University Students’ Top Takeaways about Sustainability and Vinyl Uses at 2019 Vinyltec

For the past several years, the Vinyl Institute has had the opportunity to send three students to the Society of Plastics Engineers’ Vinyltec, the largest vinyl-focused conference in the U.S. This year, again, VI sent three students:

• Erin Lowe, Mississippi State University, engaging in chemical engineering undergraduate studies
• Feiyang Chen, University of Connecticut, engaging in polymer chemistry post-graduate studies
• Jiaqi Yan, North Carolina State University, engaging in chemical engineering post-graduate studies

Top Takeaways

As far as the main takeaways from the conference, each woman took away something different. For Feiyang, she was more focused on the difference in how vinyl is perceived in academia versus the industry. “In academia, you study something and publish a paper and that’s the end of the story. We don’t care as much about how people think, we’re primarily concerned with if our research is true. It was interesting to force myself to not only consider the researchers’ perspectives, but all the business’ and the market’s.”

For Jiaqi, it was thinking more about sustainability, and she distinctly remembers one question that the presenter asked—can anyone use one sentence to describe sustainability? “I still remember the answer very clearly: do more with less.”

And for Erin, it was sustainability as well, but in a different regard. “It was enlightening to hear people talking about plastics with a good perspective because all you hear nowadays is how bad plastic is for the environment. But, for example, it takes less energy to make plastic than it does paper. And if you recycle it then you can reuse it over and over again.”

Biggest Surprise

When asked what surprised them most at the conference, all three had a similar answer—they were intrigued by all of the various uses of vinyl. Feiyang was most interested in the various plasticizers and additives that make vinyl rigid or flexible. For Jiaqi, it was the vast array from piping to footwear to car interior—and she came to the realization that the gloves she uses in the lab are made of vinyl. And as for Erin, she couldn’t believe all of the uses of vinyl in healthcare—and why it’s such a useful material in that particular industry.

Women in STEM

While VI has had the chance to send women to Vinyltec in the past, this was the first year all of our grants were accepted by women. Within the last decade, there has been an increased emphasis on women in STEM, and from 1993 to 2015, the National Science Foundation reports that women in science and engineering occupations has increased from 23 percent to 28 percent.

The three women commented that throughout the last few years they have noticed an increase of women in the STEM field, and that although Vinyltec was still more attended by men, there was a l and Jiaqi that she feels that female engineers are getting more opportunities. Erin shared that she had a cousin studying engineering 20 years ago and she was the only woman in her class, but her own chemical engineering class was split 50/50. “Where I grew up, there was no STEM education of any kind,” said Erin. “And I didn’t know much about  science or engineering until I went to college, so I’m glad that there’s been a shift to a more increased focus on STEM education, particularly for women in the last few decades.”

All three students left with some new knowledge of the vinyl industry and all three expressed that they plan to explore opportunities in vinyl once they graduate. We’re excited and hope to see them at other industry events in the future.

And in the meantime, save the date for the 2020 Vinyltec taking place from Oct. 20 to 22 in Woodbridge, NJ.