Try using the welding schools locator here at the AWS website. You are most likely to find a community college that offers an AS degree. But, you could get that degree, and then transfer to a school with another BS in Industrial or Mechanical Engineering, and get as many welding credits as possible. It is also possible to take the AWS
CWEng exam without a BS as long as you have enough years of work experience -- but this test is no walk in the park.
http://www.aws.org/w/e/
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ohio State University offers a degree in welding engineering. My guess is they would know of other schools offering such. Lovejoys Guide to colleges at the library should give you answers. I hope this is helpful.
Sincerely
Len Andersen weld@spemail.org
914-536-7101 / 212-839-6599 8-4 New York Time , 4042 FAX , Co-worker 6381 / 914-237-7689 (H)
POB 1529 / NYC 10116-1529 ( $1160 per year Caller Box GPO NYC / Most Secure Service At Largest Post Office )
AWS did a survey of WE schools a few years ago, but I'm not sure if it was published or not. You may want to contact their education department/committee and see if they can pint you in the right direction. I don't recall there being a school in SoCal. I think the closest to you (which really isn't a WE degree, but has a very good welding focused metallurgy program) is the Colorado School of Mines, which is just outside of Denver Colorado.
Im looking for something either metallurgy related or welding related.. The mechanical engineering is pretty cool but Im really into metal haha. Not too much on mechanics. The industrial engineering sounds pretty bad ass though.
What about metallurgy in SO CAL?
your will find a material science program in your area. I believe there are about five schools that offer a welding engineering degree or welding engineering technology degree.
not anything 4 year... cerritos college offers an AS in metallurgy... but UCLA and CAL tech are the only others i can find
Cal Poly in San luis Obispo used to have a metallurgy degree. A friend of mine got one there back in the 60's.
That would be a dream come true, it is so damn nice up there
Cal Poly SLO's metallurgical engineering became the materials engineering department. It's a great program but is not very focused on welding from what I hear.
I wish there was a similar program to OSU in California.
welding engineer here.
The short answer is no, undergraduate WE programs:
Pennsylvania college of technology
Ferris State
Ohio state
Latourneau (called materials joining technology)
Arizona state ( I would have to double check)
That's about it, there's many more schools that have material science or metallurgy type degrees in which you could potentially focus on metal joining however those tend to be much more academic or theoretical degrees in things like grain structure and weld morphology and don't cover the nuts and bolts of making a weld. Of the listed programs Ferrist state and PCT are both "welding engineering technology" degrees and expect you to learn how to weld. Ohio state is a more theoretical degree and the only degree in the nation to actually be called "welding enigneering"
Hope that helps.
*edit* I may have missed a school or two if the programs are newer, this is all the graduates and programs I've heard of in my years as a welding engineer
Hello stranger, don't see you around much.
Just for the record: LeTourneau (Longview, Texas).
Great list though. Top names there.
Have a Great Day, Brent
By Metarinka 
Date 07-02-2013 00:03
Edited 07-02-2013 00:05
My apologies I was hasty to post and didn't spell check, always makes me think of Mary Kay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_Letourneau and yah I don't make it around more, I have no internet or cell phone access at my job so it cuts down on external "research"
I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I have called my self a welding engineer since.
Back in the 70's and 80's they offered a welding technology degree from the school of Engineering.
Curious if there are any fellow ETWT's here?
Kelly
Alot of the classes are done over the web, so people doing distance learning see the same things the students do in the class room. This is supplemented with the audio and power point from the lecture being uploaded to the web so you can review the entire lecture later just as if you were sitting in class. In some classes students were able to ask questions just like they were in the class room. When I was attending, there were some MS students were taking the thesis option and others weren't - unfortunately I don't have much more information on those and I'm not sure what weight it carries in industry. I've yet to run into a MS WE out in the wild yet and I'm on the R&D side of things too.
In my experience it doesn't make a difference, in the end of the day both of the degrees say "M.S. Welding Engineering from THE Ohio State" it's not like one says "online" in the title.
I only know one WE who had an online masters from Ohio state and he was employed in the field and indicated he liked the program. Don't ask my personal opinions about the ohio state program...
What do you want? hands on experience or be book smart with no hands on experience. Ferris State is hands on and Ohio State is book smart. I did Ferris and I don't regret it at all. LMFAO
I did OSU and made sure that when I got out I got a job where I get my hands dirty. No school is going to be able to provide everything, the student has to supplement what the program doesn't provide.
Ive been a welder for 11 years already full time, and have been a CWI for just over a year. I want the book smarts, I want the welding metallurgy! hah
I'll help you get a jump start on that:
You'll want to read this unless you have some background in metallurgy: Callister: Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction
Then follow it up with:
Welding Metallurgy by Sindo Kou
Welding Metallurgy and Weldability of Stainless Steels by John C. Lippold and Damian J. Kotecki
Most metallurgy programs deal with the production of materials in bulk with controlled processes, not the controlled chaos that is welding, so a traditional metallurgy program won't be of much help.
I wrote them down and Ill be sure to get on that thanks!
I want a bachelors cause my job will give me a $20,000 year raise if i have one.. I already have a manufacturing AA but I need more
Thanks again
-J
It also has the possibility to put you into substantial debt. Don't forget the other side of the coin. You might end up getting what you wish for.
I was looking into mechanical engineering at Cal State Fullerton since its right by my house, its about 6K a semester, which is doable... I only need two more years, maybe 2.5. But still a long road.
-J
Once you get a couple schools lined up, but before you enrole, beat on their guidance counselors/admissions people to sit down with you and outline out what classes will transfer over, this way you know what you're getting into. Getting my WE degree took six years because of misalignments between the classes I took at community college and what I needed to have in order to get into the WE program at OSU.
Thats really awesome that you went through with it. If I could go to OSU I would but I know I cant, besides my CWI job which is full time I also teach welding at the local junior college nights, I know I can take what is transferable classes there to catch up for CAL STATE.. I have admissions connection there and also in the engineering department.
-J
don't forget getting life experience for classes where you think you can.
