• Cut, mounted and polished Inconel tubing samples for metallographic examination.• Conducted extensive optical analysis of grain structure in multiple lots of potentially defective Inconel tubing for petroleum wells.• Analyzed corrosion pitting and erosion in Inconel tubing using profilometry.• Programmed a data reduction system for a 3D laser profilometric scan file of the inside of corroded tubing.• Simulated the downhole environment using boiling sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide to estimate corrosion rates of Inconel tubing.• Collated, edited and helped write the hydrogen sulfide safety manual for the Atmospheric Pressure H2S Corrosion Testing Facility. This document was required for activation of the lab.• Wrote Fourier Transform and Auto-correlation programs for electrochemical noise data allowing analysis in both time and frequency domains for the purpose of detecting corrosion events.

• Provided technical support to manufacturing in brazing, materials handling, and quality control. • Identified problems in braze joints and processing parameters of tungsten carbide/polycrystalline diamond products using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis.• Designed a test fixture to measure braze joint strength in shearcutters used in research and quality audits.• Recommended changes in the brazing process that lowered the production reject rate from over 60% to less than 20%.• Using SEM and EDS analysis investigated soft spots in the new sintered diamond cutting tool product line. Consequently recommended handling changes to reduce contamination of the diamond before pressing.• Promoted to supervisor of Materials Engineering and Testing Group after only four months of employment.

• Conceived and developed a new method of preparing metal oxide sol-gels that increased sol stability, improved gelation and drying control, and decreased production time. U.S. Patent #4,801,399• Learned to operate an SEM and used it extensively to document alumina sol-gel coating depth, compaction and surface topography.• Prepared oral and poster board presentations and gave tours of my lab for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) audits.• Course work included a course in failure analysis from Professor Gould, who recommended me to a client for employment for a failure analysis position with their organization.• Thesis research included strain relaxation in borosilicate glasses at elevated temperatures, sensitivity of holographic technique and optical recording of interference patterns.• Installed and modified a holographic interferometry system to measure microscopic strains at elevated temperatures in real time.• Successfully fulfilled the requirements of the supporting research contract and received a Master of Science in Materials Engineering.