Lifelong Learning: A Community College Success Story

Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology >> Career >> Lifelong Learning: A Community College Success Story

Lifelong Learning: A Community College Success Story

 
POSTED ON Aug 21, 2019
 

Natalia is a process improvement engineer at Arconic Davenport Works in Iowa. Born in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, Natalia has fond memories of her hometown. Her parents still live in Mexico, as do some of her siblings.

After Colegio Avante Elementary School, Natalia graduated from Centro Educativo Patria. She then opted for a two-year community college to figure out what she wanted to do. Later, she enrolled in a biomedical engineering degree course at the University of Iowa. Natalia graduated in May 2013.

While at the University of Iowa, Natalia worked in a biochemistry laboratory for four years and did a co-op at CIVCO Medical Solutions for five months. She also spent a semester at the University of California, Irvine in the Ph.D. biomedical engineering program.

In 2016, Natalia joined Alcoa Davenport Works full-time. The company is now known as Arconic Davenport Works. Natalia admits her biomedical engineering major and work experience in a biochemistry lab hadn’t quite prepared her for work in an assembly production line. But the company’s long tradition of employee development is helping her prepare for a promising future.

Since it opened in 1948, the Davenport Works aluminum rolling mill has been a leader in providing materials and high-tech aluminum alloys for planes, trains, and automobiles.

Recently, Natalia was promoted to project engineer and selected for a course focused on management, knowledge, cost efficiency, innovation, and budgets for rising mid-level managers. Natalia hopes to continue to learn new skills for the digital era.

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