Jack Cousins, a Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering graduate with an Aerospace concentration from Virginia Commonwealth University, completed his degree in December 2025. He began his internship at CCAM in May 2025 as part of the Additive Manufacturing team, gaining hands-on experience in advanced manufacturing processes and engineering workflows.
During his time at CCAM, Jack focused on metal additive manufacturing technologies, strengthening his technical skills while learning to navigate the complexities of industrial engineering environments. His experience provided valuable insight into the process workflows of a leading engineering company and fostered an appreciation for open-mindedness and continuous learning qualities he plans to carry forward into his new role at Dominion and throughout his career.
Jack contributed to several impactful projects during his internship. He completed build preparation tasks, including creating CAD models in Siemens NX for Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) trials and applying optimized part orientations and support structures to reduce distortion, residual stress, and ultimately build risk. He operated the EOS M290 LPBF system using EOSPrint to design controlled anomaly builds to support the assessment of in-situ sensors, evaluating the anomaly detection capability of an in-situ multi-sensor system. Additionally, Jack developed sample preparation procedures for Wire Arc Additive Manufactured (WAAM) components to extract representative samples for defect detection and correlation with in-situ measured anomalies. This work supported the assessment of in-situ monitoring tools for WAAM, including the development of recommendations for in-situ data capture rates and image resolution.
Through these experiences, Jack honed skills in CAD design, metal additive manufacturing process understanding and optimization techniques, metallographic sample preparation and analysis, and technical documentation. He values the collaborative and supportive environment at CCAM, which encouraged him to learn and grow despite entering the internship with a limited background in metal additive manufacturing. Jack plans to recommend CCAM to others who share his passion for learning and innovation.
Outside of his professional work, Jack enjoys spending time with his family especially meaningful since his mother, younger sister, and he were all enrolled at VCU simultaneously in 2024. His hobbies include playing basketball, listening to music, and exploring 3D printing, a newfound interest sparked by his time at CCAM.
