Photo Credit: Winona State University

Greg Bond (Structural Engineer-Chatfield) was recently invited by Winona State University’s engineering department to present as part of a U.S. composite consortium to visiting government officials from Basque, Spain. During his presentation, Greg was able to illustrate how composites materials are able to address some of the complex issues facing the chemical, energy, industrial and infrastructure sectors.

These government individuals visited multiple businesses and university labs to understand how Minnesota schools and businesses interact and plan for economic development. The goal of this second trip was to learn of new market opportunities and ideas to build future collaborative partnerships. Currently a quarter of Basque’s GDP output stems from industries supporting aeronautics, high-speed rail, and automotive manufacturing.  As these industries face design challenges, so do their needs in sourcing advanced manufacturing materials such as composites.

Photo Credit: Winona State University

Since 1989, Winona State University has established itself as a composite industry hub within the country. WSU is the only accredited undergraduate program in the U.S. that offers a Bachelor of Science degree in composite engineering.  Its program’s success can be directly attributed to COMTEC, which is a national composite testing center.

Winona State’s engineering department has always prepared its students with real world industry applications by working with partners such as South Central College, RTP, Natural Process Design, Plasticomp, and Wenonah Canoe to provide internships and employment once students are familiar with the designs, analysis, materials, testing and prototype composite manufacturing.