Meet the first cohort of Amgen alliance workers

Last April, The Ohio State University announced a gift of $2 million received from Amgen Ohio, with one

portion of the funds supporting an integrated workforce and technology development program at the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), which offers both Ohio State and local high school students specialized training on the manufacturing equipment and processes relevant to Amgen. 

This partnership was a natural fit because CDME strives to give students real, hands-on experience by implementing a cutting-edge strategy for workforce development and technology translation and Amgen was looking to prepare students for industrial manufacturing jobs.  

As part of the first cohort of CDME Alliance Workers, Amgen employed 6 student workers. These students are supporting multiple industry projects with the guidance of Amgen sponsors and CDME professionals.  

Meet the first cohort: 

Fourth-year mechanical engineering student Connor Hundley is working with C&Q Documentation Project Management. Connor’s interest in engineering stemmed from his participation in Centerville’s Engineering Career Technical Program where he was given the opportunity to design and build a 15 lb. "battle bot" to compete against other schools. Hundley has worked internships at Triangle Precision Industries, a machine shop in Kettering, OH, and BWI Group, a brake and suspension company in Moraine, Ohio. Both experiences have given him the opportunity to work with exciting innovative technology. Connor is an avid sports fan and has a passion for working on his car, a set of skills that originated from the time spent in the garage working with his father.  

Will Ma will be joining the Business Case Development Tool Project as a third-year Computer Science and Engineering major. He is a research assistant for the Program Management division at CDME and is originally from Chappaqua, New York. In his spare time, Will enjoys reading and watching movies. 

Kelly McCarthy is part of the marketing and communications team at CDME and will be working on the Creation of Amgen’s Written and Video Assets project. Kelly will be a fourth-year business administration major with a specialization in marketing and is also minoring in design thinking. Kelly is the campus director for University Tees and assists with the content creation and upkeep of CDME social media and websites. Kelly’s hobbies include reading and long distance running, with the goal of completing a half marathon by the end of the year. 

Shivam Padole will be working on the Finance and Data Analytics Project as a computer science major with a minor in business. He has interned at Wrap Tite as a sales intern researching, collecting, analyzing data, updating spreadsheets, and generating timely reports. In his time spent throughout his college semesters working at CDME he actively participates in laboratory and facility operations, ensuring the smooth operation of advanced manufacturing equipment. Shivam also provides support to the staff by assisting with mechanical designs and administrative project management tasks. As a sports enthusiast, Shivam enjoys playing tennis and basketball and serves as a tennis coach for children between 7 and 13. He loves the NBA and watching games, analyzing strategies, and following the careers of professional basketball players. He can solve the Rubik's Cube and enjoys the challenge of solving it in the shortest possible time.  

Kathleen Sanchez is a rising senior at Ohio State majoring in math and statistics. She began working as a student accounting assistant with the CDME in May 2022 and will now be helping with the Quality and Data Analytics project at Amgen. Kathleen has worked on projects such as regression models to analyze 2022 COVID data and developing a twitter sentiment analysis model to analyze the emotion of tweets. In her free time, Kathleen likes to draw, read, spend time with friends and family or brush up on her programming knowledge. She is currently learning Python and C#. After graduation, she aspires to work in data analytics or data science. 

Bennett Wettengel, third year mechanical engineering major, began his position as Student Researcher for CDME in October 2022. In this time, he has worked on 2 main projects and will be working on the Business Case Development Tool project with Amgen. Bennett’s first project was designing and manufacturing a beer tap handle for a local Columbus brewing company owned by an Ohio State alumnus. He also helped CDME design a set of new courses to help engineers become more prepared for real world workplaces. Bennett’s hobbies include SCUBA diving, with an advanced certification and over 100 hours of dives and participating in an ultimate frisbee summer League. As a Cincinnati native, he is a huge Cincinnati sports fan and enjoys supporting his teams. 

Repurposed by Kelly McCarthy from Amgen announcement, July 13, 2023