MY BEYOND THESE TOWERS STORY

L to R, Keith Gigliotti ’96, Brett Carbonneau ’18, Nathan Alvord ’16, Vince Tanguilig ’21, Karina Naras ’19

As a WPI education is built on the founding tenets of theory, practice, and impact, it’s no surprise WPI alumni have found their way to Boston Metal. The company which began as a small group of visionary researchers, engineers, and metallurgists currently employs over 100 professionals — including six WPI alumni.

Selected from almost 16,000 nominations from 93 countries, Boston Metal recently earned the 2023 North American Company of the Year award by the Cleantech Group. Working to decarbonize one of the largest industrial sources of CO2 emissions — steelmaking, the award recognizes the strength of Boston Metal’s Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE) technology to lower carbon emissions in the steel industry.

When asked about earning the highly coveted award, Brett Carbonneau ’18 says, “There will be many new technologies, products, and processes needed to meet carbon dioxide reduction goals, but it feels great to be working on a technology that will hopefully one day be part of the solution.”

The mechanical engineer helps to scale up the various ferroalloy and steel cells (aka furnaces) at Boston Metal by designing refractory layouts and furnace components, assisting with cell assembly, and assisting with failure analysis. He offers that his WPI education played an important role in his career, saying “WPI’s project-based learning program, especially the Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) and Major Qualifying Project (MQP) gave me not only valuable mechanical engineering knowledge, but also helped me to develop team collaboration, leadership, and problem-solving skills.”

Likewise, Operations Engineer, Vincent Tanguilig ’21 is happy to be part of the climate crisis solution. “I believe that Boston Metal could make a significant change to the historically dirty process of producing various alloys, which is what brought me to the company, and drives me to continue supporting the mission. I am satisfied that I have such an important cause to support, and I hope to make a lasting impact on our collective carbon footprint.”

The biomedical engineering major/mechanical engineering minor helps build and operate production cells to purify metals using the MOE method and offers gratitude to WPI for preparing him to work effectively with multiple inter-disciplinary teams. “At WPI, I especially valued the project-based learning on various and varied teams, because it helped me develop effective communication and collaboration skills.” Adding, “WPI gave me ample background knowledge in materials science, chemistry, machine work, and technical skills, which allows me to contribute in a meaningful way to my job alongside like-minded coworkers.”

Cell engineering team member Nathan Alvord ’16 echoes his colleagues, saying. “Working at Boston Metal enables me to be one more mind addressing climate change. Whether I’m designing catwalks or actuated assemblies, I am contributing my skills towards improving the well-being of humanity.” The mechanical engineering major also recognizes the role WPI played in his career. “I draw a lot from what I learned at WPI; electrical engineering, material properties knowledge, manufacturing insight, it’s all applicable here. Also, the high number of team-based projects at WPI really helped prepare me for my role. Collaborating on a design in a group happens every day on the job, and having experience physically building things I design is invaluable.”

Advanced Automation and Systems Engineer, Karina Naras ’19 works to both improve the company’s existing systems as well as help to build new more efficient and operator-friendly systems. Discussing the company’s most recent environmental award, Naras says “The need for steel isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Wind turbines, solar panels, green buildings… all these things have the ability to improve the state of our rapidly deteriorating world, but they also require steel. Currently, nearly 10% of global CO2 emissions come from steel production. The MOE technology being developed at Boston Metal will tackle those emissions right at the source, eliminating the need for the blast furnaces that produce up to three metric tons of CO2 per ton of steel.”

Acknowledging the role WPI plays in her career, the robotics engineering major says, “WPI’s focus on project-based learning gives students many opportunities to work on interdisciplinary teams. That experience has been invaluable for my work at Boston Metal. As we’re a relatively small start-up company, I work with different types of scientists and engineers daily, as well as vendors, technicians, supply chain and procurement people, and contractors. It is imperative for me to be able to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds, and my time at WPI, particularly my IQP, was good practice.”