News and Publications
Student Attend National Plastics Exposition -- June 2009
The PSU Plastics Program took 4 instructors and 17 students to the National Plastics Exposition in Chicago. The conference was sponsored by the Society of Plastics Industry.
The conference was held in June 2009 at McCormick Place. Students and instructors attended the conference for two days where over 2000 exhibits and 1000 technical presentations were showcased.
The group also attended the PSU alumni gathering at South Pier. Other sites visited included Navy Pier, Soldier Field, Shedd Aquarium Museum of Science & Industry, and a Chicago White Sox game. 
Click here for more photos from the trip!
Student Receives Scholarship at International Blowmolding Conference
The PSU Plastics Program took 4 instructors and 10 students to the International Blowmolding Conference in Bartlesville, OK which was sponsored by the Society of Plastics Engineers.
The conference was held Oct. 7-9, 2008, with a display area, papers, and a tour of the Chevron-Phillips Plastics Research Center. Pittsburg State University had a display highlighting the plastics engineering technology program at PSU.
An evening banquet was held at the Woolaroc Museum where Nicholas Cruz, a plastics major, received a $4,000 scholarship award and was honored.
SPE Student Chapter Receives 2008 Outstanding Student Chapter Award
Pittsburg State University's student chapter for the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) was selected as the 2008 Outstanding Student Chapter. PSU will be officially receive the award at the Student Chapter Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, May 7 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
National Plastics Conference Honors PSU Students
Two students in the plastics engineering program at Pittsburg State University were given top placement at this spring's Society of Plastics Engineers' Global Plastics Environmental Conference. Michael Thurman, a senior from Chanute, Kan., and Semonti Sinharoy, a senior from India, attended the March conference in Orlando, Fla., and presented their research in the undergraduate student poster presentations.
Thurman, who is interested in a career in the aerospace industry, designed his 4-foot by 3-foot poster with information about the efforts to bring the plastics industry into a more environmentally friendly environment - specifically by creating trash can liners that are biodegradable to a certain degree.
"These plastics materials are overcrowding landfills. They don't go away for generations," he said of his research that took second place overall. "The industry has a tough reputation for not being greener, so there's a lot of effort in making changes."
Sinharoy, a dual plastics and chemistry major who hopes to go to work for a petro chemicals company, designed her first-place poster around her work with PSU's Kansas Polymer Research Center. The KPRC uses polymers and polyols from soybean oil to create everyday products such as foams and plastics. As a student worker there, she assists in research that focuses on making polyols recyclable so that the end products are biodegradable.
With competition from schools including Clemson University, Georgia Tech and Penn State, the two say they were surprised when they were called forward at the next morning's breakfast to receive their cash prizes.
"When they announced Michael had placed second, I didn't think I would place at all," admits Sinharoy. "They told us PSU is doing a good job in research, but I didn't think two of us from the same school would both win."
Thurman agrees the university was warmly welcomed. "This is the first time anyone from PSU has attended that conference, so a lot of people there were unfamiliar with us until now. They told us they were really impressed with our program."
Their adviser, Rebeca Book, says the students have made their department proud.
"So many times you hear of other universities receiving awards," she said. "So when our students go to conferences and win, our buttons are bursting with pride."