Nancy C. Cole

President, NCC Engineering

Education

• B.S. 1963, Metallurgical Engineering, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• M.S. 1988, Metallurgical Engineering, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Nancy Cole was the first female to graduate from UT with a degree in metallurgical engineering, the first female to graduate from the co-op program, and the first female to receive the Nathan W. Dougherty Award. Cole has spent more than a decade in research and development and another 17 years in fabrication, non-destructive evaluation, and repair. She began her career as a researcher in the corrosion of materials at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and later joined the Welding and Brazing Lab at ORNL.

Cole then worked for ABB Combustion Engineering (CE) in Chattanooga for 17 years where she worked on the development of welding electrodes, submerged arc fluxes, and flux cored wire to build and repair components for the power industry. While with CE, she also worked in marketing for the metallurgical laboratory and was promoted to contract manager. Upon the sale of CE, Cole returned to ORNL as the Fossil Energy Materials Program Manager before retiring and forming her own company, NCC Engineering.

In 2008, Cole was elected national vice president of the American Welding Society (AWS), and in 2013 she will become the President of AWS, the second woman to hold this position. She serves as chair of the National Science Foundation grant awarded to AWS and college and industry participants to develop model curricula for welding technicians in community colleges and technology institutes. She served as the Chair of the National Visiting Committee of Weld-Ed, and her term has since ended. She has participated in accreditation audits of Welding Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, and Materials Science programs of several universities.

Cole is an AWS Fellow, internationally known for her pioneering work on corrosion resistance of brazed joints. She has published over 35 papers on brazing and corrosion of brazed joints, welding metallurgy of stainless steels, and refractory metals. She has received the UT Outstanding Alumna Award, was named Outstanding Tennessee Woman by the UT Panhellenic Council, and received the Chattanooga Jaycees Young Woman Award. Additionally, she and her husband established the Nancy and Leon Cole Outstanding Teacher Award, which UT has annually awarded for over 20 years.

Cole is a registered Professional Engineer in Tennessee and serves as a member of the Tickle College of Engineering’s Board of Advisors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her previous affiliations include serving on the Welding Research Council’s Research Committee as a member of the AWS Board of Directors, the National Research Council’s Materials Advisory Group for Marine Board, and the National Materials Advisory Board’s Advanced Joining Committee.