News from the Industry

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The Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2) is excited to be working with a great set of companies and strategic partners in helping support the connections across our innovation ecosystem.

Below, learn about:

• our MI2 Branding Strategy Group Head's recent meeting with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear
• MI2 CEO’s participation in a new fellowship at GLI
• MI2’s participation in UK Innovate’s upcoming Kentucky Innovator Challenge
• EKU's new manufacturing engineering degree program
• KSTC's KY VALOR program
• Secat's new Certificate in Aluminum Metallurgy
• WKU Innovation Campus' CO/CREATE Talent Database
• UK initiatives recovering rare earth minerals
• MIT REAP's Global Innovation Ecosystem Summit
• upcoming workshops at UK's Electron Microscopy Center

• On Wednesday, Feb. 22, MI2 Branding Strategy Group Head Bob Eviston (General Manager, River Metals Recycling) visited Frankfort to meet with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, where he shared updated about progress in the first six months since the formation of the Metals Innovation Initiative. Gov. Beshear committed state funding to MI2 through the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, administered by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation.
• On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Greater Louisville Inc. announced its inaugural class of Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics Fellows. This inaugural class of nine up-and-coming industry leaders includes MI2 CEO Vijay Kamineni. According to GLI, “the cohort connect with industry peers, witness innovation and thought leadership they may not encounter in their daily professions, expand their leadership capacity, and improve their business acumen” throughout this 10-month program, covering topics including automation, electric vehicles, aerospace, e-commerce, added value agriculture, and more. The Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics network at GLI is focused on a mission of supporting sustainable growth in the manufacturing and logistics industries in Greater Louisville.
• On Tuesday, April 11th, UK Innovate–the innovation, entrepreneurship and economic enterprise for University of Kentucky Research–will host its Kentucky Innovator Challenge at the Gatton Student Center on UK’s campus in Lexington. The in-person event will bring together leaders from business, service organizations and higher education for a one-day summit to identify the most pressing challenges facing Kentucky and discuss collaborative solutions through research and innovation–forging new relationships while laying the groundwork for those innovative solutions. We are especially honored that MI2 Board Chair Matt Bedingfield (President of Recycling, Wieland North America) and MI2 Board Member Mike Buckentin (President and CEO, Logan Aluminum) will be featured presenters, sharing the focus of MI2 and laying out an industry challenge to attendees. We hope that many of you involved in the metals innovation ecosystem will sign up to participate in the event. Register here.
• Eastern Kentucky University this month announced the launch of a new manufacturing engineering degree program, the only one of its kind in the state. The program is designed to help close the gap between the growing demand for engineers in the manufacturing field in the state and the number of people graduating college with engineering degrees. According to EKU, “Students pursuing the manufacturing engineering degree will develop skills to design, analyze, and modify the processes and systems used to make products in the most time-efficient, cost-effective way possible while maintaining safety and product quality in an environmentally friendly manner. Students will gain expertise and practical knowledge in the major areas of manufacturing materials and processes, design for manufacturability, lean manufacturing, quality and process control, automation, and robotics.” The program begins this fall. Learn more here.
• As highlighted in Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation President Terry Samuel’s note in this month’s newsletter, one of KSTC’s programs is KY VALOR. KY VALOR (which stands for Kentucky Veterans Accelerated Licensure Occupational Recruitment) is a nonprofit initiative unique to Kentucky that helps veterans capitalize on their military experience to meet career goals. The organization partners with employers throughout the Commonwealth to connect transitioning service members and their spouses across the nation with open job opportunities here. The program was funded by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2022 and seeks to fill open jobs here with licensed, ready to work, committed employees. If any organization has an opening and is looking for a well-qualified, ready-to-work applicant pool, please email valor@kstc.com to get connected. Learn more via the KY VALOR website.
• Secat has launched its new Certificate in Aluminum Metallurgy with a cohort of eight participants, six of whom are from Kentucky aluminum companies. The first course is taking place the week of March 13th, focused on Aluminum Casting. Secat staff will be joined by Dr. Alan Luo of The Ohio State University and David Weiss of Eck Industries for this course, which covers the melting and casting of aluminum alloys, with detailed instruction on both shape casting and ingot casting. The four courses in this certificate program will run over the course of 2023. Secat is a metallurgical research laboratory specializing in aluminum product and process technologies with ISO 17025:2017 certification. It is headquartered at the Coldstream Research Campus at the University of Kentucky. More about them here.
• Western Kentucky University’s Innovation Campus has launched its CO/CREATE Talent Database, which identifies professionals who would like to live and work in WKU’s service region of the state, if they had the career opportunities that allowed them to live in the area. Interested people put their resume and LinkedIn profile link in the database, via the site above. Their information is only visible to a small team, the members of which have all signed NDAs. As opportunities arise in the region for which an individual is qualified, the CO/CREATE team reaches out to the individual and–if they are interested–connects them with the opportunity. The  Learn more via WBKO News.
• The University of Kentucky’s efforts in recovering rare earth minerals is receiving national and international attention. According to The Lane Report, Rick Honaker with UK’s Department of Mining Engineering has, for the past four years, operated a pilot plant in Providence, KY, in the Western Kentucky Coalfields which has developed engineering processes to capture a variety of metals and minerals directly from coal middlings, a byproduct of coal washing and preparation. Learn more about this work in Kentucky and UK’s goal to contribute to the effort to recycle critical minerals for industrial supply chains
• MI2’s partners at the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) are hosting a Global INnovation Ecosystem Summit on August 30th-September 1st, 2023, at MIT. MIT REAP–which directly supported the launch of our partner organization AccelerateKY and has supported us in our thinking as we got MI2 off the ground–extended an invitation in particular to all our partners in the Kentucky metals innovation ecosystem to join the event–which explores the MIT/Kendall Square innovation ecosystem locally and will feature thought leaders from MIT faculty, the MIT REAP Global Network, and elsewhere. Register your interest for the conference here.
• As mentioned in the February 2nd newsletter, the University of Kentucky Electron Microscopy Center is conducting in-person workshops for industrial users over the course of the spring. The 3-4-hour workshops will include a detailed tour of the labs, live demonstrations, and characterization of samples submitted by the attendees. Workshops will be held on the afternoons of Thursday, April 6th; Tuesday, April 25th; and Wednesday, May 24th. Register here. And find more information about the UK Electronic Microscopy Center at their website.