Brandi Wilkey
Brandi Wilkey of Dayton is your typical outdoorsy-type woman who loves to hunt, fish, and train her own hounds. Following high school, she had the opportunity to work at TVA Sequoyah as an insulator to earn money for college. Not knowing what she wanted to do with her life, she was introduced to the nondestructive testing program at TVA and decided to give it a shot.
This opportunity landed her in the Engineering Technology Nondestructive Testing program at Chattanooga State under Assistant Professors Jacqueline Smith and Tracie Clifford.
Ms. Wilkey explains that Ms. Smith and Ms. Clifford mentor their students and look for ways for them to earn on-the-job hours in order to earn the certifications that the NDT program requires.
After applying online and submitting her resume, Ms. Wilkey received good news: she had been accepted into the Oak Ridge National Laboratory internship program called Higher Education Research Experiences. This program applies to college students that include entering freshmen, undergrads, and recent associate or baccalaureate graduates.
More than 200 students interned at ORNL and were divided into groups based on education level and major. Ms. Wilkey’s group consisted of 21 students from around the U.S. who were all undergrads, mostly in the engineering/engineering technology field, but also from forestry, fire safety and nursing programs. “Anyone can apply for the internship regardless of the path they are taking,” states Ms. Wilkey.
Ms. Wilkey spent her summer working in the welding services division alongside welding technicians. She had the opportunity to do visual and dye penetrant tests, magnetic particle testing, ultrasonic testing, and radiography, working mainly on fabrications, piping and structural steel. She says she got the chance to do “a few jobs that were big and critical” – all of it a great learning experience. In addition to experiencing and seeing things most people never will, projects included basic maintenance, fabrication and upgrades to NASA and Homeland Security projects.
Due to Ms. Wilkey’s hard work and diligence, she was one of three students offered an intern extension until the end of this year. Ms. Wilkey splits her time between ORNL and NDT program studies. Having made numerous contacts at Oak Ridge, she plans to use those networking opportunities to help land a job following graduation in 2015.
Nondestructive Testing refers to quality control testing performed on a material or component that does not interfere with the future usefulness of the product. NDT (also known as NDE for Nondestructive Evaluation) is a broad, interdisciplinary field that plays a role in assuring the safe operation of equipment and systems, such as bridges, airplanes, petroleum pipelines, and boiler tubing. For more information about the NDT program, contact Tracie Clifford at 697-5725 or visit http://www.chattanoogastate.edu/program/et/non-destructive-testing.
Ms. Wilkey runs a dye check on fabricated structure welds.