JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #54 - January 2010 - 20

BUSINESS Human Capital The graduate with a degree in composite materials Such a professional is responsible for the development of technologies and products. He works with an engineer to draw up master project plans, does the necessary studies and analyses, and coordinates a team of operators. Here is an overview of the professional skills required and manufacturers’ expectations, by one of the instructors. AN INTERVIEW WITH BERNARD STERVINOU HEAD OF INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS WITHIN THE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMME IN DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES PROFESSOR AT THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF BREST JEC Composites Magazine: In your opinion, what professional skills are companies looking for in a graduate with a degree in composite materials? Bernard Stervinou: First of all, they need someone who is versatile. We train our students in a comprehensive range of specific technologies so that they will be able to adapt rapidly. Second, they are looking for someone capable of taking on responsibilities. We put a lot of emphasis on this aspect, which can pave the way rapidly to attractive jobs. And third, personal investment. JCM: What do you do to meet these requirements? B. S.: It starts as soon as the students have been selected. We receive many requests, uniquely by word of mouth. The candidates usually have similar profiles: young “sailors” (Brest has a long maritime tradition) ready to throw themselves into their work. In addition to their scholastic record, we also base our selection on this last point. We receive 80-100 applications per year, leading to 40 interviews for a dozen students chosen. We open them up to the aeronautic sector. Our training programme covers the chosen job in detail, and the teaching team tries to awaken or reinforce what we call “Taste, Desire and Pleasure” – in other words, to do what is necessary to create a situation where it is the students who are “pulling” and not the teachers who are “pushing”. We get away from the purely scholastic work to allow initiative and also to get down to the details. In this respect, how much the student invests will depend on the type of project he is working on, so that is crucial. When we give them responsibilities, we expect them to think and to innovate. It is another way to learn – more pragmatic and less scholastic – that is possible only at the undergraduate level. In the way of projects, we can mention 1) a fairly recent project for the “Nijal”, a light aircraft with a selfstiffened fuselage – one-shot infusion moulded – that received a JEC Innovation Award in 2008 [see the “Successful Partners” section in our issue 46] and (2) our challenging new project for the automated Students at work production of wind turbine blades with a “one blade per day” objective, which involves about 10 metric tons of lay up per day. We are currently making a blade section in sandwich construction with integrated functions. JCM: Have you seen changes in demand from companies over recent years? And have you had any recruiting problems? B. S.: Yes, very noticeably. Companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, have constraints that put them under so much pressure, they need to think “short term” and have neither the time nor the means to develop new technologies. Companies are very happy to hire a young graduate with a command of a new technology and who is capable of applying it directly. For this reason, we bank heavily on technological innovation. Contact: bernard.stervinou@univ-brest.fr More information: www.univ-brest.fr Bulkhead prototype made in the IUT of Brest jec composites magazine / No54 January 2010

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #54 - January 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #54 - January 2010