Jose Perez

I'm a New York City native who moved to Erie in the early 80s when the plastics program at Penn State Behrend was ramping up. It was touted as a cutting-edge program. When I completed my Army service, I enrolled and graduated from that program.

The same thing that attracts kids to it today – the desire to know how the material that makes up so much of what we touch and see every day works. I wanted to learn how it goes from a pile of pellets into a finished object.

When I was in school, I would occasionally envision myself in the role of the teachers I had placed on a pedestal. My favorite aspect of my previous roles was when I was either translating the requirements of polymeric parts and assemblies into a language that non-plastics professionals could understand or teaching them directly how to make sense of plastic parts and materials. Those experiences gave me the hunger to work in an educational setting. When the opportunity presented itself, I seized it.

I can extend my arm at almost any point of any day and touch something made from a polymeric material. I explain that being able to make that object or that material is a skillset that isn't going away and will be in greater demand over time.

The breadth of topics and processes covered makes our program unique. The plastics field is massive and diverse. Giving students a taste of everything – from the synthesis and formulation of a material all the way to the production and evaluation of polymeric parts – provides multiple entry points for them to enter the plastics industry.