FIERF was recently recognized for its efforts in support of education.

“FIERF is honored to be named as the recipient of the ASM Materials Education Foundation’s 2015 Pacesetter Award,” said FIERF President Al Underys of Finkl Steel. “Our relationship with ASM Foundation is a great partnership that we want to continue and grow. Through support of ASM Materials Camps for Teachers, we’ve been able to extend our outreach to a younger audience with whom we can share the forging supply-chain story.”

The award, established in 2009, is presented annually to recognize an organization’s continued service and support of educational outreach programs with the goal of encouraging young people to pursue careers in material science and engineering.

“We value and appreciate the strong partnership that we have ‘forged’ with FIERF and would like to congratulate your organization as being named the ASM Materials Education Foundation’s 2015 Pacesetter Award winner,” said Nichol Campana, director of development and operations for ASM International. “Through your generous contributions, together we can continue to provide programs designed to expand the next generation of professionals disciplined in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.”

Since 2013, the Forging Foundation has been partnering with the ASM Education Foundation to extend FIERF’s outreach to the high school and middle school levels. In addition to financial support of the camps, the Forging Foundation provides funding to give each teacher attending the camp a set of materials for use back in their classrooms – the “Forge Your Future” bag, which contains print and electronic materials covering the forging process and careers in the industry. Nearly 5,000 bags have been shipped to camps around the country and distributed to teachers. 

During the summer of 2015, 17 industry volunteers participated in camps held in their local areas by making a brief, informal presentation, typically over lunch on Tuesday (Metals Day), sharing information on where forgings can be found and used in daily life, making teachers aware of the forging process and providing information on employment opportunities for their students. 

Connections made at the camps have led to industry volunteers being asked to make presentations to the teacher’s classes and plant tours, thus building relationships between forging producers’ and supplier companies’ future workforce pipeline.

The FIERF Board of Trustees would like to thank the contributors who make this sponsorship of ASM Materials Camps for Teachers possible.

Please contact Karen Lewis at the Foundation Office (216-781-6260 or foundation@forging.org) to lend your support to teacher and student outreach. For more information on ASM Materials Education Foundation’s Materials Camps for Teachers and Students, please call 800-336-5152 or visit www.asmfoundation.org.