November 2019
A publication for the members of the SPE – South Texas Section
of Plastics Professionals


President’s Message

Greetings,

Peter


As we approach the Holiday Season, we will again have a meeting at Dave and Busters on December 10th from 6PM thus 8PM at the Katy Freeway location. I hope to see you there for this Holiday gathering of fellowship and for a technical presentation or two.

As mentioned in prior notices, SPE-STX is attempting to broaden participation in various events. We have scheduled a Sporting Clays event on Nov 13th , but due to low registrations, I decided to cancel it since the event wouldn’t achieve broad participation that allows networking and fellowship for many of our members. In efforts to attract more event participation I am seeking input from all our members on what events are of interest; feel free to contact me directly with these suggestions.

SPE-STX’s biggest event is the Polyolefins Conference which is shaping up very well. Mark your calendar for this event from February 23rd – 26th, 2020. Registration is now open, so please take this time to register if you have not already done so.

As we continue to prepare for the 2020 Polyolefins Conference we need many volunteers to ensure a successful event. There are many opportunities for you to give back and we have a lot of students are counting on our support. More information can be found on our website.

Sincerely,
Peter Lauzon, President


The SPE South Texas Section is dedicated to supporting education

SPE South Texas SectionThere are 9 universities in Texas who have polymer programs and a SPE Student Chapter that benefit from SPE South Texas. Over 50% of the South Texas earnings from the SPE International Polyolefins Conference are used to support the education program which runs $50,000 to $95,000 per year.

The following educational programs are supported:

  1. Each University SPE Student Chapter receives $1,100 to $1,400 to support their activities which involve meetings with guest speakers and field trips. There are 9 SPE Student chapters (University of Houston, Texas A&M, University of Texas, Lamar University, Baylor University, North Texas University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Texas State Technical College Harlingen).
  2. Depending upon funds available, each of the 9 Universities with SPE student chapters receives $2,000- $3,000/year for student scholarships which is administered by the University.
  3. We have a dedicated group of people who judge at the Houston Science Fair and award prizes to students that range from $100 to $500 when the Science Fair does not conflict with the Polyolefins Conference. In May the Science Fair winner attend a South Texas monthly meeting with their parents and/or teacher to receive their awards. Edgard Chow is responsible for the science fair activities.
  4. Active South Texas Section members can apply for scholarships for their children or grandchildren who live in Texas. Scholarships are up to $2,500 depending upon the number of qualified applicants.
  5. We have created ten $25,000-$50,000 endowed scholarships over the last 40 years that the schools administer.
    • Texas State – Bounita Favorite Endowment
    • Tech Tech – Mark Demark Endowment
    • Lamar University – Bill Kuhlke Endowment
    • Texas A&M – Dale Walker Endowment , Henry Kahn Endowment
    • University of Texas – Marion Johnson Endowment, Larry Holmes Endowment
    • University of Houston – Frank Padula Endowment
    • Baylor University – Walter Bradley Endowment
  6. When sufficient funds are available we have provided money for equipment at the Universities based on requests and sufficient justification.

In addition the South Texas SPE Section organizes the SPE International Polyolefins Conference in Houston every year. As part of the conference we:

  1. Give free registration and room and board to 5 students from each SPE student chapter to attend the Polyolefins Conference every year
  2. Have a free student dinner to talk about careers in plastics
  3. Have a poster competition for University Students with prizes ranging from $100-$500
  4. Award six $1,000 scholarships.

The South Texas Educational Liaisons serves an important role in providing an important communication link between the Universities and the South Texas Chapter. The following members presently served as liaisons:

Jeff Applegate – Baylor University (top 3 national SPE chapters 2015- 2019)
David Hansen – Texas A&M (top 3 national SPE student chapters 2014-2019)
Pete Lauzon – Texas Tech University
David Hansen – University of Houston
Aliene Elkins – University of North Texas
Glen Rasberry – Texas State University
Oscar Garcia – Texas State Technical College Harlingen

We need liaisons for the following schools:

University of Texas – new chapter as of last year
Lamar University – Fred Morita has covered this chapter for years and would like to retire

Please contact David Hansen if you are interested in serving as an educational liaision.

The faculty advisers for each school are important for the success of the student chapters. Our faculty advisers are:

David Jack – Baylor University
Hung-Jue Sue – Texas A&M
Greg Mckenna – Texas Tech University
Megan Robertson – University of Houston
Nankika D’Suouza – University of North Texas
Christopher Rhodes – Texas State University
Ricardo Limas – Texas State Technical College Harlingen
Nathaniel Lynd – University of Texas
Paul Bernazzani – Lamar University

The South Texas SPE section is proud to be supporting University student in polymer programs in Texas and students of our active Section members.

 



 

 


 

Registration is now open for the Polyolefins Conference 2020

The SPE International Polyolefins Conference is the largest Polymer Conference in the world dedicated to Polyolefins. The Conference is a great place to meet your customers, your suppliers, and your associates as well as hearing about the latest Developments and Technology. There are typically over 700 people attending the conference which will have 84 technical papers, 5 Keynote Plenary talks, a Sunday afternoon Polyolefins Tutorial, 64 exhibitor booths, two evening networking socials, and a student poster competition.

The SPE South Texas Section, the SPE Polymer Modifiers and Additives Division, the Thermoplastic Materials and Foams Division, Engineering Properties and Structural Division, and the Flexible Packaging Division are organizing technical sessions for the 2020 SPE International Conference (Feb 23-26 in Houston, TX) in the following areas:

Get more more information.

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Holiday Social/Technical Meeting

Join us for a fun evening at Dave & Buster's. The evening will include a buffet dinner, drinks, video games and an informative talk.

Tuesday, December 10th, 2019, 6-9pm

Cost: SPE Member $25 Non-Member $35
Questions: Dell Doyle (940) 636-1509

Register Today

Dave & Buster's Midway Party Room
7620 Katy Freeway #100
Houston, TX 7024

 

 


 

 


The first SPE-STX Sporting Clays Shoot Fundraiser has been cancelled

Because there was not enough early participation the event would not have been profitable as a fundraiser and consequently it has been cancelled.



 



Understanding the properties of processed polyamide 11

Katalee Jariyavidyanont, Jason L. Williams, Alicyn M. Rhoades, Ines K¨uhnert, Walter Focke, and Rene´ Androsch

Calculating different cooling rates for injection-molded polyamide 11 enables successful prediction of crystal polymorph details in actual molded parts.

Read More...


South Texas SPE 2019-2020 Board Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of the South Texas Board of the Society of Plastics Engineers – 10/14/2019

The SPE-STX BOD meeting was held at the Houston Technology Center. Dinner to follow.

Attendees

In – person attendees

  Teleconferenced attendees

Peter Lauzon, President   Janell Helton
Steve King, Past President   Iman Bahrani, President Elect
Tom Walsh, Secretary   John Wagner, Member at Large
Robert Portnoy, Councilor   Preston McDaniels, Member at Large
Elizabeth Lauzon, Guest   Bill Diecks, Guest

 

Opening: Peter Lauzon opened the Board meeting at 6:00 PM.

Agenda-Approval of Minutes

Councilor Report:

Financials

Programs

Month

  Program
  Location

September   ASTROS Game - 9/10/2019   Minute Maid Park
October   Technical Talk - 10/24/2019   Dave & Buster’s
November   Sporting Clays Event   Westside Sporting Grounds
December   ??    
January   Open    
February   2020 Int’l Polyolefins Conference    
March   Golf Outing - 3/24/2020    
April        
May        

 
 

Sporting Clays Event

Membership

Education

New Business

Next Meeting

Adjournment

 


Plastics Information: Check It Out

Astros

Houston Public LibraryThe Houston Public Library on McKinney has resources on plastics and polymers. Check out their catalog. If you are not near the McKinney location, you can arrange to pick up your books at your local branch.

The Fondren Library at Rice University has the most complete collection of books on plastics and polymers. This is also a prime resource for patent and trademark information, as well as other US Government documents. You cannot check out books there unless you join Fondren Library [$50], but you can arrange for books to be sent to your library by inter-library loan. Use their catalog.

The next best place to browse is at the MD Anderson Library at the University of Houston central campus. South Texas Section has donated many plastics books to this library. If you plan ahead, you can get a TexShare library card from a library where you are a member, which will allow you to check out books from any U of H library. Their catalog is here.

 


Calendar of Events

DATE EVENT LOCATION TIME
December 10 Technical Talk/Social Dave & Busters 6-9 pm
February 23-26 Polyolefins Conference Hilton Houston North All Day

 


Board of Directors

Need to contact one of us?

Section Officers

President
Peter Lauzon

President Elect
Iman Bahrani

Past President
Steve King

Vice President
Dell Doyle

Secretary
Tom Walsh 

Treasurer
Richard Keeler

Councilor
Robert Portnoy

Members at Large
David Hansen
Robert Portnoy
Clifford Lee
Chris Jorgenson
Monica Rodriguez
John Wagner
Preston McDaniels
Pau Arjanan
Matt Zwick

Committee Chairpersons

Awards Committee Chair –
Kevin Alexander
KWA-Tech, Inc.

Golf Outing

Education Committee Chair –
David Hansen
SBC Consulting

Housing
Renee Colyer
J. M. Huber Corporation

Membership Committee Co-Chairs
Chuck Crosby
Braskem Americas

Tom Walsh
Walsh Consulting Services

Newsletter –
Iman Bahrani
Omya, Inc.

Technical Program
Dell Doyle
Dow Chemical

Young Professional Chair

Polyolefins 2017 Chair –
Robert C. Portnoy
Portnoy Technical Services LLC

Board Members

Steve King
Solvay

Kevin Alexander
KWA-Tech, Inc.

Iman Bahrani
Omya, Inc.

Bill Diecks Retired

David Hansen
SBC Consulting

David Grice
C&K Plastics

Dell Doyle
Dow Chemical

Tom Walsh
Walsh Consulting Services, Inc.

Peter Lauzon
Peal Processing

 


Web Content/Section Coordinator

Janell Helton
Houston, TX 77084
713-503-6729
jdhelton@comcast.net