2011 Renewable Energy Workshop- November 10, Wooster, Ohio: The workshop will offer opportunities to discuss and discover the latest sustainable practices and technology. quasar's V.P. of Engineering, Clemens Halene, will be presenting an industry prospective on anaerobic digestion.
ATI Students Find Internships, Jobs in Emerging Energy Sector
Liz Szado was a horse science major at ATI when she decided to apply for an internship with quasar energy group in Wooster because she “didn’t want to go home in the summer.” The Cleveland native’s plan had been to transfer to Ohio State’s main campus upon graduation in 2010. This all changed, however, when she was offered a full-time position with quasar—which runs a green energy research lab and a biogas plant in collaboration with OARDC.
In her time with the company, Szado went from feeding small research digesters to learning from OARDC graduate students how to run the machines and do testing. Although much different than her intended major, she saw the technology as a positive step for
the future with amazing possibilities.
“The digesters take waste products no one else wants and turns them into usable energy,” said Szado, who is now a senior lab technician. “This is the leading edge of technology right now.”
A Cleveland-based company, quasar is the first tenant of OARDC’s
BioHio Research Park, an initiative put into place to commercialize technology with economic development potential. The company has also partnered with ATI to create a renewable energy curriculum to teach students about biomass and conservation technologies.
First as an intern and now as a full-time lab technician, Liz Szado has found a promising career in the green energy sector. “You can’t beat taking waste and turning it into energy and fuel,” she said of her job at quasar.
In addition quasar is offering internships and, sometimes, jobs to current ATI students.
“This partnership (with ATI) allows us to combine agriculture and biological research with an emerging industry in Ohio,” said quasar lab manager Mark Suchan. “The ATI students we have hired have been professional, willing to learn, and have truly contributed to the success of our growing company.”
Arthur Stoller, a second-year dairy science major at ATI, took general employment as a lab technician over an internship because it would not count toward his major. “The (biomass conversion) technology is still immature in the United States, while it is highly developed in Europe, but it has huge possibilities,” he said.
Stoller’s advice to other students: “Although it may not be your career choice, you can learn from any internship and create lasting connections in other industries, which later on may prove to be helpful.”
