Alumni Engagement Medal Award 2022
President, Electro-Mechanical Products, Inc (EMP)
Lakewood, Colorado
Career Path
Dave Wolenski (MechEngr’83) is currently Co-owner and President of Electro-Mechanical Products (EMP). EMP manufactures precision-machined components and thermal management systems used in the semiconductor, medical, laser, and commercial/high-tech sectors. Prior to that role, he was a Division President for JOT Automation and the President and CEO of OZO Automation. He has dedicated his career to roles that combine his outstanding leadership and management skills with a passion for the technical side of engineering. He was an inaugural member of the Mechanical Engineering Strategic Advisory Board and continues to serve as an integral part of that advisory team. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member teaching manufacturing courses at both the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado School of Mines.
Contributions to you the Mechanical Engineering Department over the past year
Wolenski is an all-star volunteer in every sense of the word. He volunteers a lot and is also always extraordinarily thoughtful in the way that he contributes his time and expertise to the department. During Fall 2021, he served on two different hiring manager panels for our Mechanical Engineering as a Profession course. Through the panels, he provided insight on the hiring process from a manager’s perspective and thoughtfully answered the students’ questions on a wide range of topics. As part of ME Alumni Connect Day he served on an additional panel in a Thermodynamics course, lending his expertise related to thermal management devices to a conversation about practical, career-related applications of thermodynamics. Through the same event, he volunteered as a mock interviewer working individually with students to refine their interviewing skills and prepare for their first internship search. Going back to Fall 2020, Wolenski was instrumental in implementing a hands-on Manufacturing class in the midst of COVID. He served as a co-instructor for the class and also made use of EMP’s resources to provide the class with supplies for their labs. Examples of supplies he donated were custom-machined aluminum plates for a GD&T lab and hundreds of specimens for a heat treating lab. He is also a pro at understanding that a big part of the draw in an ME degree for many students is being able to see and touch their work, so he brought in additional samples from EMP throughout the semester to help make the material real for the students.