Alcoa Informational Interview

1. Donald R. Smith
2. Senior Technical Specialist
3. I first contacted Dr. Smith through email to ask when he’s be available and then I contacted him by phone and had a phone interview for about 20 minutes.
4. Alcoa Inc., a sector of Dow Jones
5. Takeaways:

• I learned that in creating a new product for a company or client, the marketing employees act as the “voice of the customer” and work closely with the research and development employees, which know about the industry very well, to create a new product.
• That government incentives to switch over to renewable energy will not really affect the transition all that much. If companies find renewable energy for cost effective than the transition will happen without the government’s help. Sometimes the incentives to switch will end up hurting companies more because non-renewable energy may be less costly than renewable ones for companies.
• The oil industry will not really disappear, the time for oil is right now, but a slow transition to renewable energy will occur if companies use it more as it becomes more cost effective. That is the major dependent in the switch to renewable energy.
I really learned quite a lot from Dr. Smith. Alcoa is diving into technology for the energy industry including lighter equipment for underwater oil drilling and also in renewable energy, such as the brand new design for a solar panel. To look at the solar panel (it is really cool), go to this website http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/innovation/info_page/home.asp and click on the "Bright Ideas" picture and look at the pictures on the side of the page. Look at how big it is, the second picture has people standing next to it. It's ridiculous. - Caitlin McGonnigal