President’s Message

Greetings,

I was so glad to see and talk to many of you that attended our September social outing at the Astros Baseball game. It would have been even better if the Astros also showed up to play, however it was only their second home-game loss for this season.

As indicated before, SPE-STX is trying some new things to extend our ability to raise scholarship funds. The Sporting clays event scheduled November 13th is such an event and I hope each of you attends and possibly sponsors a team. It will be a great gathering with prizes and friendly competition, but it only works if you participate. Please see registration and sponsorship details on our website Event Page.

In December we’re planning a meeting at Dave and Busters (Date TBD) We’ll plan both a technical talk along with fun, food and games for all to participate.

I’ll close by asking each of you to help the organization. The old motto “many-hands make for like work” comes to play. SPE-STX has many ways to participate, volunteering for the Polyolefins annual conference, being a coordinator for many of the Universities we support (Texas Tech Coordinator is open), golf outing chairperson, and serving on the board. More information can be found on our website.

Sincerely,
Peter Lauzon, President

Large Attendence at Our Kickoff Social at Minute Maid Park

Dollar Hotdog Night was great but the Astros lost 21-7 Against the Oakland A's. Astros go into the playoffs with the best record in baseball. Go 'stos!



Registration is now open for the Polyolefins Conference 2020

February 23-26, 2020
Hilton Houston North, Houston Texas
12400 Greenspoint Dr. Houston, TX 77060

Multiple Conference Programs Are in The Works

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.

Register today

Mark your calendar and join us for the first SPE-STX Sporting Clays Shoot Fundraiser this November

Sporting clay shoots are played like golf events. Each participant shoots at targets and mark their scorecards with either a “hit” or “miss” mark. Participants shoot from different stations similar to golfers playing 18 holes.

Date
November 13, 2019

Times
9:00-11:00 Corporate-sponsored games and warm-up
11:00-12:30 Registration and quick lunch
12:30-1:00 Safety talk and get to starting to first station
1:00-4:00: Tournament
4:00-6:00: Dinner and prizes

Meals included and provided by Jerry Mikeskas BBQ & Catering

Lunch: Pulled pork sandwiches and fixings (grilled chicken alt)
Dinner: BBQ brisket and sausage (grilled chicken alt)

Fees
$180 (Playerwill be placed on a team)
$720 (Corporate team of 4 players)

Register Here
Sign up today!

Corporate sponsorship opportunities are available.

Location
Westside Sporting Grounds
10120 Pattison Rd.
Katy, TX 77493

Visit the Westside Sporting Grounds Website

Transient modeling of viscosity

Amir Moshe

The viscoelastic behavior of polymer melt is a significant factor during
rheological characterization and should be taken into account during
analysis and viscosity modeling.

Read More...

South Texas SPE 2019-2020 Board Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of the South Texas Board of the Society of Plastics Engineers – 9/09/2019

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

In–person attendees
Peter Lauzon, President
Steve King, Past President
Tom Walsh, Secretary

Teleconferenced attendees
Janell Helton
Dell Doyle, Vice President
John Wagner, Member at Large
Richard Keeler, Treasurer
Iman Bahrani

Opening: Peter Lauzon opened the Board meeting at 6:03 PM.

Agenda-Approval of Minutes

• Agenda: The agenda was presented by President Peter Lauzon
• August Minutes: Peter Lauzon moved to approve the minutes of the August Meeting of the Board. Tom Walsh seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous vote.

Councilor Report:

• Robert Portnoy attended the last Councilors meeting. He reported previously on this.

Financials

• Janell Helton reported that our current balance is $133,805 in checking and $119,113 in savings.
• Richard Keeler reported:
  • Upcoming payments to our SPE Division partners from POC 2019 totaling about $40,000.
  • Ken Thomet does our IRS filings. Janell provide the data to him. There is an outstanding invoice to Ken for $800.
• Steve King reported on his investigations into a Brokerage Account for the South Texas Section based on an investment of $100,000:
  • Chase Bank proposed three options
    ▪ 3 to 5 month CD returning 1.9%
    ▪ 6 to 8 month CD returning 1.73%
    ▪ 21 to 23 month CD returning 1.41%
    
  • JP Morgan Investments offered:
    ▪ Short Term Investment (1 year) Balance Fund return on average of 11%
    ▪ Income Fund Investment - Balanced Fund (3 to 5 years)
    • CCC Stocks – High Risk (Junk Bonds) – long term return of 7.1%
    • AAA Stocks – return of 5% to 6%
• The Board, in its discussions, decided:
  
• The Chase CDs did not provide an adequate return
  
• The JP Morgan short term (1 year) investment was too risky.
• The JP Morgan Income Fund has too many fees (average return after fees was 4.5%).
  
• Peter Lauzon contacted Ken Thomet who stated that an investment of this type is not a problem unless investment income exceeds 30% of our total income.
• Dell Doyle stated that other investment options might be better such as Fidelity (30 day rolling investment), Merrill Lynch Money Market (returns of 2.5%), Ameritrade, or other banks (Allied Bank, BMO Harris Bank (2.35%).
  

Programs

• Dell Doyle reported that tickets for the September 10th Astros game will be available at the Will Call Window. The South Texas Section purchased 54 tickets. Jeff Applegate purchased a block of tickets also adjacent to our section.
• The October meeting will be on October 24th tentatively at the Karbach Brewery. Colortech will be making the technical presentation.

Monthly Meeting Schedule

Sporting Clays Event

• Pete Lauzon reported that fees will be $180 per person with mulligans $20. Teams to be 4 individuals. There are 26 items set up for sponsorships. Pete has 2 sponsors already.
  
• Insurance will cost $365 for this event.
  
• The club has requested a down payment of $1000 and the check has already been sent.
  
• We have guaranteed a minimum of 60 individuals (15 teams).
  
• To date 4 teams (12 persons so far) have signed up.
  
• Dell Doyle asked for more information. He has some customers that might be interested.

Membership

• Tom Walsh reported that our membership has dropped to about 310. He will provide a more detailed analysis separately.

Education

• David Hansen is travelling. It was mentioned that setting up the Baylor scholarship has left only $50,000 with a $20,000 cushion in our accounts. So we do not have our usual levels of funding available for education funding.

Board Membership

• We have two open Board positions for members-at-large.

Awards Committee

• We need to re-establish this committee. Currently we do not have a chair for this committee.
• Steve King and Janell Helton have set up speaker awards.

Housing Committee

• There is an open position for Chair of the Housing Committee.

New Business

• Peter Lauzon reported that the policy manual for the South Texas Section was last updated in 1991. Copies of the policy manual are available on the website. At the next meeting
• Pete will ask for a volunteer to review and revise individual sections of the manual.
• Dell Doyle asked that Preston McDaniel be included on the mailing list.
• The Breakfast Bunch will meet on Tuesday October 8th.
  

Next Meeting

• The second Monday in October (10/14/2019)
  

Adjournment

• Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.

Plastics Information: Check It Out

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

Board of Directors

Need to contact one of us?

Web Content/Section Coordinator

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