Derek Nastasi
So Fayette County is a dead wasteland? Think again! On Tuesday Jan. 22, Mrs. Savini and Mr. Kurek’s classes were treated to the renowned guest speaker, Dr. Dave Meredith. He was here to speak about tech opportunities in Fayette Country and how underrated this area is.
According to Meredith, a professor at Penn State and long-time Fayette County resident, the county is currently flourishing with tech-savvy jobs in the fields of biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, weapons engineering, manufacturing, electrical engineering,and aerospace engineering. Fayette County has an impressive track record when it comes to supplying the nation and even the world.
For mechanical engineering, Dunbar, Pa. is one of three places on Earth where aluminum and steel can be explosively bonded , and it happens up in the Laurel Highlands mountains.
Meredith, a former engineer himself, also stated that every U.S. Navy ship has a Fayette County aluminum-steel strip part. Fayette County purchases so much nickel, that the world price goes up every time. Most of the nickel is used for airplane console shielding from lighting and the parts are imported around the globe. Also, the Apollo 12 space mission had a lunar camera used magnetic shielding made in Fayette County, so Fayette County has made it to the moon.
On the subject of weapons engineering, many defense contractors work in the areas of Fayette County and Pittsburgh such as Boeing, DARPA, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, L3 Technologies, Raytheon, to name a few. Torpedo to torpedo missiles are being designed jointly across the country for the U.S. Armed Forces with the control hub being right in Penn State Fayette Campus. Missile testing around this area is very popular especially the highly cutting edge hypersonic missiles.
Fayette County accomplished something huge in the field of electrical engineering fiber optics, which allows for high-speed Internet. Perryopolis was the first community to have fiber optics installed in 1990 and has pioneered the transition from copper.
Fayette County is a king in manufacturing with Brownsville supplying steel for PNC Park and the Brooklyn Bridge. In Brownsville, the first steel bridge was built, and in Fayette County, the patent for the suspension bridge was made.
Berkley Surgical is the biggest maker of surgical and splash masks probably in the world, so every mask you see on TV is probably from right here in Uniontown.
In Masontown, every licensed NFL jersey with engraving goes to Masontown Trophy and Embroidery. In fact, according to Meredith, during the NFL draft, the company knows two minutes before the nation who is going to be picked so that they can press the name onto the jersey.
Also there is a company called International Liners that made Toyota Truck liners stationed in Fayette County. The fun fact about this is that every Toyota truck made in the world has a bit of Fayette County on them!
It seems that the stereotypes about Fayette County being dead or lacking opportunities are false. There are plenty of jobs in manufacturing, engineering and much more. Before you think about moving across the country for a job because of what you saw in a fake news article or in the hallways, definitely check around in your local areas first because it will surprise you.