OSU-Tulsa students gain practical industry knowledge during Webco Tubing Technology Center tour

OSU-Tulsa students gain practical industry knowledge during Webco Tubing Technology Center tour

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Media Contact: Aaron Ross Campbell | OSU-Tulsa Communications Coordinator | 918-899-4960 | [email protected]

Recently, a graduate student class from Oklahoma State University-Tulsa's Materials Science and Engineering program had a chance to tour Webco Tubing's new Technology Center in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

The visit gave students a unique opportunity to connect classroom learning with real-world applications in advanced manufacturing.

The tour, which lasted roughly three hours, showcased the facilities and offered a lens into how destructive and non-destructive testing methods help prevent costly industrial failures.

"It is important for students to see that what they are learning is not just in textbooks or labs, but also widely used in real-world industries," said Dr. Feng Lu, OSU research scientist and Core Labs manager at OSU-Tulsa's Helmerich Research Center (HRC). "Many of these skills are things they can apply on the first day of their job. We truly appreciate our industry partners like Webco Tubing for opening their facilities, testing labs and R&D labs to OSU students."

Two students from the Practical and Case Studies of Advanced Materials Characterization Techniques class, Bryston Smith and Ahmed Abdelrahmana, toured the facilities alongside Lu.

"The tour helped us see how materials characterization and testing techniques from research are applied in industry," Abdelrahmana said. "Many of the methods we use at the HRC are routinely used at Webco for developing better materials for oil and gas drilling, mining and other applications. It really changed my mindset about the techniques we study.

"Everyone we met, from the front desk to the engineers, was welcoming and passionate about their work, which made the visit even more valuable. I came away with a much deeper understanding of the practical side of materials science."

The tour is part of OSU-Tulsa's ongoing effort to provide students with hands-on, experiential learning opportunities that connect academic knowledge with industry practice, preparing them for impactful careers in engineering and technology.

"I found that it was an inspiring experience, showcasing how materials science is applied in real-world manufacturing," Smith said. "I found their R&D, Metallurgical and Corrosion research labs to be extremely impressive and a truly remarkable display of how research and industry work together."

Not only do industry partnerships like this one help students in the HRC gain a hands-on, practical understanding of their studies, they also help students make important professional connections with local industry leaders.

Webco TechCenter Manager Tucker Melvin highlighted the value of industry-university collaboration.

"We always welcome OSU faculty and students to tour our facilities," Melvin said. "This empowers both sides through knowledge and information sharing about cutting-edge tools and technologies. We have worked with HRC Core Labs on several projects in the past and are currently collaborating on two more. This kind of partnership strengthens education, research and workforce development."

The OSU School of Materials Science and Engineering is located at OSU-Tulsa's HRC, a state-of-the-art research, development, testing and education facility that is also home to the OAIRE LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility and other industry partnerships similar to this one.

HRC faculty provide research, testing, technology transfer and education to advance the region's aerospace, energy, manufacturing, transportation, electronics and medical industries. HRC faculty help inspire students with an entrepreneurial spirit, focusing on taking research from the lab to the marketplace.

To learn more about Materials Science and Engineering programming, visit the webpage on the OSU-Tulsa website.