University of North Texas materials science and engineering student, Faith Gantz, recently received the 2018 Finkl Scholarship from the Forging Industry Association.

The scholarship aims to financially help talented students become aware of, work towards and experience the many opportunities that a career in the forging industry holds. 

Gantz is part of the UNT Grad Track program where she is completing her bachelor’s degree and beginning her master’s degree in materials science. The program allows students to complete their bachelor’s and master’s in five years instead of the traditional six. Gantz, who’s also a mother, already has a bachelor’s degree in the fine arts field.

“Balancing being a full-time mom, full-time worker and part-time student proved to me that I need to create more support for our future,” Gantz said. “It took me a few years to evaluate what I really wanted to do and engineering, problem solving and research was the answer.”

Currently, she works as a research assistant under Department of Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Marcus Young. She is working on projects for the Dallas Museum of Art ceramic and metal work collection and high entropy alloys, HEA, research for Forging Foundation.

“Our ultimate goal when collaborating with the DMA is to use scientific analysis on cultural heritage objects to aid the conservators and curators in preservation and provenance,” Gantz said.

Some of the projects Gantz is working on include examining and comparing the foundry, element composition, crystallography of silver plating collections by European artists from the late 19th to early 20th century; examining the green stone and jade collection from Mesoamerica to see how authentic the greenstones were by using nondestructive characterization methods; and using x-rays to obtain an elemental mapping of a painting from the 16th century with sections that are significantly different in painting style.

“Having the undergraduate research experience has given me insight into possible thesis research topics for my M.S. and possible Ph.D.,” Gantz said. “My long-term goals are to improve and maintain quality control in the industry, research for improvement of energy storage and/or data analysis.”