WELDING PROFESSIONAL PROFILES

Carissa Love

2009 Professional WeldersCompetition First Place W

Texas State Technical College

Waco, TX

Category: Welding Technician

Vist Company Website

Carissa made history by becoming the first woman to win the American Welding Society's Professional Welders Competition in November, 2009. Carissa plans to use her $2500 first place prize towards her education. She has one semester remaining and will complete her associate in applied science degree. Carissa is involved in campus activities, serving as the secretary of the AWS Student Chapter.

Dan Turner

Associate Professor of Welding

Yuba College

Marysville,, CA

Category: Welding Educator

I teach students a skill that will improve their lives. I get time to do research and advance my own knowledge, plus I get to work in a modern shop and keep up with current trends.

Jordan Kay

Welding Technician

City of Minot

Minot, ND

Category: Welding Technician

I've been in a wheelchair since I was six years old. I first tried welding when I was a kid. I liked the fire and using my hands to make things.

Caleb Hastings

Robotics Welder

The Shaw Group

Cliffside, NC

Category: Robotic Welding Technician

Right now I'm working at the site of a powerplant addition in North Carolina. I'm doing orbital welding using robotics.

Paul Edwards

Research Engineer

Boeing

Seattle, WA

Category: Researcher/Test/Engineering

My focus is friction-stir welding of titanium parts. Friction-stir welding is a solid-state joining process that softens rather than melts metals.

Guillermo Gallardo

President

Complete Welding & Cutting Supplies

Pomona, CA

Category: Owner/Entrepreneur

But entrepreneurship is in my genes. At 28, I opened my own store using $50,000 from a loan against my house. It was just a small shop, but within a few years I could afford to open two more. Five years after I went out on my own, I bought the company I started at, after my old boss died.

Tiffany Dunlap

Pipe Welder

The Shaw Group

Aquasco, MD

Category: Pipe/Hull/Structural Welder

It was my grandmother's idea. She read about the increased demand for welders. At first I dismissed the idea, but I was working in a clothing store then, and I knew I didn't want to do that forever. So I tried a welding class.

Justin Stambaugh

Mechanic

Richard Childress Racing

Welcome, NC

Category: Mechanic

I work in the shop during the week, but on weekends I'm one of seven people on a nationwide pit crew on the NASCAR circuit.

Sara Bingham

Hull Technician

U.S. Navy

Great Lakes, IL

Category: Pipe/Hull/Structural Welder

My dad has a metal recycling business. I've been working for him since I was eight years old doing scrap-yard stuff. That experience led me to take welding in high school.

Wesley Guntharp

Diver/ Underwater Welder

Miami Diver Inc.

Miami, FL

Category: Underwater Welder

An article on underwater welding sounded interesting. I had never touched a welding machine in my life until I went to technical college, but it turns out I was good at it.