The American Welding Society

disciplines including, inspectors, supervisors, educators, radiographic interpreters, welding engineers, and fabricators. “The largest certifi- cation program is called the Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) program,” Polanin explains. “This program certifies welding inspectors to inspect welds throughout the industry, wheth- er they are on bridges, or on earth moving or construction equipment, or agricultural equip- ment. They inspect the welds for quality.” Since the CWI program was introduced in 1976, AWS has certified over 97,000 welding inspectors alone, plus thousands more working profes- sionals across other certification categories. AWS also supports the educational mission of the AWS Foundation, founded in 1989 to sup- port research and education in welding and related technologies. The Foundation raises funds to support education and research in welding and allied technologies, awarding more than $ $1.8 million in 2018 for under- graduate and graduate scholarships, research fellowships, and grants to graduate students and faculty. The Foundation also works to ad- dress the welder workforce shortage and helps facilitate programs aimed at relieving the nationwide critical shortage of welders. “By 2020, we’d need about 2.5 million man- ufacturing workers because of retirements, and the lack of interest in entering manu- facturing fields,” Polanin says. “Welding has been particularly hit, especially in those areas where a lot of welders are needed. Down in THE AMERICANWELDING SOCIETY