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Graham Engineering leadership joins Penn College representatives by the American Kuhne 1.5-inch extruder that the college purchased from the company. From left are David Schroeder, president and CEO; Christopher J. Gagliano, director of the Plastics Innovation & Resource Center; Jason DiChristofaro, strategic market manager; Gary Siy, regional sales manager; Kirk M. Cantor, professor of polymer technology; and Vii J. Rice, assistant professor of polymer technology.
Representatives from Graham Engineering Co. LLC visited campus to celebrate the operational status of an extruder that Penn College purchased last fall.
The college bought an American Kuhne 1.5-inch extruder from Graham Engineering, a global leader in polymer extrusion process solutions. The purchase was funded by a portion of a $594,574 National Science Foundation grant. The Practical Polymers for Students and Industry grant (award No. 2400810) is facilitating the redesign of the college’s polymer technology curriculum and supports enhanced recruitment activities aimed at high school students, secondary teachers and incumbent workers.
The new extruder is used by students seeking an associate degree in polymer technology or a bachelor’s degree in polymer engineering technology. Staff at the college’s Plastics Innovation & Resource Center also conduct training with the new machine.
“This purchase offers both an additional workstation for providing hands-on opportunities to more students at a time and includes the most current digital technology that is used in many modern facilities,” said Kirk M. Cantor, professor of polymer technology.
Cantor, along with Nathan A. Rader-Edkin, PIRC program manager, and Reagan G. McCoy, PIRC project manager, received training on the extruder at Graham Engineering’s York facility.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2400810. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.