CIVS Staff and Students Attend AIST Kickoff Dinner
On October 8, 18 CIVS staff and students attended the AIST Midwest Chapter Kickoff Dinner at Avalon Manor in Merrillville. The Keynote Presentation was given by Traci Forrester, Executive Vice President, Environmental and Sustainability at Cleveland-Cliffs. She is also Vice President of AIST. She gave a very informative talk on Cleveland-Cliffs’ efforts and strategies on decarbonization and sustainability. She also advocated for AIST benefits and encouraged all to be active in the chapter. There were over 480 attendees at the kickoff dinner. Her talk was very informative and inspiring for CIVS students and staff.
Traci Forrester’s presentation was an excellent outline of how Cleveland-Cliffs is pushing the envelope on emissions reduction with integrated steel mills, and the development of new technologies with the new Direct Reduced Ironmaking furnace and Electric Melting Furnace project that is happening at Middletown Ohio. It was interesting to see ideas we have explored here at CIVS being implemented at industrial plants, like natural gas and hydrogen co-injection in the blast furnace.
Samuel Nielson, CIVS Graduate Research Assistant
The AIST Midwest Chapter monthly dinners provide PNW students opportunities to learn about the steel industry and gain practical knowledge through keynotes and networking with over 300 attendees from numerous local and regional steel producers and suppliers. Proceeds from this event fund continuing education programs and AIST Midwest Member Chapter Scholarships. The Midwest Member Chapter is the largest AIST member chapter, with over 1,600 members. It includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana, and a small portion of Northwestern Illinois.
The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) is a non-profit organization with 15,500 members from over 70 countries. With 30 Technology Committees and 22 Local Members Chapters, AIST represents an incomparable steel industry knowledge and expertise network. Their mission is to advance the technical development, production, processing, and application of iron and steel.
