Mechanical engineering major receives David Laine scholarship two years in a row

By Faith Fegley
English ’25

Dakota Carter, a junior mechanical engineering major at Trine University, has received the David Laine scholarship from the North American Die Casting Association for two consecutive years.

The David Laine scholarship was established in 1975 in honor of David Laine, an instrumental person in the advancement of die casting. The program is open to full-time undergraduate students with majors relating to the die casting industry, meaning their major must be related to the manufacturing process where molten metal is injected into a mold cavity under high pressure.

Students must also have had at least three months of work experience in die casting in the last 12 months.

“I come from a family full of engineers and always knew I wanted to be an engineer too,” stated Carter in regard to his path in die casting. “My experiences in my high school [Project Lead The Way] and science classes helped me choose mechanical as my specialization… My interest and participation in the die casting industry first led me to apply to this scholarship program.”

Given that students must have work experience in the field, Carter further spoke of his professional experience in die casting.

“I had the opportunity to intern for Aludyne, an aluminum die casting company in Auburn, for multiple summers now,” continued Carter. “My experience there has been very positive…My supervisor first mentioned the [David Laine scholarship and internship] program to me last year, and this year he mentioned it again as we got closer to the start of the semester.”

Carter went on to say how receiving the scholarship will help him in completing his education at Trine.

“This scholarship will help me complete my education at Trine obviously by reducing some of my financial burden,” said Carter. “It will also allow me to have an easier time when applying for future internships. I believe that internships provide a very important real-world aspect to our college experience. Having a scholarship like this one, which is prominent in the metal casting industry, will be nice when I am applying to jobs at other casting companies and suppliers.”

Carter additionally mentioned how his experience at Trine has benefitted him, particularly in his internship and scholarship application experience.

“Trine specifically will benefit me as I pursue my career goals because it will give me a better hands-on experience with concepts from the classroom than I could get anywhere else,” stated Carter. “I could have [gone] anywhere to learn the science, but from what I have seen and heard, there aren't many better schools for learning how to actually apply that in real-world situations.”