engineering, and for those who wish to retrain for a welding engineering-related position. In response to the domestic and global demand for welding engineers, this program provides a welding engineering curriculum that is accessible to applicants from around the world, with all the courses offered online.

Doctoral Degree Program

The welding engineering doctoral program provides opportunities for individuals to attain a high level of scholarly achievement and contribution to the discipline through advanced study and research. It is expected that an expanded knowledge base will be acquired through a coherent pattern of advanced course work and informal study in welding engineering and allied fields, strong emphasis on one particular area of welding engineering, and significant coverage of one or more additional areas outside that of emphasis. This study will culminate in research on, and publication of, a doctoral dissertation that will advance the scientific base of the field.

Research

The Department of Industrial, Welding and Systems Engineering has extensive laboratory and research facilities, including:

Center for Resilience
Data-Driven Decisions Laboratory
Edison Joining Technology Center (in collaboration with Edison Welding Institute)
Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing
Institute for Ergonomics

Faculty also are involved in many other interdisciplinary programs and research centers, including:

Center for Advanced Polymer and Composite Engineering
Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymer Biomedical Devices
Center for Occupational Health in Automotive Manufacturing
Cognitive Systems Engineering Laboratory

Annual research expenditures in the department exceed $6 million. Primary sources of research funding include the Federal Aviation Administration, National Science Foundation, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, State of Ohio and multiple industrial sponsors.