Wife, mother and Airman Savana Ohlenburger has always led a life of service. After years of exploring careers in healthcare, she decided it was time to pursue her lifelong dream — joining the United States Air Force. Today, 2nd Lt. Ohlenburger supports the nation’s defense and munitions manufacturing with training from METAL. 

Ohlenburger, 33, had no metalcasting experience when she applied to the Air Force’s Officer Training School. But growing up with two chiropractor parents sparked her love of science and helping people — interests that followed her like a tailwind throughout her career. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management, Ohlenburger pursued medical school and later became a massage therapist. However, neither path felt like the right fit.

She’d always dreamed of becoming an Air Force doctor. With encouragement from her husband, Zackary — an Army Reserve welder — she realized it wasn’t too late to aim high and forge a new future for her family, even if it wasn’t through medicine. 

“I was looking for a career,” Ohlenburger said. 

It turned out the Air Force was looking for Ohlenburger’s skills, too. 

“They mostly accept engineers,” she said. Ohlenburger applied to officer school twice before a supplemental board reevaluated her qualifications and accepted her. “A supplemental board was like, ‘Wait a minute, we need more than engineers this time around.’”

More than a year later, Ohlenburger is a project manager in the Air Force’s Attack Munitions Branch. Or, as she likes to joke, a professional “cat herder.” But instead of cats, she’s wrangling some of the nation’s top materials science engineers and metallurgists.

Cat Herding and Metalcasting

Led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, with funding from the Department of War’s IBAS Program, METAL equips industry professionals, career seekers and students with the metalcasting and forging skills to strengthen American manufacturing. By 2033, nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs could be available in the U.S. without sufficient talent to fill them, directly affecting the nation’s ability to meet defense and supply chain needs.

President Donald Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy underscores this urgency, emphasizing that America’s industrial base is essential to both peacetime and wartime readiness. “Cultivating American industrial strength must become the highest priority of national economic policy,” the president wrote in the report.

Ohlenburger and her team are key to this mission. In her role, she manages production development across engineers, milling operators and foundries — helping build aircraft and weapons that protect the U.S. in hostile airspace. But without an engineering background, Ohlenburger faced a steep learning curve. Suddenly, she had to decipher metallurgical acronyms, understand materials inside a fighter jet, and track the science behind quality testing.

“I had no clue what the names of different tests meant, so I didn’t know when they failed,” Ohlenburger explained. 

She quickly realized she needed to understand how metal behaves to answer questions like: How is it reacting? Does it meet the right material properties? Will this batch of parts perform in a specific weapons system? Are the components built to spec and meeting safety standards?

“It all comes down to understanding what the subject matter experts are talking about,” she said. “They’re very technical, and I’m supposed to be the big picture person.” 

Only months into her role as project manager, Ohlenburger knew she’d need a stronger foundation in metal manufacturing to pilot her team smoothly. When she learned about METAL’s metallurgy bootcamp, she jumped at the chance. Ohlenburger completed the free, self-paced online training and traveled to Penn State University for a hands-on foundry experience. 

Fueling Excellence in U.S. Defense

For four days, Ohlenburger learned the fundamentals of designing, melting and pouring a metal cast. She transformed solid bronze into a medallion and cast aluminum into her own stein — all while absorbing the terminology her colleagues use every day. Holding ladles filled with molten metal brought manufacturing to life far beyond spreadsheets and reports.

“My favorite activity was when we melted and poured bronze,” she said. “It was really entertaining, partially because liquid metal is so cool, but they let us actually pour it, and feeling the weight difference between aluminum and brass was shocking.”

Penn State Associate Professor Dr. Paul Lynch said his ultimate goal is to spark interest in the metal industry. During the four-day bootcamp, Lynch and his colleagues guide participants through the entire manufacturing process — from designing a 3D mold to sanding a finished casting they can take home.

“When we teach design and modeling, they’re designing exactly what they’ll make in the laboratory,” Lynch explained. “It’s an action packed four days and incredibly hands-on.” METAL also offers advanced bootcamp like Sand Science and Digital Technologies and can host private sessions for government organizations. 

The most valuable part of the experience for Ohlenburger was being mentored by metallurgists and connecting with engineers. She asked questions directly related to her team’s challenges and returned to the office with the knowledge to inspire innovative solutions.    

“I didn’t realize how useful the information was until I got back,” Ohlenburger admitted. “Now when I’m in meetings, I can say, ‘Yes, I remember that.’ I know what things are now.”

Testing Toughness, Building Confidence

After pouring red-hot metal into new creations, Ohlenburger explored quality testing — a core part of her team’s work on world-class weaponry and advanced aircraft. She used hardness machines to press dents into cast metal, pulled steel apart in a tensile test to find its breaking point, and ran a Charpy test to measure how much energy a sample absorbs when struck by a swinging hammer.

“It’s like baking a batch of cookies,” Ohlenburger said about metal production. “You can use the exact same recipe, and it still comes out a little different.” Thorough materials testing before, during and after casting helps maintain the Air Force’s high standard of performance, she added.    

Thanks to METAL, Ohlenburger not only understands which tests every aircraft component undergoes — from the wings to missiles to landing gear — but what those results mean. She can see the full picture, connecting every step of munitions production to ensure each part is ready for mission success.

Winning With Metallurgy 

Ohlenburger says the best part of her job is teaming up with the metallurgists and engineers building the world’s greatest Air Force. But that doesn’t mean every day is smooth flying.

“When you get into super technical fields, the subject matter experts are great, but it’s like asking a calculus teacher to explain addition,” she joked. “Sometimes you get someone who understands the question, and other times you get someone who’s been high level for so long they can’t remember how to explain it.”

 

Now, whether she’s brainstorming the next defense innovation or juggling project timelines and budgets, METAL has given Ohlenburger the confidence to help lead the conversation — not just follow it. That kind of training, Lynch said, is exactly what the nation needs. Empowering defense professionals like Ohlenburger while reigniting American metal manufacturing isn’t just smart — it’s essential to the country’s security and future.

“At the heart of our defense are casting, forging and metal rolling industries. We gave our knowhow and facilities away, and we need to train people and get the knowhow back,” Lynch said. “If we do not bring back manufacturing to this country, we are in serious trouble.”

For Ohlenburger, she’s finally found a career where science, leadership and service go hand-in-hand. As her mentors encourage her to aim even higher — in her metal expertise and in her service to the nation — she’s more than ready for the climb.

Ready to help forge America’s future? Register for our free online training then visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp near you.