James Votava’s passion for building began as a kid with his legos. When the time came to choose a college major, mechanical engineering felt like the right fit, but his career path was unclear – until he discovered METAL’s Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) internship program.

Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship & Learning (METAL) and FEF partner to address the critical workforce shortage in the casting and forging industry through hands-on learning experiences. As the U.S. faces a pressing need for 122,000 more skilled casting and forging professionals by 2028, this internship program is one way METAL is accelerating the development of a talented, adaptive and prepared manufacturing workforce. Bringing awareness to opportunities in metalcasting is the critical first step. Today, more than 24 FEF interns from 10 universities have worked on real-world casting, forging and plate rolling projects while gaining access to networking opportunities that shape their careers.

Votava, a 2025 graduate from Georgia Southern University, said the first time he saw a molten metal pour at an FEF open house, he was hooked. He started working with Dr. Mingzhi Xu, associate professor of mechanical engineering, who showed him what was possible when he combined his engineering skills with the art of metalcasting.  

“You design and bring your own metal creation to life,” Votava said. He began regularly attending meetings at his university’s foundry and decided metallurgy was the career he wanted to pursue. “I stuck with it and loved what I did. I realized this is something I would enjoy doing in the future.”

Turning Up the Heat on Metalcasting

After discovering the FEF program in 2021, Votava found new inspiration at the foundry. Collaborating with Xu and fellow casters-in-training empowered Votava to experiment, apply his ingenuity, and find solutions to unsolved problems. 

His proudest moment was designing and manufacturing a new slurry mixer for his foundry group. Slurry, or the mixture of refractory powder, binding material, and carrier liquid used to create a metalcasting mold, must be combined slowly to avoid clumps. When GSU’s mixer needed an upgrade to hold and move more slurry, Votava was eager for the challenge. 

“It was hands-on, and I was a freshman working on an actual engineering project,” Votava said. “Other people’s ideas helped me a lot, but that was something I worked on solely by myself and seeing it complete made me very proud.”

Thanks to the paid opportunities and scholarships provided by FEF, Votava spent his summers focused on projects like the slurry mixer, learning the pour process, and supporting his classmates’ metalcasting projects. He also participated in non-destructive iron tests, which used resonance frequencies, or natural vibration rates, to determine possible defects in metal materials. This research could help foundries avoid critical imperfections in ductile iron (commonly used in transportation, infrastructure, and heavy machinery) in the future.

“On the show ‘Forged in Fire,’ it looks like you just pour or hit out molds, and that’s not all [metalcasting] is – it’s more engineering,” Votava said. “I don’t think people understand you can create anything.” 

Votava carried this innovative mindset with him into his FEF internship, and it powered a strong start to his career. In 2024, Votava and GSU’s metalcasting team came in first place at the American Foundry Society Southeast Regional Conference student competition. He also engineered a side cradle for the B-17 machine gun turret for another AFS conference. 

Thanks to the skills, experiences, and connections Votava made through FEF, he believes the sky’s the limit for his career—and he shares the possibilities of metalcasting with younger students. When GSU won a Foundry Educational Foundation grant to build Foundry In A Box kits for local high schools, Votava helped lead the kit-building efforts. 

“I enjoyed this opportunity because a lot of students don’t know about metalcasting. It’s really cool that through FEF we can reach out to these kids and then hopefully continue their interest when we graduate and get jobs,” he said.

Beginning his career is Votava’s next adventure.

Firing Up New Opportunities

Since graduating, Votava has accepted a job with C&H Precision Weapons in his hometown of Richmond Hill, GA. He’ll be able to apply everything he’s learned with FEF – from a deeper understanding of different metal properties to CAD simulations and metallurgy best practices – to the design and manufacturing of special projects in the firearms industry.

Votava credits this opportunity to Xu, his mentor and metalcasting professor, as much as to his FEF experience. If there’s one thing he could say to FEF’s sponsors and professors, it would be thank you. 

“I am so grateful for this opportunity and FEF’s scholarships,” Votava said. “Without them, I would have needed another job instead of learning and researching with Dr. Xu. Instead, I’ve been able to focus on my academics, which has helped me get internships and jobs.”

Even though his next career move won’t be to a foundry, Votava isn’t giving up on that dream – a dream he didn’t know existed when he started college.

“Without FEF and Dr. Xu, I’d be going through life without knowing what metalcasting is,” he said. “FEF is helping younger generations discover an interest in something they might not have expected, learn hands-on skills, and then pass this knowledge down. Without these programs, metalcasting skills will be lost.” 

His advice for up-and-coming metallurgists? Don’t give up and ask for help. 

“A lot of freshmen get discouraged when they first start. Some things are hard to make, but if you have an idea, try to make it a reality,” Votava said. “You can create whatever you want if you put in the effort – and the foundry will help you along the way.”