Past Winners

A senior at the Francis College of Engineering/Honors College, David anticipates graduating with a Bachelors of Plastics Engineering degree in Spring 2021. He is a member of the Dean’s List, and the Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honors Society, whose members are in the top four percent of the College.

David has experience as a research assistant on two teams: one which worked to recycle a natural polymer, chitin, into lucrative byproducts, and another that worked to implement closed-loop process control into the FFF 3D printing apparatus. During the summer of 2020, he interned at SMC, Ltd, where he learned about injection molding machines, new process development, mold maintenance, and mold design. During the Fall of 2019, David interned at the Haartz Corporation, where he learned about tooling design, new material development, additive compounding, and twin-screw extrusion.

In January 2020, David co-founded UML3D, the university’s first 3D printing club where he currently serves as co-president. His club led a massive fundraiser that funded a club-wide marathon of producing thousands of articles of PPE for local nurses, special education teachers, and other essential workers. They recently upgraded their designs using laser cutting to create higher quality face shields using extruded sheets of polycarbonate instead of their previous design of vinyl.

David is a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), the New England Rubber and Plastics Group (NERPG), the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the ACS Rubber Division. He is also a youth soccer high school league coach and a UMass Lowell Intramural Sports Team Captain (Soccer, Frisbee, Handball, Volleyball, Basketball).

David’s extracurricular engineering projects have been driven by his interest in 3D printing. He currently owns two printers: a Prusa i3 Mk3 and an Anycubic Photon. David has developed a series of open-source assistive devices for his cousin, which included adaptive Xbox controllers and simple prosthetics that form a specific purpose. He is currently designing complex exoskeleton prosthetics that will utilize the user’s own hand and fingers while running on input signals. David has a design that uses a keypad and is currently working on one that will use a brain-computer interface.

Antonia is a senior studying chemical engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. She is completing her thesis, conducting research on plasticizers. Antonia first encountered the coatings industry through a co-op with BASF where she assessed paint quality on automobiles. After observing the myriad of things that can go wrong with the final product, Antonia wanted to learn more and interned at PPG in the dispersions and pigments evaluation lab. During her time there, she worked on U.S. Department of Energy test models for dispersion quality using different resin technology. This experience has fueled her desire to become a coatings engineer.

At Kettering, Antonia serves as the vice president of Student Government and president of the International Club, and has held various leadership roles in the Plastics Engineering Club. Last year, Antonia participated in the 2018 SPE Thermoforming Conference RC Car Race Competition.

Laryssa is a senior studying plastics engineering, and she plans to graduate in December 2020. She has served as president of the SPE and SWE (Society of Women Engineers) student chapters since May 2018.

Laryssa held three internships with Medtronic: two in an operations environment with the third completed in a materials research and development group. During the summer of 2020, she worked as a virtual intern, researching sustainable packaging materials for current and future packaging assemblies. Laryssa developed action plans to implement material alternatives for future packaging components and facilitated national communication between packaging teams for project coordination and planning.

During her second internship, Laryssa worked as a feedthroughs intern in a manufacturing facility. She developed value stream maps for the use of precious metals to identify improvement projects and cost savings opportunities. She also coordinated and facilitated Kaizen events and promoted continuous improvement principles and the use of lean manufacturing tools to operators on the first and second shifts. Laryssa also developed a new precious metals reclaim procedure to reduce operational costs and scrap.

During her first internship with Medtronic, Laryssa worked as an injection molding intern, where her main project involved increasing capacity on an injection molding press by an additional eight hours per week by qualifying a duplicate mold for production. Her efforts also reduced overtime labor costs by at least $30K annually by cross qualifying a mold to increase manufacturing flexibility. In addition, she led confirmation runs on a molding press to enable cross-qualifications resulting in increased labor efficiency.

At the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Laryssa worked as injection molding and thermoforming research assistants. As a thermoforming research assistant, Laryssa conducted several DOEs to determine optimal thermoforming conditions for multi-layer co-extruded films. She normalized heating time per micron required for varying film thicknesses to determine heat times for films and verified heat transfer calculations by using a professional thermal imaging camera to record films as they reached and exceeded their glass transition temperatures.
Laryssa also served as a manufacturing team member with 3M Fall Protection where she was responsible for coordinating cross-functional team involvement to assemble a variety of fall protection systems across several departments.

Lexington Peterson is a senior at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. She is a double-major in plastics engineering technology and polymer chemistry.

During the summer of 2020, Lexington was employed as a Process Engineer Intern at iMFLUX, a subsidiary of Procter and Gamble. During the school year, Lexington is actively involved in the Society of Plastics Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, American Chemical Society, Honors College Association, Student Government Association, Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority, Panhellenic Council, Advancement Ambassadors, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Student Sustainability Fund Committee.

Sidney is a senior studying for a B.S. in plastics and polymer engineering and technology with minors in business administration and marketing. She has an overall GPA of 4.0, and expects to graduate in May 2021. Sidney has been on the Dean’s List since December 2017, and a member of the Alpha Chi Honors Society since April 2019.

During the summer of 2019, Sidney was a process engineer intern at Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials where she worked with engineering plastics in compression molding and in ram extrusion and gained experience with SolidWorks. Prior to that, Sidney gained working experience with FTIR, DSC, TGA, microhardness testing, and other equipment as a materials engineer intern at Case New Holland Industrial. She also conducted material identification and failure analysis of plastics, elastomers and paints, and completed reports on her findings.

In addition to her academic achievements, Sidney is a student member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, a THON Board Member, and a former NCAA Division III Cross-Country Athlete. She was also a member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee from 2017-2019, and was previously named Penn College Athlete of the Week and Northeastern Athletic Conference Runner of the Week. Active in the Penn College community, Sidney is a research assistant at the Plastics Innovation and Resource Center (PIRC), and a fitness center student assistant.

Samuel Bliesner received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University in May 2015. During his undergraduate career, Sam served as a co-op at the DuPont site in Richmond, Virginia, performing research in the Kevlar® business area. This work experience introduced Sam to, and sparked his interest, in the polymers industry.

Upon graduation in 2015, Sam returned to Richmond as a contracted reliability engineer in the DuPont Kevlar® pulp business area. After a short time in industry R&D, Sam decided to pursue his PhD. He is currently beginning his fourth-year of graduate school at Tulane University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Under the guidance of Dr. Julie Albert, his research focuses on control of semicrystalline polymer thin film morphology via solvent vapor annealing. His career interests include industry research, intellectual property law, and consulting.

Haven is a senior studying for a B.S. in Plastic and Polymer Engineering Technology and expects to graduate in the Fall of 2019. Since May 2017, he has held an internship with Consolidated Container Company in Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he has executed 5s plans and performed process validations.

Antonia is a senior studying chemical engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. She is completing her thesis, conducting research on plasticizers. Antonia first encountered the coatings industry through a co-op with BASF where she assessed paint quality on automobiles. After observing the myriad of things that can go wrong with the final product, Antonia wanted to learn more and interned at PPG in the dispersions and pigments evaluation lab. During her time there, she worked on U.S. Department of Energy test models for dispersion quality using different resin technology. This experience has fueled her desire to become a coatings engineer.

At Kettering, Antonia serves as the vice president of Student Government and president of the International Club, and has held various leadership roles in the Plastics Engineering Club. Last year, Antonia participated in the 2018 SPE Thermoforming Conference RC Car Race Competition.

Lexington Peterson is a junior at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. She is a double-major in plastics engineering technology and polymer chemistry.

This summer, Lexington is employed in a sustainability-oriented REU program (Research Experiences for Undergraduates, funded by the National Science Foundation) at the University of Maine. During the school year, Lexington is actively involved in the Society of Plastics Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, American Chemical Society, Honors College Association, Student Government Association, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Student Sustainability Fund Committee. She also works part-time as a lab assistant at the Kansas Polymer Research Center.

Nathan is a senior studying Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technologies at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He currently serves as SPE Student Chapter President, and previously served as secretary. Nathan is also the current chair of SPE’s Next Generation Advisory Board (NGAB). He graduated from Pennsylvania College of Technology in 2015 with an Associate of Science Degree in Business Management.

This summer, Nathan is working as a molding intern with the Manufacturing Development Engineering team of the appliance unit at TE Connectivity’s headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Nathan expects to graduate with a B.S. in Plastics and Polymers Engineering Technologies in December 2019.

Haven Bontz is a junior studying for a B.S. in Plastic and Polymer Engineering Technology and expects to graduate in the Fall of 2019. He has held an internship with Consolidated Container Company in Oil City, PA, since May 2017, where he has executed 5s plans and performed process validations.

Logan Tate is a senior studying Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technologies at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, PA. He is serving a consecutive term as the SPE Student Chapter President. In his role as a research assistant at Plastics Innovation & Resource Center (PIRC), he works with clients on a variety of projects, including process optimization/validation and product/material development, in addition to assisting with workforce development and training workshops.

This summer, Mr. Tate worked as a Plastics Engineering Intern in both the extrusion and injection molding departments at the headquarters of B. Braun Medical in Allentown, PA. He earned a B.S. in Physics from Lock Haven University in 2015, and expects to graduate with a B.S. in Plastics and Polymers Engineering Technologies in May 2018.

Stephanie Ternullo recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Plastics Engineering, with a minor in Biomedical Engineering. This fall she will begin working on a Masters degree in Plastics Engineering. Ms. Ternullo has interned at P&G Gillette for two summers, and will continue her full-time career in their employ this fall. She has also worked in the Plastics Engineering Department at UMass Lowell as an undergraduate research assistant.

Michael Green is from Jackson, MI. His first experience with thermoforming was at DT Manufacturing, where he worked as an inline operator. He is about to begin his senior year at Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, MI, where he is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering, with a Minor in Plastics. Mr. Green is president of the SPE Western Michigan University Student Chapter.

Michael Green plans to finish his degree and to start working in the plastics industry. His goals include becoming an expert on acetal processing and teaching future generations of plastics engineers.

Vincent Chee, from Queens, NY, is currently a senior at Rutgers University. He is planning to graduate in December 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Sciences Engineering with a concentration in Packaging.

As a packaging engineering co-op at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a major producer of medicines, Vincent has been supporting new product launches and strategic initiatives through the execution of cold chain solutions and package material evaluation.

In the past, Vincent has collaborated with major suppliers of plastic on a variety of productivity and quality improvement projects. During the summer of 2015, Vincent interned with Mondelez International, one of the world’s largest snacks companies. He learned the critical attributes of flexible films that affected a product’s shelf life and package integrity.

Vincent is actively looking for opportunities to increase the rate of PET bottle recycling within his school campus. He has completed a thesis on “Reducing Packaging Waste at PepsiCo” and has given a presentation at Rutgers University in 2014. He is a member of the SPE and NIPHLE. Vincent wants to continue his education by earning a Master’s Degree in plastics engineering. In the future, he hopes to be part an organization that is focused on sustainable material sourcing. Aside from school, internships, and plastic interests, Vincent enjoys cycling and playing badminton.

Austin Howard grew up in Alger, MI. Now a sophomore at Kettering University in Flint, MI, Austin is studying Mechanical Engineering. His first experience in the thermoforming industry was at a Vantage Plastics in Standish, MI, where he interned during his senior year of high school. His primary duty was to assist the engineering design of thermoformed products as well as extruding of raw material.

At Kettering, Austin has continued to work in thermoforming. He is a member of SPE and the leader of Kettering’s thermoforming team. The group is working on various projects including the production of an in-house thermoformed part made from recycled material.

Austin is now an intern at Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw, MI. His experience in the plastic industry has helped him tremendously and he looks forward to furthering his education in conjunction with being an active SPE member.

Logan Tate grew up in Williamsport, PA. He is currently an undergraduate Plastics and Polymers Engineering Technologies student at Pennsylvania College of Technology. Although new to the plastics program, he is not a typical undergraduate student. In 2015, Logan graduated from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Physics.

At Penn College, Logan is the SPE Student Chapter President. He is also employed by the Plastics Innovation & Resource Center (PIRC). Being able to gain valuable experience and knowledge at the PIRC has translated to higher confidence and leadership skills that he applies in classes and labs. He is among a handful of students that has the opportunity to gain an education at an ABET-accredited plastics program, while also working for a globally recognized leader in plastics education and training.

Logan is expected to graduate in December of 2018. In the future, he hopes to combine his degrees and become a leader in the plastics industry. He strives to be at the forefront of innovation and progress.

Sam grew up in Oil City, Pennsylvania. He is an undergraduate Plastics Engineering Technology student at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania. Sam serves as secretary of the Plastics Engineering club at Behrend where he volunteers with events such as the Youth Explorers and GE STEM program. He has also taken advantage of Behrend’s cooperative education program with Husky Injection Molding Systems and Apple Inc., working with new product development and validation. Sam has also performed research focusing on thermoforming processing parameters effects on dullness and webbing in formed parts.

Upon graduation, Sam will be seeking a job as a tooling engineer where he hopes to design and optimize tools and processes for mass production.

Zach grew up in Fort Scott, Kansas, and graduated from Uniontown High School. He is heading into his senior year at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. At Pittsburg State, Zach is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology degree with an emphasis in Plastics Engineering Technology. He is currently the Vice President of Pittsburg State University’s Society of Plastics Engineers Chapter.

In the future, Zach plans on continuing to work hard in the plastics industry and to gain valuable knowledge that will help make him successful. Zach says that it is very important to him to continue to be involved with SPE so that he can be connected with other members and to continuously learn about new advancements in the industry.

Sam grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and is currently a senior at Pittsburg State University, majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. He is an active member of the SPE Student Chapter on campus and he enjoys working on projects for the group.

Sam chose to study plastics due to his interest in polymers and how things are made. He has worked at three companies in the plastics industry: at Buckhorn, Polyfab Plastics and currently at Becton, Dickinson and Company in Nebraska. Sam says that each job has taught him the skills he needs in order to be successful in the future. He gained valuable experience working with thermoforming equipment at Polyfab Plastics last summer and in the lab at Pittsburg State.

Charlotte Seeley is originally from Suttons Bay, Michigan. Her experience with thermoforming started at Michigan State University, where she will be a senior this fall studying Packaging with a minor in Graphic Design. Charlotte has continued her education at Kimberly Clark, where she has been interning for the past six months. While at KC, she has had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of materials including polyolefins and even helped support a trial involving thermoformed nitrogen flushed trays. In addition to interning at KC, she has also interned for Colgate-Palmolive.

In the future, Charlotte would like to develop sustainable packaging options that are cost-efficient enough to be utilized by giant global companies like Kimberly Clark and Colgate-Palmolive.

Anna Macherkevich grew up in Grand Blanc, Michigan. She is currently an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. Anna holds the position of Vice President for the school’s newly formed Plastics Engineering Club.

Anna’s cooperative educational experience is with Chrysler Group LLC. She has been employed by the company since October of 2012 and has rotated around the Supplier Quality organization. She is currently on the interior team for Ram Trucks and deals with hard-trim components. She is completing a thesis on developing strategies to control gloss levels on interior hard-trim Polypropylenes and TPOs.

Drake Stephens is a senior at Pittsburg State University. He is planning to graduate in May 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Plastics Engineering Technology with an emphasis on both design and manufacturing and a minor in chemistry.

Drake is from Kincaid, a small town in southeast Kansas. He attended Crest High School and received an Associates of Science degree from Allen Community College. During the summer of 2013, Drake held an internship at Charloma Inc., a custom plastics production company with multiple thermoforming machines in Cherryville, Kansas. During the summer of 2014, he is participating in an internship with ORBIS, an injection molding company located in Osage City, Kansas.

Paul Woodson, from Sterling Heights, Michigan, is currently a senior mechanical engineering student at Kettering University. He is also pursuing the recently developed plastics engineering minor, which includes classes in polymer science, mold design and plastics processing. Because of his interest in plastics, Paul found a co-op job with Magna Exteriors where he could put his passion for the industry to work on a daily basis.

Paul is very involved on campus. He is the current president of the Kettering University SPE Student Section, which encompasses both A and B sections. Paul frequently helps Professor Richardson in the Polymer Processing Lab with outreach programs for middle and high school students and with managing the processes for needed parts and materials. Paul is also involved with “Innovation to Entrepreneurship,” and runs the weekly “Innovation Quest” held on campus, which involves engineering challenges for teams of students.

Paul will graduate in 2014 and hopes to accept a full-time job with Magna Exteriors to continue his work in the automotive industry and to utilize his knowledge of plastics. He wants to continue his education by earning an MBA or a Master’s Degree in plastics engineering.

Victor Batarseh grew up in Sacramento, California. He is currently an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. At Drexel, Victor is part of the Cooperative Education Program where he does research and development at Arkema, Inc. for transparent and translucent impact-modified biopolymer alloys for applications ranging from consumer products to coextruded sheet for thermoforming. In the future, Victor hopes to make plastics more sustainable by increasing renewable carbon content, and improving current processing techniques for raw materials.

Sharna-Kay Dobney, is an international student from Jamaica pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering at Kettering University. Sharna is a senior who will be graduating in Spring 2013.

Sharna is the vice president for the Kettering University SPE student chapter. She was greatly involved in revitalizing the chapter which had been dormant for the past five years. Now with 13 national members, the chapter is actively recruiting for the upcoming Fall 2013 term.

As a co-op student at Inteva Products, a major producer of automotive interior systems, Sharna has been working with some of the leading advanced materials in the automotive industry including Thermoplastic Olefins (TPO). At Inteva Products, she learned about numerous plastic processes, including injection molding, thermoforming and compression molding.

“It is my dream to make a difference in the plastics industry by contributing to the development of more eco-friendly plastic components,” says Sharna. “I am honored to be a recipient of the Segen Griep Memorial Scholarship, am I am very thankful for SPE’s generosity in providing me with this scholarship. It will definitely propel me a step further in pursuing my dreams.” In her spare time, Sharna enjoys reading novels, travelling, swimming and socializing.

Harry Koshulsky is a senior at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Harry will graduate in May 2013 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technology.

He started studying plastics as a junior in high school by taking Dual Enrollment College Courses in Thermoforming, Injection Molding, Extrusion Blow Molding, Rotational Molding and Basic Machining through the Pennsylvania College of Technology Now Program. During his senior year in high school, Harry received an Advanced on the NOCTI (National Occupational Competency Testing Institute) for the end of program assessment in the Computer Aided Drafting and Design Program in which he received the Pennsylvania Skills Certificate from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Upon college graduation, Harry will be the first student to complete the Workforce Leadership Dual Enrollment 2+2+2 in the Plastics and Polymers Technology Program.

During his summer break, Harry works at TE Connectivity, formerly Tyco Electronics in the Injection Molding Department. His job responsibilities range from the basic operation of three molding presses, inspecting parts for quality assurance, to pulling and setting molds.

Since his freshman year, Harry has been a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers Student Chapter at the Pennsylvania College of Technology and a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers National Chapter since his sophomore year. In his junior year, Harry was voted as the Fundraising Chairman of the Society of Plastics Engineers Student Chapter and Fundraising Co-Chairman for his senior year.

Brian is a senior at the University of Wisconsin – Stout where he is pursuing a double major in Plastics Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. He is a member of the Stout Academic Honor Society and serves as Vice President of the SPE Student Chapter at Stout.

Brian has held two internships at Scientific Molding Corportion where he was involved in many aspects of manufacturing, including the design of inspection gauges, cost reduction projects, research and secondary process development. As a UW-Stout Plastics Lab Assistant, he wrote lab manuals and process sheets for newly acquired lab equipment. Brian hopes to work in the polymer medical device industry after graduation.

Martha is a sophomore at the University of Akron where she is pursuing a degree in Mechanical Polymer Engineering. She received degrees in Plastics Processing and Coloring of Plastics from Terra Community College, where she served as President of the SPE Student Chapter. She was also featured in television promotions for Terra and visited area high schools on recruiting trips.

After gaining three years of experience as a color development engineer, mechanical lab tester and quality assurance technician at Washington Penn Plastics Co., she chose to continue her education at the University of Akron. A motivated, dedicated student, she hopes to one day make an impact on the plastics industry.

Kevin is a senior at Ferns State University pursuing a double major in Plastic Engineering Technology and Rubber Engineering Technology. He served as President of the SPE Student Chapter at Ferns and Vice President of the Ferns State Rubber Group.

Kevin has held internships at Advanced Molding Solution and Trelleborg Automotive, furthering his knowledge of molding both plastics and rubber. He most recently served as a tutor for the freshman class at Ferns, assisting them on thermoforming, extrusion, blow molding and injection molding. Sharing his insights on his educational experiences at Ferns and serving as an intern in the industry has been very rewarding to Kevin.

Adam W. Mix is the recipient of the $5,000 Thermoforming Division/Segen Griep Memorial Scholarship. He attends the University of Wisconsin Madison where he is a graduate student in the College of Engineering, working on his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering, with a minor in polymer science, from Michigan Technological University.

As a graduate Research Assistant at UW-Madison, Adam conducts research with Professor A. Jeffrey Giacomin as part of the requirements for his M.S. and Ph.D. His research focus is on polymers, rheology of polymer melts, and plastics processing, specifically those common in thermoforming. He works with Plastic Ingenuity, a local thermoforming company, to help them understand and solve their thermoforming problems. He helped them solve a coatings problem on their PET line, developing a method to determine Youngs modulus from a durometer. Once that problem was solved, a different type of surface quality problem was observed, so Adam worked with the process engineers to develop a sag experiment using a laboratory thermoformer and video camera to record the sag over time. He and the engineers are now looking at the rheological properties of the resins to determine if they can detect the problems before processing bad sheet. His paper on sag in thermoforming has been accepted for publication in a refereed journal.

Adam is active in the SPE Student Chapter at UW-Madison, serving as Vice President in 2008-09 and as President in 2009-10. He gave a presentation on Dimensionless Durometry to the Society of Rheology Conference in 2009. Adam also volunteered at the 9th Annual International Polymer Colloquium 2009 where he ran the registration desk and at the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.

Adam W. Mix is the recipient of the $5,000 Thermoforming Division/Segen Griep Memorial Scholarship. He attends the University of Wisconsin Madison where he is a graduate student in the College of Engineering, working on his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering, with a minor in polymer science, from Michigan Technological University.

As a graduate Research Assistant at UW-Madison, Adam conducts research with Professor A. Jeffrey Giacomin as part of the requirements for his M.S. and Ph.D. His research focus is on polymers, rheology of polymer melts, and plastics processing, specifically those common in thermoforming. He works with Plastic Ingenuity, a local thermoforming company, to help them understand and solve their thermoforming problems. He helped them solve a coatings problem on their PET line, developing a method to determine Youngs modulus from a durometer. Once that problem was solved, a different type of surface quality problem was observed, so Adam worked with the process engineers to develop a sag experiment using a laboratory thermoformer and video camera to record the sag over time. He and the engineers are now looking at the rheological properties of the resins to determine if they can detect the problems before processing bad sheet. His paper on sag in thermoforming has been accepted for publication in a refereed journal.

Adam is active in the SPE Student Chapter at UW-Madison, serving as Vice President in 2008-09 and as President in 2009-10. He gave a presentation on Dimensionless Durometry to the Society of Rheology Conference in 2009. Adam also volunteered at the 9th Annual International Polymer Colloquium 2009 where he ran the registration desk and at the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.

Jerome Fisher is the recipient of the $2,000 SPE Thermoforming Division Scholarship, sponsored by PTi of Aurora, IL.

While attending Oakland University, in Rochester Hills, MI, Jerome held a full-time internship with Faurecia Interior Systems. For the past two and a half years, he has worked for the France-based Tier 1 automotive supplier within the Research & Innovation group where the focus is on sustainability, creativity, and the exploration of new materials and processes. Jerome has both led and participated in several projects, including processes from male/female vacuum forming to cut & sew and injection molding. Materials used include polypropylene foils and urethane foams. Jerome plans to pursue a future in the field after graduation as his interest continues to grow
through the knowledge he has gained both in the classroom and in hands-on experience with plastics manufacturing.

Jerome is part of the Oakland University Formula SAE team where he serves as the Marketing Manager. Formula SAE is a competition to design, build, and compete against international teams with a Formula-style racecar. Aside from school, internship, and Formula SAE interests, Jerome has also designed and built a motorcycle engine-powered, street-legal, two-seater formula style car for road driving, as well as at local autocross and track day events.

Travis will be a sophomore at Iowa State University for the 2009-2010 school year, studying for a degree in industrial engineering. A Dean’s List student, he is an SPE member and attended the 2008 Thermoforming Division Conference in Minneapolis.

Travis works at Plastics Unlimited, a family-owned business, during summers and as time allows during the school year. The company manufactures thermoformed, composite, urethane, and fiberglass composite/thermoplastic products. A believer in green products, Plastics Unlimited has developed a patent-pending process that incorporates soy oil in the resin that is used in this process. Travis was involved in the development of this process over the last 4 years.

He is also working on a minor in Environmental Engineering and hopes that, upon graduation, the combination of his major and minor degrees will enable him to work in applications involving agriculture and natural resources.

$3,000 Extruders/Directors’ Scholarship

Timothy Mcmaster, PTI

Tim is a senior at Pittsburg State University working on his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. He was a Thermoforming Scholarship recipient last year. The continued support of this scholarship will help ease the burden of supporting a family (wife and two children) and getting a degree.

Tim works at a custom fiberglass shop that manufactures corrosion resistant air handling equipment. Last spring, his employer mentioned to a customer that Tim had been awarded the John Griep Memorial Scholarship. This prompted the customer, who was trying to fabricate the product from fiberglass, to consider using thermoformed ABS instead. “Having received the scholarship gave my company and me enough credibility to be chosen as the tool and pattern fabricator for this customer, and resulted in a tool-building job for our company for years to come,” said Tim.

A USMC veteran who served in the first Gulf war, Tim hopes to go on to graduate school and one day realize his dream of owning his own successful thermoforming manufacturing business.

Marcus is a junior at Grand Rapids Community College where he is working on an Associates degree in Plastics Technology.

After working for 12 years as a thermoforming set-up technician, Marcus realized that it was difficult to advance without a formal education and chose to return to school to seek a degree in Plastics Technology. He and his wife, a public school teacher, felt that going back to school was his best option to further his career – and a great example for their two children. After obtaining his Associates degree next year, Marcus plans to transfer to Ferris State University to obtain his B.S. in Plastics Engineering/Technology.

Marcus worked as a thermoforming technician for Leisure Life LTD and Display Pack, Inc., both in Grand Rapids, MI.

Katie is a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a member of SPE, ASME, and SAE, and was an active member of the Wisconsin Hybrid Baja SAE team while an undergraduate student.

Katie’s focus in Mechanical Engineering has been in the area of polymeric fluids. She worked as an undergraduate researcher for the Multiphase Flow Visualization and Analysis Laboratory on campus, working on small engine carburetors. That experience led to a co-op at Mercury Marine, where all of the Mercury outboard boat engines are produced. Her work there in the propulsion integration group included designing engine components for new engines.

According to her senior thesis professor, Katie decided that the mechanics of thermoforming has been sorely neglected, so she identified, set up and solved the central problem in her field. Her paper on that work, Thermoforming Troughs, was presented at the 2008 ANTEC, and has been submitted for possible inclusion in SPE’s premier journal, Polymer Engineering & Science.

Jared is a senior at Penn State – Erie (The Behrend College) studying for his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. After serving for four years in the U.S. Air Force, including tours to Korea and Germany, Jared returned home to pursue a degree in plastics engineering at PSE.

Jared’s senior research project entails the development of a tool to test the thermoformability of plastics materials. His research will focus on what properties make one sheet more thermoformable than another. The properties that will undergo testing are the ability to be deep drawn, webbing propensity, and maximum draw ratio. The tool developed will hopefully then be used to distinguish between easily-formable materials and materials that resist thermoforming.

After graduation from PSE, Jared hopes to go to graduate school at Lehigh University or the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. A hands-on person, he wants to be involved in many stages of a product, including development, design, processing and production.

2007 Scholarship Winners Announced

Ken Griep, Chair of the Student Activities Committee, announces the following winners of the Thermoforming Division Scholarships. These will be presented to the winners at the annual Thermoforming Conference.

Kevin will be a senior at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, where he is pursuing a B.S. in Industrial Technology Management, with minors in metals and plastics processing. A serious speed-skater, Kevin is a member of the United States Speedskating Association and the Badger Speedskating club. He is also an active member of the SPE Student Chapter at UWP. Kevin is putting his classroom experience in thermoforming to good use. He is currently working on a package design to hold items to promote UWP’s plastics program to area high schools. The mold is being made by a local company, and will run on the new roll-fed thermoformer the school obtained with help from the Thermoforming Division Equipment Grant.

Kory will be a senior at Penn State – Erie this fall, working on his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. A Dean’s List student, he maintains a 3.84 gpa. He was accepted into the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, which allows him to research any aspect of the plastics industry he chooses. Kory credits being an active member of SPE for the many opportunities he has had at Penn State. Last summer, he was selected to participate in a Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Southern Mississippi in the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials. While there, he researched a monomer that would provide a drug eluting coating for coronary artery stents, conducted various chemical experiments, and co- authored a paper that was presented at the ACS meeting earlier this year. He presently works for Beaumont Technologies in the R&D department, where he conducts studies on various aspects of runner and gating design.

Tim will be a junior at Pittsburg State this fall, working on his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. Married and the father of two children, this scholarship will help ease the challenge of supporting a family and getting a degree. Tim works at a custom fiberglass shop that manufactures corrosion resistant air handling equipment. He has also worked on projects for a thermoforming company in the area, designing molds and selecting materials for the production of various parts. He modified a planter tray that is used to hold soil and grow grass on the roofs of buildings in large inner city areas, and is currently working on a thermoformed LDPE allweather enclosure for industrial wireless networking routers and switches used in warehouse inventory tracking. This replaces a thermoset product that failed, and provides a substantial savings to the customer. Working and attending school full time has required cooperation by Tim’s family and employer – and his desire to succeed shows. He is maintaining a 4.0 gpa in his major!

This is the second year Lucas has received a scholarship from the Thermoforming Division. He was also a recipient in 2006. He received his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology last May from Pittsburg State University and is a graduate student at Pittsburg State University, working on his MBA. Lucas had an internship with Joe Peters at Universal Plastics in 2005, where he experienced all kinds of applications from thin gauge to thick gauge, and from drape forming to trap forming. Lucas said he learned all aspects of thermoforming that summer. He works as a plastics lab assistant at Pittsburg, and teaches new students how to use the thermoforming machine. He helped a few seniors with their senior thermoforming projects, and uses thermoforming to make simple prototypes in his part design classes. Lucas plans to get his MBA to make him a more well-rounded job candidate when he graduates in 2008.

2006 Scholarship Winners Announced

Ken Griep, Chair of the Student Activities Committee, announces the following winners of the Thermoforming Division Scholarships. These will be presented to the winners at the annual Thermoforming Conference in Indianapolis.

Kim will be a senior at Pittsburg State University working toward a B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology with a minor in Manufacturing Management. She had an internship in the summer of 2005 at Nike IHM in St. Charles, MO working primarily in the thermoforming department, processing twin-sheet. She plans to return to Nike this summer for a second internship, doing project work in thermoforming. She also interned in 2004 at Sika Corp. of Grandview, MO doing insert molding in the injection molding division.

Kim has been a lab assistant at PSU since Fall 2005 demonstrating thermoforming, extrusion, compression, injection and blow molding, as well as testing equipment such as Instron, Izod, DSC, and Melt Flow Index. She plans to pursue a career in the thermoforming industry after graduation while simultaneously working on an Masters of Business Administration.

Justin will be a senior at Pittsburg State University working toward a B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. He had an internship in the summer of 2004 at Charloma, Inc. working primarily with thermoforming machines. An active member of the SPE Student Chapter at PSU, Justin attends many local Section meetings and has participated in a large number of plant tours to familiarize himself with all aspects of plastics processing.

Justin’s future plans include marriage to a fellow PSU student this fall, and a career in a thermoforming or rotational molding processing plant upon graduation.

Stephen will be a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin this fall. An honors student, he is also active in the UW Karate Club, the UW Yacht Club and the Campus Crusade for Christ.

Stephen’s undergraduate research was a “cup project” – a successful attempt to thermoform a microcellular foamed coffee cup from recycled bottles. The experience of thermoforming a material that has not been commercially thermoformed will now be incorporated into Stephen’s graduate research. His work at MicroGREEN Inc. included modifying a old lab-scale thermoformer, developing lab protocols and research objectives, and making thousands of test runs to develop the deep draw foam sheet process. The University of Washington plans to patent the process.

Kurtis will be a senior at Western Washington University this fall working toward a B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. A member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Kurtis is also an SPE member, and was the recipient of a scholarship from The SPE Foundation last year.

Kurtis held at internship in the summer of 2004 at Northwest Kayaks, where he used the thermoforming process for bulkheads, seats, hatch covers, and protective nose covers for kayaks. His senior project is to develop a thermoformed kayak seat/support system for people who have restricted use of their lower extremities (paraplegics, amputees, or those otherwise injured). Kurtis was also instrumental in writing a grant proposal, on behalf of the WWU Engineering Technology Program, for the Thermoforming Equipment Grant.

Lucas will be a graduate student in Plastics Engineering Technology at Pittsburg State University this fall. A member of SPE, Lucas attended ANTEC 2004, the 2005 Thermoforming Conference, and was featured in a Plastics Engineering magazine article on mentorship as a result of his internship with Joe Peters, President of Universal Plastics.

At Universal Plastics, Lucas experienced all kinds of thermoforming applications, and was charged with designing a package with holes in the bottom so that it still contained physical strength and durability. After graduation, Lucas would like to work in the automotive industry.

Adriane will be a senior at Pittsburg State University this fall, majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology with an emphasis in manufacturing. Her interest in plastics was sparked, at age 1l, by encouragement from a cousin who was graduating from PSU as a plastics engineer.

Adriane, too, decided to attend PSU where she is a member of Student Government Association, University Ambassadors, and is currently serving as the president of SPE Student Chapter at PSU. Adriane spoke at the 2004 Thermoforming Conference and attended the 2005 Conference. She has also worked as a General Plastics laboratory assistant, introducing freshman students to the Plastics Engineering Technology program at the university. After graduation, Adriane hopes to work in the thermoforming industry.

Ken Griep, Chair of the Student Activities Committee, announces the following winners of the Thermoforming Division Scholarships. These will be presented to the winners at the annual Thermoforming Conference in Indianapolis.

Travis Hunter is a Senior at Penn State-Erie ma-joring in Plastics Engineering Technology. Hehas had extensive experience with thethermoforming process and is currently complet-ing a project that tests the thermoformability of fourdifferent polymers (HDPE, LDPE, PP and PET)with additives. In an earlier project, he used anepoxy compound to form a mold of a product thatis already on the market and tested the permeabil-ity properties of the thermoformed polymer. Travishad an internship at Emerson Appliance Controlswhere he was able to design a new mold. The Man-ager of Engineering at Emerson indicated thatTravis and his partner, Joshua Sindlinger, were thebest interns he’d worked with in his 35 years with the company.

Joshua Sindlinger is a Senior at Penn State-Eriemajoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. Hehas had extensive experience with thethermoforming process and is currently complet-ing a project that tests the thermoformability of fourdifferent polymers (HDPE, LDPE, PP and PET) with additives. Josh partnered with his PS-E room-mate Travis Hunter at Emerson Appliance Controls.Josh also worked for Holbrook Tool as an injectionmolding machine operator in the summer of 2000. Upon graduation, he hopes to become a processengineer and then work his way up the corporate ladder.

Ken Griep, Chair of the Student Activities Committee, announces the following winners of the Thermoforming Division Scholarships. These will be presented to the winners at the annual Thermoforming Conference in Indianapolis.

Kamal is a graduate student at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, where he is majoring in Manufacturing Engineering. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Madras University in India and also holds a diploma in Tool and Die Making. Kamal served as a tooling engineer for Nikhita Industries in Bangalore, India and as a Tooling Engineer at Tafe Engineering Plastics Division, India. According to his professors at Western Michigan, Kamal’s ability to read tooling prints, disassemble molds and diagnose tooling problems, build tooling components, and participate in the tool design process earned him an appointment as a Graduate Assistant in the Plastics Professing Laboratory. He is currently working on a research project that deals with the effect of thermal conductivity of mold materials and their effects on molding.

Tim will be a junior at the University of South Florida this fall, majoring in Chemical Engineering. He currently attends Lake-Sumter and Valencia Community Colleges where his fascination with chemical science – and polymers – was born. Tim was a member of the College Brain Bowl Team, is on the National Dean’s List, the All-USA Academic Team, and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa. He is active in the local Lion’s Club student chapter, raising money for children’s glasses and for research on curing blindness. He will be serving as a student mentor for the spring 2004 semester, to help new students with the transition to college life.

Ken Griep, Chair of the Student Activities Committee, announces the following winners of the Thermoforming Division Scholarships. These will be presented to the winners at the annual Thermoforming Conference in Indianapolis.

Ronald G. Egres, Jr., the son of Ronald and Diann Egres of Loudon, TN, is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware. He and his wife Taihi reside in Newark, DE. He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University and his M.S. in Chemical Engineering, with a specialization in polymer engineering, from the University of Delaware.

As an undergraduate, Ron accepted a co-op position in DuPont’s Telfon Fluroropolymers Division in Parkersburg, WV, where his research led to a PTFE resin purification technique that is now patented. While working for his Masters degree at the University of Delaware, Ron was employed by W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc. as a product development engineer. He spent three years developing novel methods for thermoforming expanded PTFE and melt-preocessable PFA films into large, high strength products such as flexible connectors, expansion joints and pinch value liners. Ron hopes to one day start his own company dedicated to providing unique products to the medical, chemical, pharmaceutical and microelectronics industries. He is a member of the SPE. AIChE, and ACS.

Akash Tulsian, the son of Rajkumar Tulsian of Surat, Gujrat, India, is enrolled in the Masters of Science in Plastics Engineering program at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He obtained his B.S. from Pune University in India.

Akash’s graduate research is an investigation of the effect of friction and the interaction between the coefficient of friction and thermoforming quality. The design of experiment that he has planned investigates the effect of sheet temperature, plug temperature, and material used to construct the plug-assist mold. A cricket player at Pune University, Akash currently mentor undergraduate students in the U-Mass Lowell plastics engineering program, aids in recruiting new students to the program and is a member of SPE.