Industrial Technology Student Spotlight: Travis Asher

Among the +400 students that graduated last week, industrial technology graduate student Travis Asher was among the many that can immediately apply his graduate work to helping others.

As an industrial automation instructor at the College of the Sequoias, he focused his graduate project on restoring techonology that can be used in industrial process applications.

Read more about the Fresno native and second-generation Fresno State graduate in this recent interview.

 

Q: Why were you drawn to Fresno State and in the industrial technology department?

Asher: "It was a good choice for me to help me become a better college instructor. I had already received my electrical engineering undergraduate degree from Fresno City College, and both of my my parents went to Fresno State. My father graduated with a B.S. in Enology and my mother with a B.S. in Chemistry"

 

Q: Describe your graduate program research project in 2-3 sentences.

Asher: "My graduate program research project is to restore a non-functional educational training system to a working state so that it can be used to teach concepts relating to the automatic control of temperature, level, pressure, and flow. The training system uses either a programmable logic controller (PLC) or PID loop controllers to regulate the analog variables. A large focus of the project is programming a human-machine interface (HMI) application to allow students to observe and analyze process control dynamics and PID tuning methods." 

 

Q: Why did you pick that topic, and how will this help others?

Asher: "I am the instructor for the industrial automation program at College of the Sequoias in Tulare, and my students use training systems like this one in our lab to learn about methods of automatic control used in the manufacturing industry."

 

Q: Which faculty member did you work with?

Asher: "Dr. Arun Nambiar has provided guidance on writing my thesis report and advised me on what areas of my work to emphasize to best convey the various technical aspects of this project."

 

Q: What are some of the most important things you've learned from this research?

Asher: "How to break a large problem down into manageable parts, planning and time management, and creating educational tools for helping students understand industrial processes and closed-loop control systems."

Asher: "This project has provided useful insights into building and programming training systems for hands-on lab exercises to better prepare my students and equip them with the job skills they will need to be successful on the job as manufacturing technicians." 

 

Q: Have you had any internships or part-time jobs, and what types of tasks did you do generally?

Asher: "Yes, I participated in the VIP internship program in 2014 and worked as an engineering intern for International Paper in Visalia and for Allied Electric in Fresno.

Asher: "At International Paper I worked as a project manager and was responsible for a variety of maintenance and energy cost-saving projects. At Allied Electric I traveled throughout the Central Valley assisting with technical sales and support of Rockwell Automation products, which are used in many manufacturing facilities in the region.

Asher: "Upon graduating with my B.S. in electrical engineering I was hired at Allied Electric as an Automation Specialist."

 

Q: What skills or experiences did you gain from the internship that they can apply to your career?

Asher: "Communication of technical concepts, hands-on work experience in a large number of manufacturing facilities in the Central Valley, PLC programming, troubleshooting automated manufacturing systems and industrial networks, assisting with training seminars on Rockwell products, maintenance planning, project management, interacting with vendors and contractors, using enterprise resource planning software in a manufacturing environment, presentation of technical information to industry professionals, and use of CAD software.

Asher: "The VIP program is an amazing opportunity for students in the Lyles and Jordan Colleges. I highly recommend any engineering, industrial technology, or ag majors apply for an internship to gain real-world experience before they graduate. Myself along with most of my peers that took advantage of the program had jobs lined up before graduating."

Asher: "At those locations, I also worked with several Fresno State alumni: Alain Spalard (Allied Electric) and Gurminder Sangha and Kiran Kaur (International Paper)."