Letter from Pioneer Valley SPE President , Dr. Nick Schott: 

December 27, 2011

Dear Members,

It is the end of the calendar year and I wish all of you a Happy New Year!  I hope that the New Year will bring us a better economy and a renewed confidence in our American spirit of self-reliance.

2011 was a trying year for our economy.  We have persevered in our local section and are actually making major strides.  Our new website will be launched at the beginning of January 2012, and I hope you will take some time to browse through it to see what is of interest, news, new links that have been incorporated for education and job resources, past recorded talks that can be accessed and of course our advertisers that support our website which helps us stay in touch and also along with the golf outing supports scholarships and operating expenses.

In the fall of 2011 we had three monthly speakers, Professor Peggy Cebe, of Tufts University who presented on “Advances in Nano-Composites”, Mark Berry who presented on the role of “Process Control and Energy Savings in Plastics Manufacturing”, and Professor Daniel Schmidt who gave a review of “BPA and its Perceived Dangers to Human Health and the Environment”.  We finished December with the UMASS Lowell Holiday party at the American Legion Hall in North Chelmsford.

For the spring of 2012 our plans include two talks on the important area of bio plastics:

January: (plant tour, TBA if a suitable company will host us)

February: Mr. Cecil Lancaster, Senior Applications Engineer with Arkema, who will discuss applications for Poly Vinylidene Fluoride (PVDF).

March: David Kempskie, of Advanced Educational Technologies,” Advances in Rapid Prototyping”)

April, Dr. Robert Whitehouse, Advances in Bio Plastics: Applications, Economics, and Future Opportunities”

May: TBA

June: Golf Outing and Special Board Meeting.

We are looking for new board members and future officers for our section.  Don’t be shy!  I know you have it in you.  I also look forward to receiving suggestions about future talks, topics, speakers, plant trips etc.

In closing, I want to thank the board for the support over the past two years.

Nick R. Schott, President

Pioneer Valley SPE