Episode 214 with Daniele Calista and Max Ceron

The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world and unrepresented communities as we continue to strive for a more diverse workforce. Join us as we celebrate National Volunteer Month to showcase the incredible contributions of our Chapter Executives from across Canada and globally.

Discover the fascinating journey of Daniele Calista, a doctoral student at the University of Alberta's Canadian Center for Welding and Joining, as he shares his path from undergraduate studies to specialized research in high-frequency electric resistance welding. This compelling conversation reveals how Daniele's participation in Formula SAE racing sparked his passion for welding, eventually leading to industry-sponsored research that bridges theoretical knowledge with practical applications. Beyond research, Daniele discusses his role as president of the University of Alberta's Canadian Welding Association student chapter, highlighting how volunteering develops crucial professional skills that complement technical education. 
 
Ready to connect with the welding community? Join Daniele and other professionals at the CCWJ Annual Seminar in May or Welding Industry Day in June – your next career breakthrough might be just a handshake away!

Follow Daniele:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielecalista/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dan_c20/

Find your Local CWBA Chapter Here: https://www.cwbgroup.org/advocacy/membership

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, I can check.
Check, I'm good.
So I'm Max Duran.
Max Duran, cwb AssociationWelding Podcast, pod pod podcast
.
Today we have a really coolguest welding podcast.
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Happy welding.
Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the CWB Association
podcast.
My name is Max Charon and, asalways, I'm out there finding

(01:08):
the best stories I can find foryou, our faithful listeners.
This month we have a wonderfulmonth of podcasts that are all
related to volunteerism, as it'sNational Volunteer Month in
April.
So this release is going to bepart of a month of great
volunteers.
And here today we have anotherwonderful volunteer of ours at
the Canadian Welding Association.

(01:28):
We have Daniele Calista comingto us from Edmonton where he
attends the University ofAlberta.
Hey, daniele, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Hey, max, thanks for having me.
Matt, it's going great.
I'm very excited to be here,very excited to be on the
podcast and to tell you a littlebit about myself and tell you a
little bit about the CCWJ.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
You know I've known you for a couple of years now,
since you've been working onyour post-grad, grad and
post-grad, and I love yourpersonality.
You're not one of the shy ones.
You know, there's always a lotof shy students.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
You're not one of those shy students and it's been
a pleasure to know you the lastcouple years and watch you grow
and mature, even as a student,thank you.
Thank you, man.
I've had the luxury of havingsome very valuable experiences
in my undergrad and, havingjumped into my graduate studies
here, I've had a really goodopportunity to hone them in
practice in the field, atconferences, with people like
yourself and other professionals.
So it's been a constant effortof learning and growing with

(02:30):
things that I've picked upthrough my undergrad.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, so let's start with what you're studying.
So what are you doing right now?
What is it that you're doing incollege?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
So I am currently doing my doctoral studies at
CCWJ.
My project is sponsored byEvraz North America, canada and
basically my project is to gaina better understanding, or gain
a fundamental understanding, ofa rather niche welding process
called electric resistancewelding or high frequency
electric resistance welding.
Now most people, most welders,are out there with a torch in

(03:04):
hand you know out on thepipeline, but are out there with
a torch in hand, you know onthe pipeline, but how does the
pipe get there in field?
And a large portion of pipethat's manufactured is through
ERW electric resistance welding.
But there's some nuances in theprocess in terms of procedure
design, procedure analysis,process analysis.

(03:25):
And that's where my project istargeted to to help support
industry in taking the nextsteps to improving processes,
knowing where to set the knobsprior to welding, that sort of
thing.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
And you know electric well resistance welding,
electric resistance welding hasbeen around for a while, but I
feel like the technology intoinverters and electrical formats
, electrical waveforms, hasreally opened up a whole nother
diorama in the high frequencyrange, and I think that that's
when a lot of people startedre-evaluating existing processes
, because now, with the overlayof high frequency waveforms, you

(04:02):
can do things that we weren'table to do before yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
So electric resistance welding um sort of
started in the in the 40s and50s, I believe um and it was
sort of a started with under.
the people were like, hey, if wedo this and we do that and we
put these two together, we bringthe, the sheet, a sheet of
metal like this, like, like this, and then press it together and
induce current, we should beable to get it to weld.
And it worked.
It started out DC and then, astime goes on into the eighties

(04:30):
and nineties, is when the highpeople switched from DC to just
sinusoidal AC frequency andthat's been sort of the standard
ever since.
But a big sort of maybe tradesecret between companies here
and there is that some companiesthey'll publish but they uh
always hide the good stuff theyalways leave researchers or

(04:51):
other people at wanting like,okay, but how did you do that
exact thing?
um, so how did you know that 200kilohertz is better than 300,
or 300 is better than 200?
For that case, how did you knowwhat to set these, the v
distance, that sort of thing?
Um, that, those are still.
Those are still things that areanswered based on experience so
somebody will be in the mill forlike 15, 20 years and they'll

(05:13):
be joe on the shop floor.
Everyone knows like they go tohim and, uh, he'll, he'll be
able to tell them what to do.
But for somebody, a shop thatdoesn't have that, they, they,
they're at a trial and errorstage.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, so this is a big undertaking because you know
to get into these niche spotsyou really have to work a long
time in the general right, likeyou have to come up through
engineering you have to get into.
You know Canada doesn't have areally a welding engineering
program, but probably material.
So you know what was, what wasthe education that got you from

(05:46):
grad, like from your undergrad,to this spot um, back I.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
I think it's valuable to mention that even from my
high school I, uh, I I knew Iwanted to do grad school for my
high school.
I was lucky enough to be, tohave that sort of choice and
available to me and ingrained in, like my, my desires.
Um, so I knew that from thestart.
But when in my first year inundergrad I actually toured our
lab, the ccwj and I literallythought to myself, oh, welding's

(06:14):
kind of I'd rather do polymersor something like that um
because I was very interested inlike impact absorption for
hockey equipment and those sortsof
things um.
But as time goes on, as I gothrough all my undergrad and do
more courses, I'm like takingmore heat transfer, mass
transfer um analytical modelingof things, with actual equations
to gain like actualrepresentative expressions of

(06:36):
things um that are unique andthey're simple but they're easy
to use um for people who canread them.
And I realized that all thethings I was interested in in
undergrad were was what weldingwas.
And then on top of that, in myundergrad I was very fortunate
to be a part of the U of Sformula SAE team, which they

(06:58):
really quickly they build like aformula one style open wheel
race car.
We build a new one each yearand they compete internationally
.
So I was in undergrad materialsbut being on the formula team,
which was like 90% mechanicalengineers, mechies, I was able
to really round myself out andget a more practical design
aspect, which is also requiredfor welding, because a lot of

(07:20):
material science is very, veryopen-ended or advanced, or the
real answer for any materialscientist is it depends If you
ask a lot of material science isvery, very open-ended or
advanced, or the real answer forany material scientist is.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
It depends if you ask them a question they always
answer.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
It depends.
In that case it can give alittle bit more of a straight
answer.
But I was able to get a goodmix of both of those worlds and
that's sort of what landed mehere, because and that's sort of
where my project is gearedtowards.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
We have some open-ended questions and I'm
trying to give direct answers,um, by using systematic things,
trying to find those practicalapplications.
It's something, yes, it it's.
On one hand, it's very obviouswe need practical applications
for things that.
But on the other hand, there isa desire to see how far you can
push the theoretical right,because eventually the dream is
that the practical catches up tothe theoretical right.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Exactly, yeah, and that's sort of a big thing that
I learned from Formula was, andI personally believe that a lot
of students, like almost allstudents, should do
undergraduate project design.
It doesn't have to be Formula,it doesn't have to be a project
car, but there's so many projectcars up there or student
projects out there where whenyou actually have to make
something, when the chips aredown and you actually have to

(08:34):
get something in your hands,it's way different than handing
in an assignment.
Or handing in a report Becausethe report is like I wrote it
down.
I don't know if it works, butif it's real you have to know
does it actually work?
And the practicality issomething I learned to
appreciate through Formula a lot, because at the end of the day,
if it's not, if you're not ableto put it in practice, it's

(08:57):
tough to say you reallycontributed something, which is
ultimately what I want to do.
I want to contribute to societywith what I want to do.
I want to contribute to societywith what I can do best.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
So this desire that you have, that I sense in you, I
see in you, where does it comefrom?
Was five-year-old Danielarunning around being like I want
to grow up to be an engineer,or when did this come into play?
Because I get the feeling fromconversations with you that
five-year-old Daniela wasprobably more focused on wanting

(09:29):
to be a professional hockeyplayer than anything else in
this world.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, To some, I did play hockey when I was younger
Good old bird of boy, but yeah,I started out with sports and
then I realized my knack wasreal with academics and I I
realized that from a young agewhere my parents would really

(09:52):
start, they started off withlike lego sets, that sort of
thing, um, and then I got got areal knack for like taking
things apart, putting them backtogether, the classic story, and
at that point I realized likethat I have a knack for for stem
specifically, yeah, um, andthen I just from then up until
like maybe junior high, highschool, I I realized it now

(10:12):
looking back but every decisionI made in terms of did I decide
to put effort into a course ordid I decide to put effort into
assignment or something, orexplore a topic or build
something or look at something,everything I made was doing two
things it was serving my naturalcuriosity and then also keeping

(10:35):
as many doors open for me aspossible, um, which is and
that's ever since that Irealized that that's what I keep
doing and I keep always landinginto my luckily, I'm able to
land back into my curiosity,which is STEM.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, and did you ever struggle with figuring out?
You know how you're going toapply that, because you know in
high school the conversationsstart.
You know what are you going todo, where are you going to go,
what are you going to study?
And engineering is a wide,broad topic that a lot of people
like to throw out there to belike well, what about

(11:09):
engineering?
Well, geez, that's.
Engineering can be anythingfrom a technician to a doctoral
student or doctorate, right.
So what do you?
How did you start to work yourway through that maze of where
you want to go?
Like you said, hockey broughtyou.
One of the first questions toyou is working with hockey
equipment polymers.
Yeah, you know, there there's agreat transition.

(11:30):
You know, how was it that youfiltered that out?

Speaker 3 (11:34):
yeah, so I what I was really interested in at the
start, when I was in high schooland will be younger.
I thought to myself what arethe two things I like the most?
Hockey and stem, making things,putting things together,
engineering that sort of thingand I thought I, I, after doing
a lot where lego sets that sortof thing, I love lego star wars.
I'm very thankful for myparents just absolutely spoiling

(11:54):
that.
Those sorts of gifts every year, um do you?

Speaker 1 (11:58):
it sounds like you still get lego star wars at
christmas oh yeah, oh yeah,totally like I have to.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Like my girlfriend spoils me too, I have to, um.
So I started to realize, likeif, if we can make these sorts
of objects and compartmentalizethem into small pieces and build
other things out of them ielego pieces uh, what's to say
you can't view the real worldlike that?
so I I sort of in in in a sense,be like maybe atoms or like a

(12:29):
lego pieces, and if you canharness lego pieces, maybe you
can harness atoms or harnessmicrostructures, that sort of
thing materials.
You harness materials to usethem for whatever you want.
And then from there I was like,okay, I'm interested in this, I
also love hockey.
My dream job might might becombining the two things.
I like them, yeah yeah so then Iwas looking into things and I
saw, uh, there was someinteresting things on uh way

(12:51):
back in like 2015.
Uh, it's called d30 foam.
Um, ccm had a partnership withd30 uh to put in their hockey
helmets, and d30 foam also makesmotorcycle uh gear equipment.
Um, it's really uh, it's like anon-newtonian type of full um
foam that under high impact itstiffens up, but under soft

(13:11):
impact it's really soft um.
So, like, okay, to design that.
That'd be very cool because nowyou can actually control the
material and do what you wantisn't that just cornstarch and
water For a fluid?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
But to make that in a foam and to actually make sure
it's in the right temperaturerange and it has the right
ratings and all these things.
I was very interested in thatand then from there, I just so.
Then I entered engineering andI was like, okay, I'm set, I
want to do, as of right now,these are the two things that
interest me the most.
I'm gonna ride these up and seewhat happens, um, and then from

(13:49):
there it was just a cascade ofkeeping those two.
Like whenever I made a decisionin terms of next steps, it was
what keeps the most doors openfor me and what keeps my
curiosity alive, um, and so thatmay not be the same case for
for others.
Yeah, um, I think if I, if Iwas not saying I, if I was not,

(14:13):
um, if I didn't have as much ofa knack for like equations and
modeling and the technical stuff, I, I could totally have seen
myself end up as like amachinist or a fabricator.
That sort of thing, because Ilove making things with my hands
.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
A builder, yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, yeah and like there's such.
I think I speak for a lot ofpeople when I say that you get
such a sense of pride when youcan make something and you can
see it and you, you had a designon paper and it's doing what
you wanted it to do.
Yeah, um, so that that's thesort of if any sort of those
things resonate with people,like curiosity, making things,

(14:54):
having them do them, things incontrol, a controlled setting.
Um, then that that's when Iwould recommend to younger
people or students to consider acareer in STEM or this
engineering, um, something whereyou, they make stuff, yeah now
you get into the U of A, you'rein engineering, but the CCWJ is

(15:16):
a separate entity.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
On campus you can be a materials engineer all day and
be happy and graduate and goout into the workplace at the U
of A without having anything todo with CCWJ.
So so why did you make thatjump?
What lured you in to beingspecifically involved with the
Canadian Center for Welding andJoining?

Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's a great question .
There's many layers to it, as Imentioned I, when I first
toured the CCWJ in my first yearactually in open house too and
I thought, no, this is not thething, welding's not the thing.
So I was.

(16:07):
I was on work plans throughoutmy my degree and I did that
specifically where at the u of ahere we get three work terms at
different months four months,eight months, eight months and I
specifically just set them upto be like okay, I'm going to
set one up to be where I'm inindustry.
I'm going to set one up to be aresearch assistant because I'm
I'm interested in research, so Ican do my work term like that.
And then the other one I set upto be so somewhat adjacent,

(16:28):
related to teaching, because I Ienjoy teaching, I enjoy
conveying concepts to people, um, whether it's mentoring younger
students or even it's a naturalprogression of education to
teach, yeah yeah, yeah, um and I.
And it was the same sense ofpride that I mentioned, where
someone who makes something andyou see it, I get the same thing
when I explain something tosomeone or show someone

(16:51):
something and they're like, oh,that's cool or oh, I can use
this, and then I see themsucceed with that.
It's fulfilling.
So I did those three work termslike that to get a rounded out
sense of OK, what which one do Iin in real life do I actually
enjoy the most?
Okay, what which one do I in inreal life do I actually enjoy
the most?
Um, and I found that, uh, theindustry job I did which was
amazing, it was a great companyto work for as an engineer um, I

(17:14):
, I left, I, I finished my workterm feeling not unfulfilled,
but like I was sort of bound bylike codes and practices and
standards because there was noflexibility for me to explore
what I wanted.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's all worky bits, yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, yeah, it's all prescribed.
It's all prescribed type ofwork, or most of it, um, at
least for materials engineeringwith a bachelor's Um.
So I I realized, okay, I will,I want to be someone who's
contributing to codes.
I want to be someone who'scontributing to codes.
I want to be someone who'swriting codes, who's expanding
on them and helping apply them.
And then I realized that thatrequires a research position in

(17:51):
materials engineeringspecifically.
And that is sort of what led meokay I should do grad school.
I started exploring maybe otheralternatives, internationally,
here, and then in my lastsemester I took Patricia's
welding course.
Um fell in love with welding um, and uh, yeah, because and it
was a combination of patriciabeing just an amazing professor,

(18:14):
awesome teacher, superpassionate um, and then, just
again that, the curiosity that Ihad for the same things that I
had curiosity in before weldinghead.
So I just decided to continuewith that trend.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, and what's the process to get into the CCWJ?
Is it like, hey, if you're anengineer and you're into welding
, show up, and I'm sure there'slimited spots, I'm sure there's
limited projects, or how does itwork with the arrangement with
the U of A?

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah, projects, or you know, or how does it work
with the arrangement with the uof a?
Yeah, so um.
For undergrad specifically, Ican touch on the start off with
uh, we love undergrads, um,because we, we get, we get to
show them a lot about.
It's like they're, they'refresh, they're fresh engineers.
They're engineers to be.
So we get to show them a verygood balance of a theoretical

(19:05):
aspect and then also practicalaspect, because our lab is
situated as, relatively I wouldsay it's a more industrial lab
compared to others at the?
U of a, yeah, um.
So students get a very goodbalance of the two things,
because they get to see whatthey learn in the classroom.
We recall what they learn inthe classroom and then they get
to see okay, this is where youactually use it, you didn't just
learn that equation over thereand you're gonna forget about it

(19:27):
like it's actually used hereand it's um.
So undergrads, we, we get themall the time, whether it's from
the?
U of a, from from chile, fromargentina and france.
International students all thetime are coming visiting us um,
and we have them working in onprojects, either on their own
projects, sort of side projectsrelated to others, uh, graduate

(19:47):
students, projects like the sameapparatus, maybe, but side
project, um, or the, the, the,their, their, their own project,
um.
So that's that's for undergradsand then for graduate students
or um, it's it's all aboutinterview process.
So it's, it's basically ifinterview process, it's
basically if you can get yourfoot in the door and communicate

(20:08):
to us that you're passionate,you care and you want to do good
things.
That's really the foundationand the base there.
It's an attitude-first type ofthing.
If you don't have the rightattitude, it's tough to grow on
your own.
If you don't have the rightattitude, you can't it's tough
to grow on your own.
So if you can show that you'reindependent, it's good.

(20:30):
Things can come for people whowant to join and are seeking to
join a graduate program that isvery balanced is what I would
say.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, and I would say that it's.
There's not.
There's not a lot of places onthe planet that are very
specific to this industry.
There's a couple per country,if that, and we're talking about
the more wealthy countries thathave the ability.
So the people that are comingto the door are people that
already have skin in the game,right, they're already there for

(21:01):
a reason.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah, and for other people that are maybe in
industry already or they alreadyhave a job and they're looking
to partner with the CCWJ.
We have industry partnershipsall day long.
A lot of, if not all, most of,most of, if not all of our grad
projects come from industrypartnerships.
My wine project is from anindustry partnership, the lab is

(21:24):
very well endowed by.
We receive so much support fromall the welding companies in
North America and so many more Icould name that it's it's it's
easy for undergrads to comethrough us and go into industry
and the industry to come backand if anyone wants to, explore

(21:44):
the curiosities, but they don'tthey're, they're.
Maybe they don't want to go backto grad school.
There's so many partnershipsand opportunities through
through what Patricia was was uhand our previous um associate
director gets his belt at thecwj well, it's uh, it's
something that is uh, what's theword?

Speaker 1 (22:03):
I know the word in spanish.
I just came back from chile, soI'm I'm still in spanish mode,
but it's something that islacking internationally.
I'm not just talking about thepure educational part, but that
communication part that you justtalking about, the pure
educational part, but thatcommunication part that you're
talking about.
You know, I spent some time inChile.
I was talking to the Chileanchapter.
I've worked overseas in anumber of countries and what
lacks in most of the places I gois the communication between

(22:27):
education, industry and thegovernment, like as a, as a
combined effort.
So you know, if you have auniverse, I see this happening
all the time.
I was just like this ishappening in Chile at one of the
labs right now.
They have a wonderful lab,great equipment, great teachers,
and there's research projectsgoing on and I say, okay, where

(22:48):
did these research projects comefrom?
And they just came out of theether.
Meanwhile, there's miningcompanies, manufacturing
companies, shipbuilders,agricultural, hydrogen projects
All these things happeningliterally 100 feet outside of
the door of this building andthere's no communication.
Is this college not doingresearch that is going to

(23:18):
directly support and helpsustain the economy around them,
right, and that's then thegovernment's not interested
because it's not going to helpthe industry.
The college is basically notfollowing any format aside from
the, the deans or whoever's incharge, so then why would the
government get involved with anyfunding?
So then there goes the funding.
So it ends up being kind ofdead in the water.

(23:38):
A lot of students have troublefinishing out their grad degrees
or postgrad degrees becausethey don't have a topic or
something to work on.
Meanwhile, industry isfloundering and I literally
heard about these companies inChile farming out all their R&D
to Peru or to India or to Europeor to Canada and it's like
that's unfortunate.
Meanwhile, here in Canada, youknow we need more of these kind

(24:01):
of colleges.
We've got Waterloo, we got, youknow, you guys here in Alberta,
and aside from that, you have acouple private innovation
companies out there that do someR&D, private innovation
companies out there that do someR&D.
But that communication is thekey.
You want the R&D to be tacit.

(24:24):
You know what I mean To go outand to be usable, that the thing
that you're doing.
I always give the example of JoeWelder.
I'm Joe Welder.
I have no idea what you know ishappening in a university lab
across the country no idea.
What you know is happening in auniversity lab across the
country, no idea.
But if they're spending money,I sure hope that it makes my job
easier.
I sure hope it does, because atthe end of the day it's a long
chain and we're still connected.

(24:44):
That network, that filamentthat runs through us all, that
carbon filament, to be specific,I, I guess, is there right.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, I, I, I a hundred percent agree, max, um
and like, specifically for thewelder, um, it's, it's, it's it.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
I stumped you trying to.
No, no, I'm trying to piece.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
You had so many good nuggets there that I wanted to
touch on.
You just kept going and I'mtrying to think back.
No, no, no, it's fine, it'sfine.
I'm assuming they couldprobably edit this out or
something like that.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
I'm keeping it.
I love it I finally got Danielawithout words.
I finally did it everyone.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
So, to go back to what you were saying, in Chile,
the connection with industry isextremely important.
Yeah, that is one of the bigdrivers that I chose the CCWJ
was the connection industryBecause, like I said, from
Formula I gained a very goodappreciation for practicality.
Now it's very unique, the workI'm seeing here.

(26:00):
It's not common and, like yousaid, out of already unique
institutions, it's even moreunique to actually have projects
that are providing solutions.
And by providing solutions Idon't mean specifically like,
for example, service projects.
Right, right, like industrycompanies, for example, could

(26:21):
come to a university and be likeI, you have this piece of
equipment, we know you have it.
Can you do these tests?
And then your grad student canturn these samples into whatever
type of paper they want.
Yeah, that can be done.
That can be done.
That's run of the mill.
But to have a discussion, toinquire questions, to have the

(26:47):
academics ask why are you seeingthis?
Why does that become that way?

Speaker 1 (26:55):
because, at the end of the day, why do you care?
But what's the end game?

Speaker 3 (26:57):
yeah, yeah what is, at the end of the day, it's the
people in the field that areactually making the things and
are actually doing the practice.
So in a sense, they know morethan engineers probably could.
They have the experiences.
It's invaluable.
The difference is that inacademia we can explore the next

(27:20):
step.
Yeah.
And so if we are sort of tryingin academia, I get a sort of
sense sometimes on the wholethat we're trying to play like
we're trying to as industry isclimbing, we're trying to play
with them it to, as asindustry's climbing, we're
trying to play with them it'slike no, it goes up yeah
industry goes up and academia issupposed to meet and then take
the next step and the industrycatches up.

(27:41):
Yeah, it's supposed to be likethat, um, and that's something
that I I really get the sensethat we're trying to do here um,
which is something that is very, very special.
Uh, speaking back to the, tothe welder that you were talking
about, that ties right intothem.
When, for my, specifically formy project, um, I've talked to,

(28:02):
I've made a point about, I comeup with an idea and then I go
first thing, I next I do talk tooperators.
Yeah, that's that's the firstthat that needs to be an
essential thing for anyonetrying to do practical research,
and it doesn't have to be likewelding.
Research sometimes has a alittle bit of a a claim to be

(28:23):
all like a little bit clunky, alittle bit crude.
The type of research comparedto it's not as um accurate or
nuanced, that sort of thing,because there's so much going on
, for example, even in a MIGwelding torch.
But that shouldn't be an excuse.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, I don't buy that argument either.
Just because there's a lotgoing on, that just means
there's more finesse.
That can be.
We're just not there yet.
We came to the game late, youknow.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
And yeah, exactly, I think uh, a lot of other
industries, we, the weldingindustry, and the relationship
between academia, weldingacademia, welding industry, can
learn a lot from otherindustries that maybe did things
right or did things wrong anduh, right yeah, like I remember
when I first got into thefabrication position at a
company and I had to startworking with engineers closer

(29:13):
and I had a fantastic engineerbe one of my first bosses and
and he, nick coleman, shout outamazing guy.
And he said to me hey man,engineers lab is where we can
make mistakes and write themdown.
You know, because in theworkplace you make a mistake,
you work to forget it.
Oh I welded this wrong, throwit in the scrap bin and make
another one.
Or this parameter I got panels,grind it out and get it out the

(29:36):
door.
We make mistakes.
Mistakes are part of life,they're part of industry.
But on the floor you don'tthink about the mistake, you
just want to get past it.
In a lab, you try to make themistake, learn the mistake and
figure out how to never do itagain.
Or create parameters, thatthey're just non-existent.

(29:57):
And that's like you're talking.
If you could keep academia justone step ahead of industry, you
keep down that.
Investment in money intoacademia reduces the loss of
investment in rework, loss ofinvestment in broken materials,
broken plates, lost time ofwelders, machinery.
All that train that goes downcan be pulled apart in a lab

(30:21):
initially at much lower cost andmuch lower risk 100%.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
That sort of goes back to another type of thing
that I desire, that I have, orgoal is serving society.
Well, one thing that I'venoticed, or two things actually.
One is that it seems to me thatpeople in academia should view
themselves as public servants,should view themselves as public
servants.
I've heard this from numerouspeople, both in academia and in
industry, and even in between,like NRC or CanMet, and I think

(30:59):
it's true that we're at someextent academia.
People are being paid bytaxpayer money, so they should,
they have an obligation to dogood quality research that helps
progress society and, in thiscase, for welling, serve
industry.
Um, and then the other thing isuh oh, I got stumped again.

(31:24):
Um, ah, the other thing.
The other thing was related tomy own desire, which is to serve
society.
You can do it in two ways.
One is you can give them tools.
Right.
To use so that can be actualphysical tools.
It can also be an equation, forexample Procedural tools.

(31:46):
Yeah, exactly A procedural tool, and people don't really think
about an equation as a tool, butit is is it enables you to do
something that you weren't ableto do before?
Right, right, um, you give themtools, but also you can help
them be more efficient, right,safe and so efficient exactly
safety efficiency.
exactly, yeah, and that's sortof where I also see my project

(32:07):
is that if I can help developprocedures and design procedures
, I can help reducemanufacturing, waste
manufacturing costs, and thenthere's also a trickle effect of
I hope that later on the costto consumer goes down right.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
We hope we hope we hope, we hope.
That's what we can hope for.
There's a lot of steps inbetween, but yeah, that's.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
That's another thing, that's another way that we're
supposed to help industry.
Those two ways.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
That's awesome.
Well, let's take the break forour sponsors.
Right now, we're right at thehalfway mark, perfectly, and our
advertisers can get their wordsin, and when we come back here
on the show with you, daniella,we're going to talk about what's
going on in your world today,not just with the ccwj, but also
with the chapter and yourinvolvement there how's that

(32:57):
sound?
sounds good, max all right, sowe'll be right back here on the
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And we are back here on the cwbassociation podcast.
Thanks so much for staying withus right before the break.
We're talking to daniella hereabout the purpose of academia.

(34:45):
Really, I think that getsclouded and this is a.
This is a conversation that Ilove to have.
You've heard me have thisconversation among groups of
people because I live in bothworlds.
I came up as a welder, but I'vealso spent almost 14 years in
universities and collegesstudying various things to
forward my career as a welder,and at some point you realize

(35:09):
that they're intrinsicallyintertwined to really get
somewhere.
And perhaps the very seasonedwelder who's worked on the shop
floor for 40 years has no desireto know academia.
But guess what they know?
They just haven't put thenumbers to it, the letters to it
, the words to it.

(35:30):
The language doesn't exist, butthe formulas are there, it's
coming out, it's, it's a thing,right?
Um, it's like me starting afire with two sticks.
I can show you how to start afire with two sticks and you can
start a fire with two sticks,or you can write me a paper
about how friction between twowooden objects creates a high
enough heat to start a fire.
At the end of the day, it's thesame thing, right?

(35:53):
So in your world, now you knowyou're coming up.
As as towards your, yourdoctoral, you know, at some
point you're going to be, youknow, dr calista, where, where
do you see?
Well, you're, you're too farnow.
There's no backing out now.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
There's no backing out now.
Yeah, there's no backing outnow.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
It might take you nine years.
No, I'm just kidding, but youknow what is it that you wish to
do once you're done college,because, I mean, that's a hard
decision for people that havebeen in the education stream for
so long, and I've seen thisactually crush some souls.
And not to scare you.

(36:36):
Yeah'm aware, right, and I'veseen it happen where now you got
to do something with this thing, this, this thing, and there's
an expectation externally andinternally to do something with
it.
What is it that you want to dowith that, with that finished
product of a doctorate in thewelding sciences?

Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, so I think I've had.
Actually, I've been thinkingabout this a lot Because, like I
said, this was the goal of minesince high school.
I was lucky enough to have thisas an idea in my head, that I
wanted to do a goal and being Idon't want to say like, like,
because I haven't done it yetyeah, yeah closer to doing it

(37:17):
now I'm very close, um, closerthan I was five years ago, ten
years ago, um, it's gotten me tothink about the purpose and the
meaning of it and I'm sort of.
And then the next steps, and I'msort of, as of right now I'm
thinking about this certain wayis that, in the end, I don't see
this as like a thing I have touse.

(37:41):
I see it as a stepping stonefor that.
It's going to enable me to dosomething else.
I don't have to use the degree,but it's a stepping stone for
me to do the next thing, to usethe degree, but it's a stepping
stone for me to do the nextthing.
And I'm opting to go back towhat I've done.
I believe my whole life, whichis my curiosity and my desires.

(38:09):
If I can keep those two thingsalive, I can keep going, and so
whatever decision I choose next,it's going to keep for me the
most, the most doors open aspossible.
So I'm thinking postdoc um uhat somewhere internationally to
help round myself out, and then,wherever the powers may be, I

(38:30):
may end up I I would like tostay in Alberta.
I really love it here.
I love Canada.
Canada is one of the.
It's the greatest country, Ibelieve I agree.
And it's where I want my familyto be.
So I'm fine, I believe, whetherI could be in industry or in
academia.
I have preferences for both andnon-preferences for both as

(38:53):
well.
The current state of them, butI think for me is, as long as I
keep those two, those two thingsgoing, two decision criteria
going, I I will be contentwherever I end up yeah, and I
think that's, that's verypowerful, because now I'm not
leaving, wherever I end up, aslike the quality of metric for

(39:14):
my happiness.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Right, well, and there's a few things.
There's nuggets in there thatare very valuable that you
mentioned, and there are ones.
Some you learn the hard way.
Some of you get taught.
One of the ones that I lovedwhen I was teaching at the
college was you know, afterthree years, four years, they
get their diploma and I wouldalways say now your career

(39:35):
starts right and people losefocus because in school feels
like a career because you'reworking, you're there, you're
doing stuff and you're you'reapplying yourself and it's
stressful and it's hard andstuff and you tend to lose focus
that you're still in school andit feels very grown up because
you're surrounded by reallyintelligent people that are
really really progressed far intheir careers, but you're still

(39:58):
in school the day you get thatfinal diploma, regardless of
what level you decide to opt outat, now's the beginning.
Now you're just starting youractual career, which is applying
all the things you learned tosomebody.
You know, upon request, notupon your choice, not upon a

(40:19):
maybe, not upon a decision as agroup, but as a pawn it's a pawn
request Someone's going to showup to you and be like, okay,
you have this thing, here's thejob, call me when it's done.
It should take you four hoursand you're like what it's done.
It should take you four hoursand you're like what this is.
That's the beginning of thecareer part.
Now the other part of it is issomething that I got taught when

(40:40):
I was young is never run awayfrom something, only run towards
.
You know, and that, and it'sfor all things in driving, you
want to learn how to not spinout a car.
Keep your eye out on where youwant to be, not where you just
were.
You'll never spin out again.
Right that?
Keep your eye out on where youwant to be, not where you just
were.
You'll never spin out again.
Right?
That's how Indy drivers, that'show you do it in any in sports
to keep your eye on the ball.
And that rule applies to abazillion things in life Don't

(41:03):
run from anything, only runtowards.
So when you get to make thosedecisions professionally in
terms of your career, I'vealways kept that focus, focus,
and I think that that's what you, basically your two rules imply
further your desire and yourand your desire to to also
always explore, because when youexplore, you're not going
backwards.

(41:23):
There's no such things asbackwards exploration, there's
only forwards exploration,because what's explored is not
re-explorable.
Well, that's arguable.
Iable, I guess, but you knowwhat I'm saying yeah, yeah,
exactly.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
There's so many things to be done and people can
think, okay, there's so manythings to be done.
What does that mean?
That can mean new things.
You can also go back and dothings that others have already
done, but for you, you, they'renew and they're also going to be
learning experiences andprocess improvement is the
future man yeah, innovation overinvention.

(42:01):
Yeah, and so it goes back tokeeping as many doors open as
possible that satisfy something,that fulfill whatever you think
is keeping you happy in themoment.
Engage friends, get the jobthat they want to do, and that's

(42:29):
great.
They're able to do it, andmaybe that was their criterion,
was that?
One company.
But for me, when I think aboutthat, if I were to get into a
position where, okay, I'veworked my entire life to work
for X company and then I getthere and two things could
happen.
One, three things could happen.

(42:50):
One it's exactly how Ienvisioned.
Two it sucks, the grass is thegrass, yeah, the grass is rarely
greener on the other side, soit sucks.
And now I'm like, okay, well, Ibased every all my decisions
and everything up until now, orthree you.
You would lose the job andyou're like okay well now what?

Speaker 1 (43:07):
I'm left wanting right yeah, you know that's uh.
As a person who has been firedin the past and has lost jobs
and has worked at some at shopsthat people would consider to be
some of the top shops in thiscountry and still felt
unfulfilled, it's's a trickybalance.
It's a lot to do with your headspace.
Right when you are, there'slots.

(43:29):
Work is not everything at theend of the day.
Um, there's a lot of thingsaround you that also need to
line up for things to be good.
You can have the greatest jobin the world, but if your home
life is suffering because ofthis job, then it's not the best
job in the world becausethere's a lot of pieces that
need to fit Now for you.
You have another layer that youadd to the madness in the fact

(43:53):
that you are also the sittingpresident right now of the
student chapter for the U of A.
So why does someone likeDaniela, who has a million
things on their plate, ponderingtheir future postdoc and beyond
and all these things, why wouldyou decide to volunteer time to

(44:14):
be a part of a student chapterfor the association?

Speaker 3 (44:21):
it comes back to um, for me personally, two things.
One, it came back to like whatmy, my desire, just my desire is
, desires to help society.
Um and what better way that theword volunteer right.
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, I'm passionate about welding.
I'm passionate about what isthe science behind welding?

(44:42):
So why not help the weldingsociety?
Uh, and in Canada is thescience behind welding?
So why not help the weldingsociety?
And in Canada, the weldingsociety that's.
That's where I got started inthe student chapter.
Here at the U of A, studentchapters were very tightly knit
with the CCWJ as well, so it waslike it was very seamless.
I joined the CCWJ, I joined thestudent chapter.
It was like simultaneously,yeah, and I started out, not as

(45:03):
I didn't start out as thepresident, I started out as just
someone helping around with theevents and activities here.
Then I became a secretary andthe president, and the president
after right now.
Um.
So I did it to do, to helpserve others, but also to learn.
Learn more, because there's solike there's so much to learn in
the science there's so much butI truly think there's even more

(45:24):
to learn about people yeah it's.
It's one thing that for me, I Iwas able to get a good starting
process on and when I was onformula, because I I ended up
progressing as well, from likesupport member to a design lead
for a subsystem, to projectmanager for about a year, or
co-project manager, so I got asense of the progression and I

(45:48):
noticed there that working in ateam environment, when you have
to make something once again, isway different than working in a
team environment.
We just have to make a report.
In a class there's a lot moreinterpersonal.
There's already a lot ofinterpersonal skills and things
that happen when you're making areport, when you're making
something even more, and so Iwanted to further hone those
skills.
So student chapter was a greatopportunity for that.

(46:10):
Not only do I get to continueit's sort of like a, it is a
student group as well umself-led initiatives by the
students, but I also now get theopportunity to network with
professionals like yourself inindustry um between the cwb and
also the aws as well.
We, we, we help support bothsocieties um here at the?

Speaker 1 (46:31):
u of a yeah, well, and that networking well, let's.
Let's first of all pick up whatyou said, because it was great
the there's professionaldevelopment skills that you do
not get in university, that youdo not get in any, that you do
not get in any college, whetherit's vocational or academic, and
those skills the soft skills Ihate.

(46:53):
I don't like really the termsoft skills.
Soft sounds weak but at the endof the day they're just a whole
nother set of professionaldevelopment skills outside of
what you're learning that arekey to being successful in your
career, to advancing in yourcareer.
You can be real smart, realsmart and real great on paper
and do amazing reports and workinside your bubble and you can

(47:16):
be the Mozart of whatever you'redoing.
But unless you can translatethat into something that people
can can understand and relate toand even feel emotions or get
emotive off of, you'll never,ever be able to advance outside
of your bubble.
Volunteering I've beenvolunteering since I was a kid.

(47:36):
My family believes involunteering, it's just
something I grew up with.
But that's where I feel that alot of people learn their
professional development skillsis through volunteer networks,
because you know, like you justsaid, you just joined, because
they told you to join.
Well, you're gonna go now tothese things that people
organized, and they didn'torganize it for any other reason

(47:58):
than for just you to be there.
That's literally it.
No one's making money, no one'sgetting paid.
They just did it so that youcould be there and you go and
you be there and you have agreat time.
And then you're like, hey, thatwas fun, how do I become a part
of this?
And then all of a sudden,someone tells you hey, we need a
spot for treasurer.

(48:18):
You've never been an accountant, you've never had to do
treasury, you've never had towork with business money, but
now you're going to learn somebasic things about journaling
and bank accounts and ins andouts and running an excel sheet.
These skills are invaluable toyou for the rest of your life.
You know what I mean and yeah,yeah and and like.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Your progression through these volunteer
positions is also yourprogression as as a professional
right yeah, exactly, um, andand a good thing that I've
realized is it's not just funbut, like in the moment, you
realize, like at these, at the,at a technical events, uh, at
you, or you realize that thatdiscussion, that you, you were a

(49:03):
fly on the wall and maybe I wasjust like, oh, I just saw a
little student sitting next totwo VPs talking to each other.
I'm like, oh, there's a lot ofsubtle things in that
conversation that were veryimportant, that didn't seem
important.
In the moment, when you thinkback, it's like that was an
extremely valuable experienceand these people that are at
these events and they're able to, they're willing to put their

(49:24):
time up for these events,they're willing to put their
time up for these events.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
They're passionate?

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah, because they're passionate, but for the sole
reason that people in myposition can learn and grow and
then do the same later on, onceI grow up and am in a position
to help support others as well.
It's a mentorship circle.
Essentially, that's what I wasgoing to say.
You get to be a part of thatmentorship cycle.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
Well, because it's a mentorship circle.
Essentially that's what I wasgonna say.
You know, you get you, you getto be a part of that mentorship
cycle where you're at some pointin your career you realize that
you go from the mentee to thementor and it can be very vague
transition where you're like ohmy god, I'm the mentor.
Now what happened?
Does that mean I'm old, likeyeah, it's I've.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
I think it's very situation dependent too.
So I graduated and I sort ofpassed the, helped pass the
torch to the next people in theformula team.
I was like, OK, now they'recoming to me for questions.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Yeah, coming to someone coming to you for
questions when you're in aleadership position is slightly
different than them coming toyou for questions because you
have solely because you haveexperience experience yeah
because they expect you to notto have the answer.
Um, in leadership, they expectyou to.
If you can't find the answer,you go with yeah you can source

(50:38):
it yeah yeah, but it's uh, it'san interesting feeling because
you're like wait, I'm how old.
Now I feel even older.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Now your involvement.
You know you said it kind ofwas seamless, but there's always
an option to not be as involvedas you are.
I remember, I think I rememberthe very first year that you
showed up for a CanWild and youknow you had your presentations
that you had submitted and wetalked and I like to joke and

(51:10):
have fun but you kind of stuckaround like a little fly on the
wall to like everything that wasgoing on and I could tell that
you were taking in as much asyou could For you, for the
people that are listening.
What are the takeaways of beinginvolved with the conferences,
with the associations, whetherit's AWS, cwb, api, asmi, cisc,

(51:36):
they all have their own things.
You know what are the takeawaysthat people should really be on
the lookout for?

Speaker 3 (51:44):
Great question.
I can say I can give an answer.
Answer, I'm going to give ananswer.
Um, but I also want to say thatI'm still very young, so I don't
know if this is maybe the bestanswer.
Um, I'm aware of my experience.
That is good, but maybe not ascomparable to other people in
industry or in has been to theseevents longer than me.

(52:04):
Um, but I can say that the thebiggest takeaway comes from the,
the old adage that it's notwhat you know, but who you know,
and these types of things arewhere you get to know a lot of
people.
These are the types of thingswhere you you can add someone on
linkedin or like by coldmessaging them or whatever, but

(52:24):
this is where you get to takethem out for a coffee or a beer
and you get to learn about them.
And then all of a sudden,they're in your head and then
next time, when they needsomething or they're working on
something, they think of you andthat can be a big difference
maker in that moment, becauseyou never know where those small
steps can snowball intosomething more.
That's a great answer yeah intosomething more.

(52:49):
That's a great answer.
Yeah, yeah, the one step for methat snowballed into where I am
today was formula yeah.
One step, yeah, and that wasback in 2018, because if I did
not take that, I would not havebeen interested in in welding,
because we had to weld on thecar when I was interested in in
fabrication, I would have.
Yeah, that was the one step,that is.
It just continues to go.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Like I mean for myself, when I started
volunteering, you know, I Iwasn't always in this position,
I I was a treasurer as well.
I was all these things for mylocal chapter when I was coming
up through through as a welderhere in Regina and I remember
getting to meet business ownersand then university students and
college students and that's forme, was like okay, like not.

(53:32):
Some of these people I'mmeeting are not young.
They're, you know, 10, 15 yearsolder than me and it gave me a
timeline of, like I'm not donethis, I'm not done yet, like I
can, I can, there's so much more.
And then you, and then you startgetting more, you know, you
start meeting the people and andhaving those network contacts,
and you start meeting some ofthe big wigs in Canada that blow

(53:54):
your mind, like the JimGalloways, the Patricios, the
Adrians, you know, the WillMorledges, these, these, these
people that are floating aroundthis country, that are straight
up geniuses, that you get tohave a conversation with them in
a totally chill environmentwhere you're allowed to say
whatever you want and no one'sgoing to call you up and be like
that was dumb.

(54:15):
You know that's not going tohappen.
People will.
The conversations are always socomfortable rich yeah, yeah,
they are and, and and.
I love how it always starts likewith a couple professionals and
then you see, like the circleof people start to kind of
listen.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
In my favorite part, my favorite part of the
conference is is after a one ortwo talks, or maybe at the end
of the day you just see like acouple guys just talking and
then some students will join andthen some more industry people,
and at the start it's it's morepeople joining because they
know someone there.
They're just like, oh, I'm justwaiting for my friend, but then
all of a sudden they getinterested in the content.
They're contributing to theconversation, they're

(54:53):
contributing to the sharing.
It's not just some people justlistening, it's a two-way
communication stream and Ireally have to not only say that
it's up to the students to dothis or up to young
professionals um, you don't haveto be a student to go to these
conferences, that's right, umbut it's also up to the people
in the positions to share theknowledge.
The patricia, the wellmortalages, the adrians, uh, the

(55:16):
jim gallows they are verygracious with their time.
Even dan had it too.
Yeah, so gracious, and you it's.
There would not be thosecircles if those people would
not be at the epicenter of thosecircles yeah, yeah, and like I
mean internationally, like I I'man international guy, I like
international relationships.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
It was something early in my career I was like I
want to learn how it's like towork in other countries and how
things like that happen and someof those connections I made 20
years ago, 30 years ago, 10years ago.
Now I go to like Fabtechs or Igo to whatever's and I'm running
into friends and that's likekind of for me.
You know, when we were talkingabout why volunteer?

(55:58):
Why attend conferences?
Why attend local sessions, AWSsociety meetings or the CWBA
meetings?
Why even bother?
Because I have tons of welderfriends who will never get off
their couch to go to one ofthese meetings.
They have zero interest ingoing to one of these meetings
and they're like why do you go?
Why do you go?
It's not just about learning atthis point in my career.

(56:20):
I have friends there.
I have friends that I see oncea year at the conference, once a
year in the U S, once a year,you know, at the in South
America, and we get so pumped tosee each other and to see how
our careers have been going,what's new, what's been
happening.

(56:40):
You know that the, the, theperspective just gets so wide
and rich, and I love it.
I'm here for it yeah, it's, uh,it's.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
it's something that I very much look forward to as I,
as I go throughout my my careerbe it either I lean more
towards academia, industry um, Idon't know where I'm gonna end
up, but it's, it's definitelysomething that I see is the
ability with conferences, andwhen you take the time to

(57:11):
network.
It could be five years, 10years, but down the line it does
come back.
It does come back, and it'salways a two-way street.
If you give something now, thenlater, later on, you'll get
something back, and I'm I'm alsolike a firm believer that too,
because, uh, a lot of times whenyou work hard now, you can reap

(57:32):
the rewards later yeah, yeah,don't, don't keep a scorecard.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
That's when some people do that, why did?
This.
I don't worry about what youdid, let's just think about
tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Yeah, no, just do things be off the heart, on the
cuff of your sleeve.
Just do what you can, but don'tclose doors.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
Yeah, now, how do you mentor some of the young
students coming in?
I remember you brought up Miaright and Mia's growing as a
person right now, before oureyes.
She's so shy the first time youguys brought her out.
How do you mentor someone likethat, who definitely is
intelligent enough to be sittingat the tables, definitely got
the ambition, but veryoverwhelmed, very, you know, shy

(58:15):
and these these, you know thesethese associations like
yourself.
A big part of your mentorshipis getting them out there, right
, yeah yeah, so Mia's our vicepresident right now for student
chapter and I don't know mypersonal opinion.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
she puts on a little bit of a facade.
She's not shy.
She's even more outgoing thanme.
She's one of the most outgoingpeople I know.
She was just playing verystrategic.
She was very smart in takingthings in before portraying
anything.
She wanted to really assess hersurroundings.
Yeah, see what?
What is what she's getting into?

(58:55):
And she's been awesome like theone of the fastest, if not the
fastest, professionally growingpeople.
I know I see her long termdoing, contributing to codes and
standards massively massivelyher project's awesome um she's.
She's doing awesome work um herand eddie and carter in the lab
.
They're doing they're doinggreat work.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
They're doing great you're gonna miss this team when
they're all out of there well,that's the thing.
Uh, that's what we all saywe're gonna miss.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
we going to miss X person when they go and I can
think, okay, are they reallygone?
Yeah, they're not gone.
You're going to see them.
We are connected even strongerthan some people that you meet
at a conference.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
So I see some of the strongest industry connections
that I'm going to use in myfuture.
Right here it's funny I raninto somebody at a conference
last year and I said I think Isee you more often than I see
some of my friends in Regina.
It's just the way it is.
Our careers can be quiteconsuming, and that's fine.
Now to kind of wrap up theinterview you know for you,

(01:00:11):
where would you see your nextsteps in terms of your
volunteerism?
You know, because you're comingup on grad, then you're kind of
out of the student chapter andsome people that's as far as
they go Do you see yourselfsliding into uh, uh, you know
further volunteer work withother societies, or with the
edmonton chapter even?
Or or is it going to be time toto kind of get to work and put

(01:00:33):
the work hat down, or how do yousee this playing out?

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
yeah, I, uh, this is funny, you asked me that
question a year ago.
I would have had, or maybe evena few months ago I would have
had a totally different answerto now.
Um, before I would have said,yeah, I'm going to take some
time off and uh, and whatever,uh, get get down to work.
But I, I, I realized that itsort of goes back to like
temporary solution is nevertemporary, right?

(01:01:00):
You're like, oh, I'm gonna putsome duct tape on that and that
hole and I'll fix it later.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
No, that duct tape is going to fall.
So I think for me.
That duct tape is there forlife now.
Yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
So I think for me, long term, I 100% want to keep
giving back, because I am heretoday solely because of people
giving me things, whether it wasmy parents or other
professionals.
People gave me things and I wasable to, so I want to give back
.
Um, I may be doing a little bitless while I finish up my
degree, but I will still beinvolved with the edmonton

(01:01:36):
chapter, um, and I hope to beinvolved with the other
technical societies as well.
Yeah, um, to just continue themomentum that I have, because I
think the being in a part of thestudent chapter here of a
technical society has reallygiven me the opportunity to
learn how to run a technicalsociety, and I have previous

(01:01:59):
experience with other projects,but here it's giving me some
good experience about how to runa technical society well, how
the dynamics work between thelocal society and then the
national at large and how to getthe most of it and produce the
most out of it.
So I think I have me myself.
I'm sort of obligated to keepgoing a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
At least if it's to hand that off to somebody as a
person, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Yeah, yeah, to still be present.
So I do intend to be present,yeah and uh, I look forward to
to many great things in thefuture.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Well, if you can learn anything from me, I've
tried to quit this 100 times andI keep coming back.
I don't know.
It's it once, it's in you, it'sin you now.
For for the volunteers outthere, how can they?
How can they get a hold of yourchapter?
How do they become involved?
Or any young engineers inAlberta that are interested in
what you're talking about, howcan they reach out to you guys

(01:02:50):
and get a hold of you?

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
Yeah, awesome.
So we have sort of three mainchannels of communication.
Probably the most relaxed one,or chill one that people would
go through, is our Instagrampage.
So, you can DM us on CWbunderscore aws u of a chapter.
Search that up, you should.
You should find us um.
We also have a linkedin page,the ccwj.
Oh, by the way, ccwj linkedinpage you can dm, we'll.

(01:03:16):
Uh, we're keeping an eye out forpeople who are interested.
And then also our studentchapter email, ccwj chap at
eulburnaca.
People are interested.
Um, again, we are students, soif we get like a hundred emails
it's gonna take us a while forus to get through but, uh, we
will do our best to get throughthem because, uh, we are just in

(01:03:37):
the midst of planning our, ourbig year capping sort of event
the ccwj annual seminar, whichwill be in may um we'll give us
some information on that,because this will be released in
April, so plenty of time yes,awesome the flyers are.
We already released the firstround of flyers on our LinkedIn
page, the CCWJ LinkedIn page.
I'm going to be sending out asecond round to UMACS so you're

(01:03:58):
going to be able to dispersethings through CWB and also the
other chapters.
We're very excited, veryexcited to have Dr Dwayne Miller
again this year.
Um, for those who don't know,this guy is the epitome of
lecturers and knowledgeableindividuals in the welding world
.
Um, he's going to be giving usa two day series on a welded

(01:04:18):
connection design.
So the big thing that I uhwe've had Dwayne twice already
and the big, the big takeawaysis that he gives practical and
informative examples anddiscussion opportunities.
Um, at our ccwj annual seminar,we give, uh, not only the
opportunity to learn about acritical topic in welding, which
this year is going to be weldedconnection design related to

(01:04:40):
fatigue and seismic failure,which I think albert is going to
start leaning towards a littlebit Frockalackin, yeah, yeah, so
we're already ahead of thecurve.
Good, good, we got.
Dwayne talking about that stuff,but also networking, because
our seminar has been over forover a decade.
We've created sort of a hubevery year for professionals

(01:05:03):
from Alberta, even across Canada, come to our seminar at the U
of A.
It's on May 14th to 15th thiscoming.
It's coming May.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
I think that's the weekend right before the long
weekend, right?
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
All the details will be in the flyers.
We'll have a web page andeverything set up Alright
awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
Well, everyone, you heard it here you gotta attend,
uh, you gotta attend.
You gotta make sure it's thebiggest show ever.
You gotta make sure that youhead up to edmonton for me but I
picked up what you put downthere but it's gonna be.
I mean the chapters.
I can't help tell everyone Isay it all the time, whether

(01:05:45):
it's through us or somebody elsenetworking is the key for your
personal growth, yourprofessional development and
making sure you got that extra,that leg up on the competition.
When you're out there scoringwork like it's huge and uh.
For you, daniela, it's beenwonderful watching your career,
you know, blossom, although youhaven't technically started the
career part yet, but watchingyour educational career blossom

(01:06:09):
and and seeing how you're, howyou're growing, and I'll be
looking forward to seeing you inin Red Deer in in in June.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
I'm looking forward to it, Max.
I can't wait to catch up witheveryone at the NAC meeting and
the rest of the chapter execs atthe WID.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Awesome.
And yeah, and for all thepeople listening, make sure you
do a few things.
This, this episode, will comeout in April.
So, number one, you'll be ableto find out all the information
about WID welding industry dayin Alberta.
It's going to be in Red Deer,june 11th and 12th.
So by now registration will beout.
Sign up quick there.
By now registration will be out.
Sign up quick.
There's going to be lots goingon.
There's going to be speakersall day, there's going to be

(01:06:49):
events hosted by industry,networking events.
There's going to be a VIP party, which is always a blast that's
paid for by industry.
And then the next day we'regoing to be doing a bunch of
stuff with Red Deer Polytechnicand industry tours and we're
even talking about having a showand shine and bringing out some
cool cars and having a funnight.
Just, you're just chilling outwith industry.
So it's going to be a couple ofdays and beautiful red deer in

(01:07:13):
Alberta, the middle ground.
So we're going to have Edmontonchapter U of A chapter and a
Calgary chapter representing.
So it's going to be fantasticas well.
Chapter events happening acrossthe country.
You know, as well as the U of Ahere, there's chapter events
happening in every provincethroughout the year.
This time of year there's lotsgoing on in every province, so
make sure you check out yourlocal chapter.
Signing up for membership isalways free, so don't miss out

(01:07:35):
on that.
Daniela, thanks for being onthe show today.

Speaker 3 (01:07:38):
Thanks, max, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
All right, everyone.
Take care, keep downloading andsharing.
Stay Take care, keepdownloading and sharing.
Stay tuned for the next episode.
We hope you enjoy the show.

Speaker 4 (01:07:59):
You've been listening to the CWB Association Welding
Podcast with Max Zerl.
If you enjoyed what you heardtoday, rate our podcast and
visit us at cwbassociationorg tolearn more.
Feel free to contact us if youhave any questions or
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Produced by the CWB Group andpresented by Max Serrano, this
podcast serves to educate andconnect the welding community.

(01:08:21):
Please subscribe and thank youfor listening.