The American Foundry Society (AFS) is pleased to announce it has hired Dr. Zayna Connor as its new Vice President Technology. Coming on board March 7, Connor will immediately begin her transition with current Vice President Technical Services, Tom Prucha. Prucha will be retiring from full-time affiliation with AFS on July 1.
“Zayna Connor will be a great fit at AFS,” said Jerry Call, AFS CEO. “She brings a wealth of experience and education to the Society. Her experience and her research background in metallurgy and engineering make her a clear choice to take on this vital position at AFS.”
Most recently, Connor held the position of Senior Engineering Specialist at Caterpillar, Inc. where she worked for the past seven and a half years. At Caterpillar, Connor led the corporate casting team, where she was responsible for all casting and aluminum specifications, performed failure analysis and made recommendations based on the results of the failure analysis. Connor also supported Caterpillar’s Advanced Component Systems Division as the casting and aluminum expert.
Connor also has held positions of: quality control supervisor at Camsco, metallurgist at International Light Metals, and brazing sheet metallurgist and R&D manager at Alcan Rolled Products.
Connor received her B.S. degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Missouri – Rolla and her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University. At Northwestern, Connor received a National Science Foundation fellowship and an Amelia Earhart fellowship. Her research was on fatigue in the riveted joints of the fuselage of aircraft.
Connor also brings R&D proposal writing experience for government funding and oversaw a $1.5M annual research budget at Alcan Rolled Products.
The American Foundry Society is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1896. With its headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., AFS provides members and consumers with information and services to promote and strengthen the metalcasting industry.
Source: AFS - American Foundry Society
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