Mar 05 2025 67 mins 4
This episode of The Fabricator Podcast features an interview with Professor Jo Mackiewicz, an English professor at Iowa State University who also happens to be a welder.
Mackiewicz discusses her research on communication and learning in the welding and fabrication trades, as well as her experience working part-time at Howe's Welding & Metal Fabrication, a small job shop in Ames, Iowa. She shares her insights on women working in metal fabrication, insights on the challenges of learning a skilled trade like welding, the importance of mentorship and support for underrepresented groups in the trades, and her plans to start her own welding shop.
The also conversation explores the disconnect between the academic and "hands-on" worlds, and how Mackiewicz's experience in the fabrication industry has made her a more well-rounded individual.
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