Atakan is a graduate student at Michigan Technological University, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. He received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and his M.Sc. in Machine Design from Istanbul.

At ITU, he worked as a teaching and research assistant, and wrote his masters thesis on friction-induced noise in various polymers. He served an internship with Dow Chemical conducting experiments on polymer melting in single-screw extruders. His research topic at MTU is on the numerical and experimental investigation of polymer melting in single-screw extruders. This work includes a strong experimental program. The experiments are being used to understand the physics of the problem and the verification of the numerical method used. Atakan presented one paper based on his research at ANTEC 2006, and, using the data he collected at Dow and his research since then, he presented a second paper at ANTEC 2007.

Russell is a junior at Ferris State University majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. He serves as Treasurer for the SPE Student Chapter at Ferris, and is involved in the Peer Mentor Program at the University.

Russell had an internship in 2006 with Spratex Custom Extrusion, where he worked as an extruder operator, performed start-up, troubleshooting and shut-down procedures on extruders and auxiliary equipment, assisted in the maintenance of the equipment, fabricated parts, and helped the Quality Assurance department with quality checks.

Micah is a senior at Western Washington University where he is majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. His research project, which is sponsored by PACCAR  - makers of heavy duty trucks such as Kenworth and Peterbilt, involves novel work in the utilization of thermosets in the reaction injection molding process.

Micah completed his Associates degree while in high school and transferred to Western Washington's plastics program to obtain his B.S. degree. He took a year off from school to work at Quatro Composites in California, where he gained experience in design, materials, processing and management. During an internship at Janicki Industries, he got lots of hands-on exposure laying fibers and making parts using thermoset/composite processes. Micah is extensively involved with the SAE Mini-Baja program, and has worked with the WWU team to design and develop a vehicle from the ground up for the international competition.

Dan is a senior at Penn State-Erie, majoring in Plastics Engineering. This is the second year Dan has received a scholarship from The SPE Foundation. He was the recipient of a Blow Molding scholarship last year. An SPE Student Member, he is also active in his church, with local charitable organizations, and serves as a tour guide at PSE.

Kevin is a senior at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville, where he is pursuing a degree in Industrial Technology Management, with minors in metals and plastics processing. A serious speedskater, 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.

Caleb is a senior in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut, where he has been on both the College Dean’s List and the Engineering Dean’s List since 2004. This is the second year he received a scholarship from the Foundation. He was the recipient of a Ted Neward scholarship in 2006.

Kristin is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, working toward her Masters in Polymer Engineering. An SPE student member, she has participated in a study-abroad program in Mexico, tutored elementary students in Madison, and served as a volunteer for numerous civic organizations in Wisconsin.

Jeremy is a senior at Iowa State University, where he is majoring in Industrial Technology. This is the second year he has received scholarships from The SPE Foundation. He was the recipient of a Vinyl Plastics Division scholarship and a Foundation general scholarship in 2006.

Chad is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, studying for his MBA. He received his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie, and currently works for Moldflow Corporation as an application engineer.

David is a sophomore at the University of Houston, pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is on the Dean’s list at the university; is very active in his church; competed, as a high school senior, in the Texas A&M Science Quiz Bowl; and served as a math tutor.

David’s team design project for his engineering class this past year – producing a mechanical device that climbs a two-foot ramp by itself – earned first place. He also worked on extensive bottle-rocket and wooden bridge projects as part of his principles of engineering /drafting courses. His team also placed first in the technology laboratory systems engineering competition. He is very interested in machine design and is taking AutoCAD classes to complement the theoretical knowledge he is gaining in mechanical engineering.

Matthew is a senior at Pennsylvania State University where he is pursuing a degree in Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technology. He was the recipient of a Blow Molding Division scholarship from the Foundation last year.

Matt has interned at Graham Packaging Company for two years as a process engineering intern. This job provided him with the opportunity to travel around the U.S., Canada and Mexico, working on various processes related to problems within the food and beverage blow molding industry. His work ranged from creating reports to hands-on machining and troubleshooting on the plant floor. Graham kept Matt employed through the school year via laptop and cell phone, working on CAD layouts and other technical documents.

Matt serves as a student ambassador for the Penn College Plastics Mobile Lab project, conducting high school classroom visitations demonstrating plastics processing concepts. He is also a research assistant for the Plastics Manufacturing Center working on material development, process development, compounding, and materials characterization. Matt’s research on indoor rock climbing holds, which he manufactured for a local rock climbing gym, resulted in an offer from SPE’s Thermoset Division to attend their fall 2007 conference and present a paper on this project.

Jennifer is a graduate student at Polytechnic University, where she is a candidate for a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry. She is a second year recipient of Foundation scholarships; she received a Polymer Modifiers and Additives Scholarship last year.

On June 26, 2007, Jennifer was one of two students to receive an American Chemical Society 2007 Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Student Award in Green Chemistry at a ceremony held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. She was selected for her proposal to investigate deacetylation of polyvinyl acetate using cutinase enzymes. Cutinases are hydrolytic enzymes produced by pathogenic fungi. Deacetylation can be used to remove adhesives from textiles and paper, forming water-soluble copolymers that are biodegradable. The aim of Jennifer’s proposed research is to understand the structure-activity relationship of cutinases for new applications in polymer technology.

Keone is a freshman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he is pursuing degrees in physics and chemistry. While attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Keone was a National AP Scholar, received the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement, was a semi-finalist in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in 2006, and was one of the top 250 math students in the U.S. to compete in the USA Math Olympiad in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

John is a sophomore at Macomb Community College, pursuing his Associates degree in Mechanical Engineering. A Dean’s List student, he is also a member of the Phi Theta Kappa national honor society. He plans to transfer to the University of Detroit Mercy for his B.S in Mechanical Engineering, and then to Kettering University for his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Plastic Mold Making Design.

In high school, John received several regional and state-wide awards for his drafting and machining/fabrication skills. A member of SPE, he works full-time at Proper Molding and Engineering fabricating detail parts. He started at PME doing general shop labor, moved to the Electric Discharge Dept. where he ran three CNC machines cutting graphite electrodes, and then was promoted to the detail division where he works with MasterCAM, machining many engineering changes that occur in the manufacturing process.

Steven is a senior majoring in Chemical Engineering at Clemson University. An accomplished musician on the upright bass, he participates in several student organizations at Clemson, including the AIChE student chapter.

Steven has held two co-op rotations at Sun Chemical in Goose Creek, SC. In his first rotation, he updated process and instrumentation drawings and modified them as changes to various processes were approved and implemented at the site. During his second rotation, he developed process flow diagrams and the associated mass and energy balances starting with laboratory formulas, determined equipment sizing, and material specifications. His final project involved converting a single phase phosphoric acid evaporator into a multi-effect evaporation system. Steven credits his co-op experiences with providing an excellent foundation for a future career in the coloring industry.

Tim McMaster is a junior at Pittsburg State, 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 all-weather 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!

Jason is a sophomore at Ferris State University, majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. He is in the Honors Program at Ferris and is a student member of SPE. He has been active on the intramural flag football team, the baseball team in high school, and as a drummer in his church’s praise band.

Brittany is a senior at Kettering University where she is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Plastics Product Design. She is a member of both SPE and the Society of Women Engineers.

Brittany has co-oped at the United States Postal Service in Philadelphia, working on various design projects in Auto-Cad for the Air Hub and putting together proposal packets for new buildings and machinery. Her most recent co-op was with Ticona, where she worked in a lab conducting a wide variety of tests before moving on to the Design Engineering group. She worked on modeling, researching the practical aspects of failure mode analysis, and understanding the predictive capabilities of CAE structural analyses. She has also served for two years as a mentor for Kettering’s “Lives Improve Through Engineering” high school summer program for rising women seniors.

Shawn is a graduate student at Virginia Technical Institute, where he is a candidate for a Ph.D. in Polymer Science. He received his B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie. An active SPE student member, he has presented papers at ANTEC, ACS, and the Gordon Conference.

Shawn’s doctoral research involves the development of morphology-transport property relationships in perfluorosulfonate ionomers, such as DuPont’s Nafion®, in fuel cells for vehicular transportation. His research focuses on the degradation and durability characteristics of these ionomer membranes to determine the cause of chemical degradation and create films that are not as susceptible to such degradation in a fuel cell. His career goal is to work in automotive applications of plastics.

Brad is a senior at Penn State-Erie, majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. He works as a teaching assistant in the plastics lab and as an instructor in plastics processing workshops at PSE. He plans to pursue an M.S. in Plastics Engineering, with a certificate in Medical Part Design, at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

Brad participated in an internship for C&J Industries and an eight-month co-op at Aim Processing Inc. in Longmont, CO, where he worked on technical issues with materials, properties, compliance research and part design solutions to improve part performance in manufacturing. As a teaching assistant at Penn State Erie, Brad frequently uses models to help his sophomore students better understand mold components. So when Aim asked him to design a plastic safety guard to cover an air-powered gate cutter, he found the use of models an efficient way to communicate ideas with his boss and obtain material quotes.

Deepak is a junior at the University of Texas-Arlington working toward a degree in Biology. His father is a member of the Thermoplastic Materials & Foams Division board of directors, and encouraged his son’s interest in the application of polymers and nanotechnology in medicine.

Deepak served as a volunteer at local hospitals for four years, and “shadowed” a doctor in India for two summers. Drug delivery via nanoshells, biocompatible implants, and the use of plastics to protect the sterility of syringes and medicines are just some of the areas Deepak plans to explore on his way to becoming a doctor.

Jonathan is a junior at Princeton University where he is majoring in Chemical Engineering, with a minor in Materials Science. This is the third year he has received a scholarship from The SPE Foundation. He is a member of AIChE, the Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering Team, the Formula SAE team, and plays tenor and baritone sax in the Princeton jazz ensemble.

Jonathan has had three interesting research opportunities. In 2006, he worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, where he constructed and tested a novel Teflon liquid-core waveguide for a laser Raman spectroscopy system to analyze carbon dioxide effects on oceanic chemical balances. In 2005, at the Weizmann Institute Condensed-Matter Physics Laboratory in Israel, he designed and tested BSCCO ceramic superconductors cooled by liquid nitrogen and tested boron-doped diamonds in liquid helium. In 2004-05, at the Stony Brook Materials Science Research Laboratory, he investigated the use of supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent to crystallize polymer thin films.

Kory is a senior at Penn State–Erie, 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.

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 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.

Kaitlyn is a junior at Ferris State University majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology. She is in the Honors program at Ferris, is active in numerous civic organizations, serves as V.P. for the Ferris Women in Technology group, and is a student member of SPE.

Joe is a senior at Ferris State University pursuing a B.S. in Plastics Engineering Technology. He is in the Honors program at Ferris, where he recently obtained his Associate’s degree in Plastic and Rubber Technology, and is also working on an AAS in Industrial Chemical Technology. He serves as a peer tutor at the Academic Support Center at the University.

Rocky is a Senior at Penn State-Erie majoring in Plastics Engineering Technology and Chemistry. He is in the Honors program at PSE; is a member of the Lambda Sigma society, an organization dedicated to community service projects; and teaches Tai Kwon-Do to children in the community. He also served as a class officer for two years for the Plastics Engineering Technology program.

In the summer of 2006, Rocky worked at the University of Southern Mississippi with the Moore Research Group. The group focused on research with ionomers, in particular the plastic Nafion®. He helped with the development of artificial muscles using this material. Rocky accepted an internship for the summer of 2007 with Case Western Reserve University. He hopes to go on to graduate school and eventually work as a research scientist in the field of polymer science.

Donna is a Senior at The University of Akron, with double majors in Chemical Engineering (plastics specialization) and Applied Mathematics. A member of the Society of Women Engineers and AIChE, she has also been invited to be a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.

Donna is currently working as a co-op student in the Materials Engineering Department at Goodrich. She has worked on various projects involving elastomer processing and adhesive bonding to metal substrates, has processed and tested elastomers, done FTIR work to detect silicone contamination, and has helped in the qualification of new materials. Whether casting polymers to reach a desired thickness or doing comparative tests for data on the effectiveness of specialty polymers, Donna’s work at Goodrich has confirmed that the plastics/polymer industry is where she wants to work after graduation.

Justin is a graduate student, working toward his M.S. in Manufacturing Engineering Technology, at Brigham Young University. A member of SME and the Tau Beta Pi Honor Society, he also provides stage and technical help for the BYU performing arts group during their local and international tours.

Justin worked as a manufacturing engineering analyst at Euclid-Hitachi Heavy Equipment in Canada during the summer of 2005. There he gathered, analyzed and summarized data for plant-wide Kaizen projects resulting in higher production efficiency. In 2006, he worked at Solar Turbines in San Diego, to create a part family manufacturing plan to reduce process time due to casting defects, identified those defects and modified engineering drawings to reduce repair costs.