Photo by Peter Jakubowski

For Heidi Dugan, every fracture tells a story.

As a co-op employee in Briggs & Stratton’s Materials Laboratory, Dugan got college credit, access to industry experts, broken engine parts and fractured pieces of metal.

“Every assignment was like an investigation,” says Dugan. “You have to find the starting point of every fracture, and from there you can tell what happened to the equipment, why it happened.

“Once you know that story, you look for ways to fix the problem so that it doesn’t happen again.”

Dugan’s own story is similarly matter-of-fact.

She excelled in Advanced Placement physics and chemistry courses in high school. She preferred working in detail to thinking big-picture. A science teacher suggested that Dugan look into materials engineering.

So, as a UWM freshman, Dugan found herself in a class of 25 taught by Wisconsin Distinguished Professor Pradeep Rohatgi, an internationally known researcher and innovator in the field of materials engineering.

“He told anyone who took the class that we could ask questions, seek extra help and get research experience – if we wanted it – on campus,” says Dugan.

By sophomore year, Dugan and fellow Materials majors met regularly to study and defeat one challenge within the Materials curriculum – mathematics – and she was working in UWM’s Center for Composites, directed by Rohatgi. “Working with graduate and Ph.D. students early on in my education, I learned a lot,” says Dugan. “And having a good professional relationship with Dr. Rohatgi really helped me tremendously.”

What she didn’t learn in classes and the Center for Composites, Dugan picked up at Briggs & Stratton and an internship with the Castalloy Corporation in Waukesha, Wis. Dugan heated metals to 1,200 degrees Celsius, altered the chemical composition of alloys and manipulated materials in other ways to determine “how these changes affect mechanical properties.”

At the end of junior year, Dugan moved to Seattle for an internship with the world’s leading aerospace company, Boeing.

As a member of the company’s Corrosion & Inorganic Finishes Group, Dugan worked on commercial aircraft – researching the proper coatings to protect aircraft from rust, corrosion and other conditions that can cause dangerous wear and tear.

She returned to UWM for her senior year of college and a job search. She attended a conference of the Society for Women Engineers, with a stack of updated résumés. She reconnected, via e-mail, with her former managers at Boeing.

“About a week later,” says Dugan, “they told me there was an opening in the Corrosion Group.”

But just two weeks later the opening was filled. By Heidi Dugan.

In between preparing for graduation and packing for an imminent move to Seattle, Dugan took a few moments to dwell on her good fortune.

“A lot of engineering friends, study groups and student organizations, professional relationships and work experience got me exactly where I wanted to be when I graduated from college,” says Dugan.

And, she says, the last four years have given her inspiration to tackle the challenges ahead.

“Working with such brilliant people, people who have been in this industry for 30 years, reminds me of how lucky I am – and the learning curve that’s ahead,” Dugan remarks. “I still have a lot to learn.”