![President Gilmour welcomes Sen. Casey to campus and remarks on the important role his father, then governor of Pennsylvania, played in the institution's past.](//www.pct.edu/files/news/images/2016/07/1_6002201_PCTo-150x150.jpg)
![Casey checks out products created in the labs, including Penn College key-ring tags, with guidance from student Wilson R. Michael (at right).](//www.pct.edu/files/news/images/2016/07/2_6002262_PCTo-150x150.jpg)
![Casey extends a warm greeting to student Noah L. Martin …](//www.pct.edu/files/news/images/2016/07/3_6002309_PCTo-150x150.jpg)
![… who then shows the distinguished visitor the tensile tester in the polymer lab.](//www.pct.edu/files/news/images/2016/07/4_6002320_PCTo-150x150.jpg)
![Shannon M. Munro discusses industry partnerships and national plastics seminars conducted by the Plastics Innovation & Resource Center as JoAnn M. Otto, PIRC assistant, looks on.](//www.pct.edu/files/news/images/2016/07/5_6002351_PCTo-150x150.jpg)
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, featured in Penn College's award-winning "Working Class" documentary, toured the main campus plastics labs during a visit to Lycoming County on Wednesday. The Democratic senator, whose father, former Gov. Robert P. Casey, signed the legislation that created the college in 1989, got a close-up affirmation of applied technology's pre-eminence in the 21st-century workforce. Industry-standard equipment, strong job placement and impressive starting salaries are among the program's hallmarks, and collaborative relationships through the Plastics Innovation & Resource Center allow students to resolve real-world challenges on up-to-the-minute machinery. Taking part in the tour of the injection molding and polymer testing labs were college President Davie Jane Gilmour; Tom Gregory, associate vice president for instruction; Shannon M. Munro, executive director of Workforce Development & Continuing Education; Kirk M. Cantor, professor of plastics technology; Timothy E. Weston, associate professor of plastics technology; and Bradley M. Webb, assistant dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies. They were joined by plastics and polymer engineering technology students – and PIRC research assistants – Abdulaziz S. Alomani and Omar A. Aljallal, of Saudi Arabia; Noah M. Martin, of South Williamsport; Logan A. Tate, of Williamsport; and Wilson R. Michael, of Hughesville.