Dr. Kirk Cantor and Mason Beaver: Polymers & Possibilities

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,440 Welcome to Tomorrow Makers, where we explore how we learn, live, work, and play now and 2 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:11,440 in the future. 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:12,720 I'm Sumer Beatty. 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:14,120 And I'm Carlos Ramos. 5 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:15,680 Hi, Sumer. 6 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:16,680 Hi. 7 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,840 So we're recording this on the heels of a conversation with Dr. Kirk Cantor, professor 8 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:27,080 of plastics and polymer technology and his student Mason Beaver. 9 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,600 So much fun talking to the two of them. 10 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:30,600 Yeah. 11 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:36,080 Just all the things we don't think about when we're thinking about plastics and polymers. 12 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:40,120 But you know, it's not just all about plastics and polymers with these two guys. 13 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:45,020 You know, we got Mason, who's like getting prepped for a soccer game, Penn College soccer 14 00:00:45,020 --> 00:00:46,020 game today. 15 00:00:46,020 --> 00:00:55,160 You know, Kirk, that he's got just this fascinating background with having worked with NASA. 16 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,160 He buried that lead a little bit, didn't he? 17 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:58,160 A little bit. 18 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,160 He's going to throw NASA out, but wait for five minutes. 19 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,360 And so we're going to make sure you know he worked for NASA right off the bat. 20 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:09,080 And then this whole Ultimate Frisbee that he's got. 21 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:10,080 That's some fun. 22 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:15,360 And I didn't realize that there was a connection that he has with me through my brother through 23 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:16,360 that. 24 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:17,360 That was kind of cool. 25 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:18,360 Yeah. 26 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:19,360 Lots of fun surprises today. 27 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:20,360 Yeah. 28 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:21,360 So ready to dig in? 29 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:22,360 Yeah, let's do it. 30 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:23,360 All right. 31 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:24,360 Tomorrow Makers, enjoy. 32 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:32,320 So should... do you want to get started. 33 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:34,520 Oh, wait, hold on. 34 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:35,520 Sorry. 35 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:36,520 We'll just I'm not. 36 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,520 I'm going to put you on the spot. 37 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,760 Mason, go for it. 38 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:42,720 We always need to say hello to our guests. 39 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:43,720 I'm sorry. 40 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:44,720 I thought yes. 41 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,720 Well, we've been doing that for about 20 minutes. 42 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,760 No one knows that we haven't been recording. 43 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:51,760 Hello. 44 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:52,760 Hello. 45 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:53,760 Hello, Kirk Cantor. 46 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:54,760 Yes. 47 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:55,760 Mason Beaver. 48 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:56,760 How are you doing? 49 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:02,560 Kirk Cantor, professor of we're going to say plastics and polymer technology. 50 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:03,920 Is that or do I have that right? 51 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:05,360 Let's put the engineering in there. 52 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,080 I think we do need the engineer. 53 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:08,080 These guys are working hard. 54 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:12,880 And I know we're working to get there's some reframing of focusing on the polymers. 55 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:20,480 But and then Mason Beaver, you are a senior—junior—junior in the program and the four 56 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:21,480 year program. 57 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:22,480 Yep. 58 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:23,480 Great. 59 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:24,480 Absolutely. 60 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:25,480 Yep. 61 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:26,480 I'm a member of the men's soccer team. 62 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:27,480 Awesome. 63 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,400 Well, welcome to both of you to Tomorrow Makers. 64 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:31,400 Thank you. 65 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:37,160 So Mason says has some questions that are prepared for Kirk and we'll probably jump 66 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,600 in as we usually do or maybe we won't. 67 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:41,600 We'll see how it goes. 68 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:42,600 I don't think we can't know. 69 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:43,600 Not maybe quiet. 70 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,600 It'd be great if we're all right. 71 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:48,600 Yes. 72 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:50,640 Yeah, of course. 73 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:51,800 Makes it fun. 74 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:58,680 So, Dr. Cantor, you started your career in aerospace engineering at NASA. 75 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:02,400 Can you kind of just walk us through how you got into polymers? 76 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:03,400 Sure. 77 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:09,840 Yeah, for me now, it's kind of a long history, but been in polymers for many decades now. 78 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:11,760 But that wasn't my first passion. 79 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,560 I don't think anybody thinks of polymers as their first passion. 80 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:24,880 But I kind of always been a nerd about flight, you know, planes and spacecraft and outer 81 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,040 space and stuff like that. 82 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,040 It actually started way back. 83 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,280 My grandmother was going on an airplane flight. 84 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:39,360 And believe it or not, in those days, you could actually walk out with your friends, 85 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,520 family members that were sending you off right to the airplane on the runway. 86 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:44,520 Wow. 87 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:49,000 And yeah, you'd kind of wait at the bottom of the steps. 88 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,400 And the pilot was there to greet the passengers getting on. 89 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,200 And my grandmother said, hey, would you take my grandson up to see what it looks like in 90 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:57,280 there? 91 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,920 And when I went in the cockpit, I was probably five or six, seven years old, something like 92 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:01,920 that. 93 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,680 It was, you know, obviously spectacular for me, all these buttons and switches and lights. 94 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,160 And so I started to really get a little bit of a bug then. 95 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:15,160 And then in 1969, I saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on TV. 96 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:16,240 And that was it. 97 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:17,480 I was pretty much captured. 98 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:22,860 So in high school, I had a teacher tell me or actually a counselor, you should go consider 99 00:04:22,860 --> 00:04:24,400 aerospace engineering. 100 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:25,900 And I didn't know anything else. 101 00:04:25,900 --> 00:04:32,360 So I decided to go that route and got a degree in that was fortunate to get a job with NASA. 102 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,920 And at NASA, I worked with balloons. 103 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,880 It's not the coolest thing NASA does, but they're the coolest balloons in the world. 104 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:44,120 Very large, the size of like Beaver Stadium for Penn State fans. 105 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:45,120 Huge balloons. 106 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:46,120 Yeah. 107 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,680 And they would carry a lot of weight, but they're basically the largest trash bag in the world. 108 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:54,080 And so it's made from plastic film. 109 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:58,960 And someone in our NASA group had to start to learn about films, plastic films and how 110 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,760 they were made, extrusion and polymers and all that. 111 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,160 And I didn't know any better. 112 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:05,480 So they made me do it. 113 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:10,560 And when I did, I kind of got a bug for that and decided to eventually go back to school 114 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:12,360 and pursue that a little further. 115 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,160 And that got me here eventually. 116 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,960 So what are the weather balloons like? 117 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,600 How does that compare to like, you said, mentioned trash bags. 118 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:28,200 So how does the material on that compare to what we think of when we're thinking plastic 119 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:29,200 film? 120 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:30,200 Yeah, good question. 121 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,260 Well, first of all, Carlos, I have to tell you, weather balloons are just a little bit 122 00:05:34,260 --> 00:05:36,040 lower level than where we were at. 123 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,120 We were large scientific balloons. 124 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:40,120 I'm kidding you. 125 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:45,240 But there is a difference in weather balloons are made of rubber, basically neoprene or 126 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,040 something like that. 127 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:55,000 But honestly, a scientific balloon for NASA flying to 23 miles up carrying, you know, 128 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,100 million dollars worth of scientific equipment is traveling on a balloon that's not much 129 00:06:00,100 --> 00:06:02,400 different than a trash bag, grocery bag. 130 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,760 So it's thin polyethylene film. 131 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,720 Sometimes there are layers in this film in order to make it a little bit stronger, going 132 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,760 through some of the atmospheric changes. 133 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,960 But it's very much like a plastic bag. 134 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:16,960 Yeah. 135 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:17,960 That's incredible. 136 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:18,960 I know. 137 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,660 But the pressures inside are extremely low. 138 00:06:21,660 --> 00:06:25,040 So you're really it's just a matter of keeping that helium from escaping. 139 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:30,040 So as long as it's sealed up real well, and, you know, it's built in a 600 foot long chicken 140 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:34,480 coop, basically this these things, but yeah, it does a job. 141 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:36,400 Good question. 142 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:43,040 When you were at NASA, did you have a mentor or anyone that really made you like polymers? 143 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:44,040 That's a great question. 144 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:45,240 I hadn't really thought about that. 145 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:49,400 But actually, no one in my group at NASA knew anything about polymers. 146 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:54,080 We were kind of all aerospace folks and even balloons are considered, you know, flying 147 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:55,080 objects. 148 00:06:55,080 --> 00:07:01,680 So but we did have some problems with balloons and it looked like it was a film or a polymer 149 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:02,680 problem. 150 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,480 So we brought in some consultants, some experts and Professor Ian Harrison from Penn State 151 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:14,120 University was on the team, called them Tiger Teams at NASA and was our polyethylene expert. 152 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,480 And we also had an extrusion expert, a man named Alan Griff. 153 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:23,560 And those two guys started teaching me just as kind of this kid engineer at NASA about 154 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,040 those things. 155 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,840 And Ian Harrison really kind of took me under his wing. 156 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,360 And I began to think maybe I want to go that direction. 157 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:36,880 So I ended up going, leaving NASA to work for Ian Harrison and work on graduates in 158 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,440 graduate school at Penn State. 159 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,240 Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that till you asked. 160 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,120 Thanks. 161 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:49,320 Can you talk a little bit about the hands-on work that we do at Penn College? 162 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:50,320 Sure. 163 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:55,120 But yeah, this is kind of the Kirk Cantor show and I'm really happy to have my friends 164 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,320 here Mason and Sumer and Carlos. 165 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:02,520 And so you all I look forward to what you all have to add to this conversation as well. 166 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:09,120 But my my background in engineering did not include hands-on I kid I think I told your 167 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,000 class just recently how my first job at NASA, eventually I walked through a machine shop 168 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,720 and I was asking them what all these machines were. 169 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,400 And they began to laugh at me basically because, what you got an engineering degree, you're the 170 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:22,200 guy you're supposed to be the engineer. 171 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:23,480 You don't even know what these things are. 172 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:28,640 But a lot of traditional engineering programs, as you know, don't really have as much hands 173 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:30,320 on as what we do here at Penn College. 174 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,480 And that was a bit of a change for me to come here and have to realize I mean, I knew I'd 175 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:42,360 be teaching some hands-on but I didn't realize how much my students would be interested in 176 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:43,960 that as much. 177 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:48,000 It was more so than the more theoretical science background. 178 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,800 So that was a transition for me that took a little while. 179 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,780 But eventually, I'd say, you know, early on, I embrace that. 180 00:08:54,780 --> 00:08:59,140 And I am a huge proponent, a huge believer in what we do here because our graduates are 181 00:08:59,140 --> 00:09:03,680 leaving here and immediately making contributions in areas that are needed. 182 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:08,960 I know a lot of companies today can't afford to have some blue sky engineer that can just 183 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,640 kind of think theoretically, they need people that can do stuff right away. 184 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,680 And our graduates are really good at that. 185 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:21,600 And I believe that what we're teaching in the classroom fundamentally, theoretically 186 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:23,560 is very sound as well. 187 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:27,200 And the combination of those two things, I tell you guys all the time, you're in such 188 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:33,160 a good spot to be able to talk about those worlds, both the science, the theory, understanding 189 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:38,320 what's going on underneath and at the molecular level, but also be able to run that machine 190 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:40,800 if you need to and how to fix it and make it better. 191 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,400 So yeah, Penn College is great at that. 192 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,600 Sorry, I probably forgot your original question, but I know it had to do with hands-on and 193 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:49,840 I think it's great what we do. 194 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,600 I think you covered it. 195 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:58,600 So our major just changed their name to Polymer Engineering Technology. 196 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:04,000 Can you give us a little bit of an explanation between the difference of engineering technology 197 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:05,280 and just engineering? 198 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:06,280 Sure. 199 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:11,840 Yeah, in fact, let me reference and maybe Sumer, Carlos, you can help here is recently 200 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:17,980 the college did a really nice video with our assistant dean, Kathy Chesmail on the very 201 00:10:17,980 --> 00:10:20,640 difference of those two things and she explained them really well. 202 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,000 So maybe your listeners might like to check that out sometime. 203 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,320 We'll definitely link that up in the show notes. 204 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:27,320 Perfect. 205 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:28,320 Yeah. 206 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:30,360 So that's a, but I'll give you a brief thumbnail here. 207 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:38,160 And yeah, engineering technology is definitely that combination of both hands-on and theory. 208 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:43,600 It's folks that maybe even are more inclined to like to tinker with their hands, but you 209 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,040 know, want to understand the fundamentals as well. 210 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:50,800 Like I said, we're, you know, an engineering program, a traditional engineering program, 211 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:52,920 there's not going to be as much hands-on. 212 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,920 They're going to definitely go deeper in some of the science and some of the, in particularly, 213 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:58,120 the math. 214 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:04,820 And so their focus would be on, for example, modeling natural phenomena or the way things 215 00:11:04,820 --> 00:11:11,280 work in a, in a manufacturing environment, a biochemical environment, modeling that mathematically 216 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:17,640 and then using computers to try to improve those processes through, you know, mathematical 217 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:19,320 models. 218 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:21,080 That's one big difference there. 219 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,200 Otherwise, there's a lot of intersection overlap. 220 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:29,680 So after school, can someone with an engineering technology or an engineering degree get the 221 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:32,640 same job? 222 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,800 It depends on the company and many cases, yes. 223 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:41,240 So particularly if we look at small to medium-sized companies, they need somebody technical. 224 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,540 They don't have that many people in a very large corporation. 225 00:11:44,540 --> 00:11:48,600 There's probably going to be a differentiation there. 226 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,920 But for example, and I'm not sure if you're going to go there or not, but I'll jump ahead 227 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:57,640 maybe is some of our graduates go on to graduate school. 228 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,800 And as a matter of fact, I'll give a shout-out to Jordan Greenland, one of our students 229 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,960 that just got his PhD a couple of weeks ago in polymer science. 230 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,920 So yeah, that's definitely an avenue. 231 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:12,320 We don't provide through our program, all the math that they would need. 232 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:16,360 So they would need to provide more of that at the graduate school level. 233 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:22,100 But yeah, so I don't think that there's a huge difference. 234 00:12:22,100 --> 00:12:26,080 But yeah, in a large corporation, I would say some of the theoretical engineers they 235 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,640 would hire, they wouldn't hire from our program, but most people would. 236 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:34,520 Mason, I was thinking about our discussion prior and how you were talking about your 237 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:35,960 internship. 238 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,480 And so have you had, is it one internship so far? 239 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:39,480 I've had two. 240 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:40,480 Two? 241 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:41,480 Okay. 242 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,720 So being in the field as an intern, maybe there's some insight you would have as far 243 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:49,320 as like your hands-on background and how you felt you stacked up against other people that 244 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,880 you were working alongside. 245 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:55,400 And like, did people come to you for, you know, hey Mason, what do you think about this? 246 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,200 You know, how did, how were those interactions? 247 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:04,800 So I think people that go to Penn College that don't have internships, they're a little 248 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:08,440 bit worried about what the future holds for them. 249 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,600 After school, you're smarter than you think. 250 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:16,480 When I went into my first internship at Sekusui Kydex, I only had one year of experience in 251 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:20,120 plastics and I didn't know anything prior to that. 252 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:27,160 And I figured out quickly that we know more than we think. 253 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:32,440 A lot of people in industry don't know about polymer science or how the plastic in their 254 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:37,800 extruder behaves as they work with it every single day. 255 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,520 And people would come to me and ask me questions that they were confused about and I'd be like, 256 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:42,880 this is a simple concept. 257 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,500 I've talked about this many times. 258 00:13:45,500 --> 00:13:50,680 So I think as students graduate or go into their internships, they should be more confident 259 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:52,360 in their abilities that they learn. 260 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:54,460 Yeah, I love that. 261 00:13:54,460 --> 00:13:55,460 What did you say? 262 00:13:55,460 --> 00:13:56,880 We're all, we know more than we think. 263 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,360 Yeah, we know more than we think. 264 00:13:58,360 --> 00:13:59,360 Yeah. 265 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:00,360 We're smarter than we thought. 266 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,200 I like that on a broader level too. 267 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,160 I think we should all give ourselves credit. 268 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:06,160 I do. 269 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:08,760 I think a lot of us are, we're all guilty of it. 270 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:09,960 You know, oh, I don't know. 271 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:10,960 Don't ask me. 272 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,200 I'm just, you know, such and such, whatever. 273 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:14,560 Like no, for real. 274 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:17,360 Like it's just a little PSA. 275 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:19,680 Yeah, I agree. 276 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,080 That sounds very, something I've heard many times. 277 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:29,040 I teach a lot of seminars in industry and I'll be teaching them things that you guys 278 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:30,360 are great at. 279 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:32,840 And they're saying, thank you so much for bringing this information. 280 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,840 We didn't know that. 281 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:36,840 That's very cool. 282 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:38,640 There's a lot of humility in this room. 283 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:44,040 I'm looking at the three of you because I'm like, I'm good. 284 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:52,400 Hopefully, we all have our areas, strengths and weaknesses. 285 00:14:52,400 --> 00:15:00,800 Dr. Kanner, over your long career in polymer science, have you had any projects that were 286 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,920 your favorite or very interesting to you? 287 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:04,920 Yes. 288 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:05,920 Let's see. 289 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:13,480 Mostly my favorite thing is working with students. 290 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:20,240 And more importantly, I think when they finish and go out in industry and are doing amazing 291 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:26,440 things and having careers where they can have families, where they can be the major contributor 292 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:32,960 in their company, traveling the world and just adding value where they go. 293 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:37,720 To have felt like I was a teeny part of that, that's probably the most important project 294 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:43,920 I've ever had and to be able to see that now, hundreds of students. 295 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:48,960 But me personally doing projects, I've done a lot of fun things that I've really enjoyed. 296 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:54,900 I always say being at Penn College from my career has far exceeded any expectations I 297 00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:56,440 ever had for a career. 298 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:03,560 And we're not MIT, but what we do here is just as important as anybody's doing anywhere 299 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:04,560 else. 300 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,600 And so I get to be a part of that. 301 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:14,320 And some of those projects, let's see, have been to develop some of the very first, probably 302 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:22,720 the first animations and some simulators and graphics for teaching plastics engineering 303 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:23,720 that anybody did. 304 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:28,960 We had a very large grant from the National Science Foundation in the mid-90s. 305 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,520 And that was a lot of fun. 306 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,480 That's kind of when computer based training was really starting to take off. 307 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,760 And not too many people had done it for plastics yet, maybe nobody. 308 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:38,360 And so we got to do that. 309 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:45,440 Yeah, I worked on an interesting project where we were developing new films for contact lenses 310 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:51,800 that would change color or darkness, kind of like sunglasses do. 311 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,080 And with contact lenses, that was interesting. 312 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:56,880 Is that like a transition lens? 313 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:57,880 Yeah, something like that. 314 00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:58,880 Yeah. 315 00:16:58,880 --> 00:16:59,880 Are they around? 316 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:00,880 I don't know. 317 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:01,880 I'd like that project. 318 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:08,680 We didn't get too far, but they basically hit some some block and then they went back 319 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,080 to the company and they worked on it. 320 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:11,960 So I don't know if they ever finished that or not. 321 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,520 But we were involved in the early stages of it. 322 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:15,520 Nice. 323 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:16,520 That was fun. 324 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:17,520 Yeah. 325 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,120 But yeah, those are a couple that come to mind. 326 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:22,080 What process did you use for those contact lenses? 327 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,680 Well for the lenses, they're typically cast, so poured into a mold, but they were going 328 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:27,880 to put this thin film over the top. 329 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:29,600 So that would be applied somehow. 330 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:30,600 We're developing the film. 331 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,480 So an extrusion process. 332 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:33,480 Okay. 333 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:34,560 Yeah. 334 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:40,400 Can you talk a little bit about students careers after they graduate here? 335 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:41,400 Sure. 336 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:42,400 Yeah. 337 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,400 I mean, I mentioned already some graduate work. 338 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:50,120 I've had a number of students go on and get their masters or PhDs. 339 00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:51,120 Let's see. 340 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:54,680 The ones that people find interesting is we have a student working at Google X. 341 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,560 So they somehow Twitter took the name X too. 342 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:58,560 But Google has... 343 00:17:58,560 --> 00:17:59,560 How did they do that? 344 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:00,560 I don't know. 345 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:01,560 Because you think Google, Twitter. 346 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:02,560 We were just talking about that today actually. 347 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:03,960 They would probably fight about that. 348 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:09,520 But anyway, Google earlier had this division or department they call X, which is it's all 349 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:11,080 about what they call moonshots. 350 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:17,880 They just develop stuff that anybody could think up that's crazy that would solve world 351 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:18,880 problems. 352 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,360 And so we have a student there who's working on robotics. 353 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:27,720 Like I said, just the whole idea of students having these careers that they love and that 354 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:32,360 they're contributing, that's really gratifying. 355 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:36,800 But to me, that's better than naming companies that they work for. 356 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:42,120 But yeah, I'd probably have to think a little more about what other kind of cool jobs people 357 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:43,120 have out there. 358 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:46,920 But many of them have started their own companies. 359 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:52,920 And I think plastics and polymers are in so many different things. 360 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:58,840 So really when you think about the opportunities, it's as vast as your imagination. 361 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,600 Is there anything that you've talked to people and they say, oh my goodness, I never imagined 362 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:09,320 that that would be in the realm of your expertise with plastics and polymers? 363 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,360 Yeah, I don't know about that. 364 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:16,120 I mean, contact lenses, I just would have never thought of that. 365 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,880 Yeah, like you say, it's just so commonplace that things are made of plastic. 366 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,800 I think everybody realizes that there's plastic all around us. 367 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:29,080 But I don't think they realize some of the value that plastic has over other materials 368 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:30,880 in some of those applications. 369 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:31,880 But you're right. 370 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:32,880 I mean, it's everywhere. 371 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:33,880 Right. 372 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,880 What are some of those pros, those values? 373 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,400 Well, of course, they're lightweight. 374 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:45,760 And so in a lot of cases, we replace metals and ceramics glass, for example. 375 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,520 But again, just walking down the grocery store shelves, you just don't see the kind of glass 376 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,940 you used to see. 377 00:19:52,940 --> 00:19:58,160 But that means that transporting products can be more energy efficient because we're 378 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:03,640 not carrying as much weight for the packaging. 379 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:09,560 And so the lightweight, there's also the energy savings in actually producing things out of 380 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:10,560 plastic. 381 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,760 So if you have to process metals or ceramics, the temperature is required. 382 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,760 So the energy required are significantly higher. 383 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,440 So plastics has a big savings there. 384 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:28,600 Yeah, I mean, this whole idea of sustainability is a hot topic today. 385 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,440 And people are concerned about plastics in the environment. 386 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,240 And one of the biggest issues, I think, is littering. 387 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:40,960 I mean, in general, the stuff that's out there that's giving us grief, seeing it blowing 388 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:45,280 in the wind or floating on the water or whatever is because plastics are lightweight, which 389 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,080 obviously, as I said, has some benefits. 390 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:54,800 But there's other materials that are sinking to the bottom of the ocean or getting buried. 391 00:20:54,800 --> 00:21:00,400 But I think it's the first concern has to be how we handle what we do with. 392 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:05,500 And I realize that some of that responsibility does go to the manufacturers of these products. 393 00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:07,560 But I think we have to do better as well. 394 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:13,000 Like, I don't know, you all probably might know about the commercial in the late 60s, 395 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:18,720 early 70s with the Indian guy who was kind of canoeing down the river and then seeing 396 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:24,000 pants to right next to a highway where he's close to and somebody throws litter out the 397 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:25,000 window. 398 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:29,320 That commercial had amazing impact on the reduction of littering in this country. 399 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,280 And so I think we can do things about that. 400 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:37,560 But at the same time, we have to think of better ways to handle plastics, handle packaging 401 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:38,560 in general. 402 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:44,000 I'll just give you, if I could, my three kind of steps or tips on what we need to do, my 403 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,560 three points when it regard to plastics and the negative aspects of plastics. 404 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,160 And that is, first of all, it's not really a fair fight. 405 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:57,720 So if someone says, well, this plastics hurting in our environment or hurting somebody's health, 406 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,600 they're going to get immediate headlines. 407 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,740 And then it will take millions of dollars and all these researchers to disprove if that's 408 00:22:03,740 --> 00:22:05,280 not true. 409 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:06,680 But the next point is, so what? 410 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:11,400 If it might be harmful to the environment or it might be harmful to people, then I think 411 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:12,400 we need to do something about it. 412 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:13,720 We need to find solutions. 413 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,720 But the third thing is the people who are going to find solutions are the people that 414 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:23,080 are interested in the technology, skilled in the technology, like Mason and his colleagues 415 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:28,680 that are learning these things, getting these skills, as well as the future engineers they'll 416 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,000 become. 417 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:35,800 So I think we have to realize that plastics have huge benefits. 418 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:37,800 But we do have to use them properly. 419 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,040 And it's the people that understand it and care about it that are going to make those 420 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:43,040 problems minimized. 421 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,040 Good points. 422 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:52,480 So I'm hearing definitely a personal responsibility in terms of how we use, how we dispose. 423 00:22:52,480 --> 00:23:00,360 I don't think you talked on municipality and government responsibility there, but those 424 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:07,280 agencies that are taking that waste that hopefully we're getting rid of it in the right way at 425 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:15,840 the personal level, that those municipalities or the resource management entities, that 426 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:21,920 they have their handling of it properly, which I think that's a whole nother podcast episode 427 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,000 if we want to dig down there. 428 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:31,320 And culturally, that we are embracing that development of the Masons that are going to 429 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:39,440 be that future in making sure that we're engineering plastics the right way in regards to all of 430 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:44,920 the concerns that we might have and weighing that against the concerns of all the other 431 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:50,600 materials looking at plastics in isolation probably isn't the right approach. 432 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,160 You mentioned the efficiencies that it creates. 433 00:23:54,160 --> 00:24:00,760 Well, we're actually then reducing the amount of petroleum that we'd be using overall by 434 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,560 embracing the right types of plastics handled in the right way. 435 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:05,560 Exactly. 436 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:06,560 That's well said. 437 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:07,560 Yes. 438 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:08,560 You hit the nail on the head. 439 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:12,960 I say if someone gets to a point where they're like, I don't want any plastics in my life, 440 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,080 then I tell them, I hope you never have to go to the hospital because there's a lot of 441 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,920 benefits to using plastics in those kind of environments. 442 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,560 And I think you explained it really well what our responsibilities are. 443 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:28,600 I'd just like to add that recycling kind of is getting a bad rap these days. 444 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,320 People are coming up with reports saying that recycling is not doing what they said it's 445 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:33,680 supposed to be doing. 446 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:35,920 And I think there's some truth to how it's handled. 447 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:40,440 And you mentioned the responsibilities of municipalities and government. 448 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:47,600 But recycling is, I want to just say on the record, a very legitimate source for sustaining 449 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:53,440 plastics and reusing them and reducing our consumption and reducing our energy consumption. 450 00:24:53,440 --> 00:25:00,240 So I would just encourage all of our listeners to be involved in recycling and then the next 451 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,240 steps what happens to it from there, others have to worry about. 452 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,400 But we can do our part, as you said, personal responsibility. 453 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:06,400 I like that. 454 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:07,400 Yeah. 455 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,920 And if there are any resources that you can think of that you want to send us offline, 456 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,560 we're happy to include those with our show notes as well. 457 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:13,560 All right. 458 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:14,560 Thank you. 459 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:20,480 So as you've been in the plastics program and kind of led it all these years, do you 460 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:26,960 have a vision for the future in the next five to 10 years of what you hope the program to 461 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,560 be or how it will change? 462 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,160 First of all, I think that we're in good hands. 463 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,840 And within a couple years of retiring, most likely. 464 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:44,080 But the folks that are in our program now, my colleagues on the faculty, they're passionate 465 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:45,440 about our program. 466 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,960 They're passionate about the technology. 467 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,960 They love working with you all with students and they're good at it. 468 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,120 And so I'm not worried about the future of the program. 469 00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:59,600 As far as a vision, I'm probably going to leave that to them, you know, where this program 470 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,440 goes and what happens next with it. 471 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:10,760 But you know, I can see it, you know, it's just the necessary way we have to respond 472 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:18,200 is that cultural, societal changes, pressures are going to dictate, for example, you know, 473 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:25,360 talking about polymers versus plastics, what's the difference and why plastics have this 474 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:29,960 negative connotation, these kinds of things seem to be dictating kind of how this and 475 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,860 similar programs and other colleges are going to go. 476 00:26:32,860 --> 00:26:38,920 But as far as the, you know, the future, you know, we've talked about benefits of plastics 477 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:44,880 here and it's not going away and we're going to continue to find better uses for it, better 478 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:45,880 ways to use it. 479 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:50,240 So I know the program's future is good and it's in good hands, like I said. 480 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,800 So I don't particularly have my own vision for it. 481 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,480 I'm going to let that just unfold. 482 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,600 And I think it's going to be bright. 483 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:04,840 And so I'll just add that, you know, our graduates that are out there doing amazing things, I 484 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:09,200 mean, every one of our seniors is getting multiple job offers. 485 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,960 There's huge opportunities for them. 486 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,640 That is the reason, well, that is an indication that again, that the future is bright. 487 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,920 And so Mason, like when you're out there doing awesome things, I know you're going to do 488 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:26,880 those kind of things are going to point back to there's a need for programs like this. 489 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,200 Can we talk about what you're going to do? 490 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,240 Maybe I don't actually I'm jumping ahead. 491 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,240 Carlos, I'll go for it. 492 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,320 Or not. 493 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,920 Is this not I'm I'll talk about it. 494 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:38,920 Cool. 495 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:40,120 I didn't know if you knew for sure. 496 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:42,400 If you're like, well, I'm not really. 497 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:48,760 So within plastics, there's also composites, which is my biggest interest. 498 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:54,000 So things like carbon fiber, Kevlar, fiberglass. 499 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:58,680 I would really like to work in the aerospace and defense industry, making composite parts 500 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:05,840 for all sorts of different apparatuses and applications. 501 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:13,120 I'd really like to move out west to work in an aerospace kind of field and just explore 502 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:16,800 what else plastics have to offer. 503 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:17,800 Nice. 504 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,440 Very cool. 505 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:23,720 You mentioned several materials there, and I think many of our listeners would be really 506 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:25,680 surprised to learn that. 507 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,040 Oh, what carbon fiber? 508 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:28,880 I was thinking that too. 509 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,520 Yes, that that's many of the other materials you mentioned were plastics. 510 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:38,840 I think we might need to take a step back and really define what are polymers, what 511 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:43,920 are plastics, what are some of those different materials that fall under these different 512 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:45,600 categories? 513 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:50,040 And maybe why is it important to even think about these materials under these different 514 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,680 labels? 515 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:57,600 I tend to use the words polymers and plastics interchangeably, just in general conversation, 516 00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:59,120 but there is a difference. 517 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:04,680 And it really just boils down to the polymer is a type of molecule where plastic is the 518 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:10,080 broad category name for a type of material that we use. 519 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:17,880 So for example, at the molecular level, we can have these atoms connected together into 520 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:24,800 a molecule, but a polymer is one where it's a long chain-like molecule made up of many 521 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:28,960 repeating units, identical repeating units. 522 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:30,320 And they're naturally occurring. 523 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:36,160 So like silk, cotton, DNA, these are polymers. 524 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:41,320 But mostly when we talk about polymers today, we're talking about manmade or synthetic materials 525 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:47,960 that are based on carbon, but they come from petroleum, natural gas, but can come from 526 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:55,640 natural or what we call bio resources like corn, sugar cane, things like that. 527 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:59,600 So we start with these basic building block molecules and put them together into long 528 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:00,600 chains. 529 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:07,120 And that's done by companies like Shell and DuPont and ExxonMobil and those kind of usually 530 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,800 oil, you know, they have the raw material. 531 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,600 So anyway, that's a polymer is just a basic long chain-like molecule. 532 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:20,000 But when you take gazillions of them into a bulk and then put some additives in there 533 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:26,260 that might make it last longer under heat or protect from ultraviolet radiation or make 534 00:30:26,260 --> 00:30:28,560 it slip through machinery easily. 535 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:32,880 When you have that material, these polymer-based materials with some additives in there, 536 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:38,400 and then you shape them into something because at high temperatures, they tend to flow like 537 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:40,400 a very viscous liquid. 538 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,080 When you shape them into something, we call them plastics because there's a Greek word 539 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:48,160 plasticos, which just means shapeable, moldable. 540 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:54,040 So the reason why, for example, that water bottle is the shape it is, is we melted it 541 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,480 and then formed it into a shape. 542 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:01,460 And so we call that a plastic material where metals and ceramics tend to be machined or 543 00:31:01,460 --> 00:31:05,740 forged or cast and not molded or shaped. 544 00:31:05,740 --> 00:31:08,720 So that's what plastics are versus polymers. 545 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:14,640 But again, because most polymers today are used for plastics, we call polymers plastics 546 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:16,320 kind of the same thing. 547 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,680 But I don't know, Mason, why don't you talk a little bit about the way there's things 548 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:20,120 like carbon fiber. 549 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,920 Where does that and Kevlar, how does that come into play? 550 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,320 So composites are made of two different parts. 551 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,680 There's a reinforcement layer and a matrix level. 552 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:35,480 So carbon fiber is made of a polymer called polyacrylonitrile, which when you cure it, 553 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:41,400 it turns from a light yellow color to the black that you would know as carbon fiber. 554 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,560 Then we use weave patterns to reinforce those. 555 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,200 And then we use an epoxy matrix. 556 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:54,840 And once that cures, the carbon fiber is reinforcing that epoxy material to make it very strong. 557 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,660 So the reason carbon fiber is used in all these applications is because of its stiffness 558 00:31:59,660 --> 00:32:04,820 and rigidity and it has very high flexural strength and modulus. 559 00:32:04,820 --> 00:32:12,880 So yes, carbon fiber is a polymer, but it's also its own kind of thing that makes it a 560 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:14,960 composite. 561 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,680 And carbon fiber is like, like if you just say carbon fiber, it's not necessarily the 562 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,560 same carbon fiber from one application to the next. 563 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:24,520 I'm thinking I'm going to go back to bikes. 564 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,520 We're going to weave bikes into it. 565 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:27,520 That's where my mind went. 566 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,260 I'm like, that's what makes my bike light. 567 00:32:29,260 --> 00:32:31,960 We were talking about bikes before we jumped on here. 568 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,120 So like to get one type of carbon fiber, you could probably get a pretty terrible bike 569 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:43,400 frame out of some carbon fiber and just a fantastic bike frame out of another. 570 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:48,320 It really has to do with the weave pattern that you choose and how tightly interlocked 571 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:49,980 those fibers are. 572 00:32:49,980 --> 00:32:54,460 And then also the grade of epoxy that you're using. 573 00:32:54,460 --> 00:33:01,860 Like aerospace-grade materials use a process called autoclave, which is a curing process 574 00:33:01,860 --> 00:33:09,720 that really squeezes those fibers together and gets all that extra stuff out to give 575 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:18,080 it that strength instead of just doing a hand layup on your own in your garage or a lab. 576 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:19,080 Yeah. 577 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,200 Expensive bike versus the cheap bike. 578 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,200 Exactly. 579 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,200 Good job. 580 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:24,200 Okay. 581 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,280 So we're looking for aerospace-grade carbon fiber. 582 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:31,160 If you want your bike to be the lightest and the best, then yeah. 583 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:32,160 Wow. 584 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,720 So quality is directly related to weight then in that case. 585 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:37,720 Maybe? 586 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:44,520 Not completely, but weight savings compared to its ability to withstand different forces. 587 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:51,840 I would say that's the deciding factor on what level of grade your carbon fiber is. 588 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:52,840 Now we know. 589 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:53,840 Yeah. 590 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,760 A little more background. 591 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:02,040 We commonly talk about five processes in plastics here, five main processes. 592 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:07,400 And I'm pretty sure there's more than those five, but can you talk a little bit, both 593 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:12,240 of you, about the different processes that exist in plastics? 594 00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:16,840 What examples we might see around that and what we do here? 595 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:18,480 Sure. 596 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,000 I'll start. 597 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,320 So like you said, there's more processes, there's more aspects of plastics than just 598 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:26,760 how we process them. 599 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:33,760 And we use the word process to mean, we use the word process to define the different methods 600 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:37,440 for manufacturing things out of plastic material. 601 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:43,660 So I'd say that just to point out that different plastics-focused programs may emphasize various 602 00:34:43,660 --> 00:34:45,320 aspects of the plastics industry. 603 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:49,560 For example, designing the parts that are going to be made out of plastic or designing 604 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:57,000 the machinery or the tools we call molds or dyes to form or shape the plastic. 605 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:02,540 We here at Penn College decided many years ago that our strength and where we're going 606 00:35:02,540 --> 00:35:08,000 to emphasize in our program is going to be on these five main processes. 607 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:12,280 So these are the kind of the main ways that people make stuff out of plastic. 608 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:14,040 And I'll just list them and give an example of each. 609 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:22,060 So injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, thermoforming, and rotational molding. 610 00:35:22,060 --> 00:35:25,880 And there's, as you said, call us other methods and variations of all those. 611 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:27,840 But those are kind of the five main areas. 612 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:32,680 And so in injection molding, this is where you would have a closed mold and you would 613 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:37,240 inject molten plastic under very high pressure into this mold. 614 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:42,560 The plastic would come in hot, the mold is cold, so it quickly solidifies, cools and 615 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:48,960 then solidifies, and we make so many kinds of just three-dimensional shape parts. 616 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:54,600 Everything from little connectors to big body panels for cars to anything that's a three 617 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,480 dimensional shape. 618 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:59,680 And I mentioned extrusion next because that's more a two-dimensional. 619 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,440 So think like a garden hose that just has the continuous same shape over and over for 620 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,240 miles and miles and miles. 621 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:09,920 That would be made on an extruder where it's kind of like a Play-Doh fun factory. 622 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:14,920 You're just squirting the shapeable stuff through a shaping die and it keeps that shape 623 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,720 as long as you want. 624 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:19,920 But it's not just garden hose. 625 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,680 I mean, we can make a catheter that goes into someone's brain to save their life. 626 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,280 We can make flat sheets. 627 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,520 We can make coated wire, lots and lots of things. 628 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,920 As in injection molding, many different kinds of shapes. 629 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:36,560 I think I mentioned blow molding next, but that would be pretty much all our bottles 630 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:41,840 from milk jugs to water bottles to soda bottles to everything like that and lots of toys and 631 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:43,360 containers. 632 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:49,000 Thermoforming uses some flat sheet made by an extruder that we then reheat and form that 633 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:54,000 around a tool, what we call a tool or a mold to have some shape. 634 00:36:54,000 --> 00:37:00,920 Think solo cups or in high-speed application, we'd make packaging like those clamshell 635 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:01,920 containers. 636 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:02,920 You're going to get a to-go salad. 637 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:04,460 You're going to put it in there. 638 00:37:04,460 --> 00:37:08,600 And then finally, rotational molding is for big hollow stuff like huge water tanks you've 639 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:13,200 seen on the back of a truck sloshing water around. 640 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:18,040 Go back to thermoforming, give Mason a little segue here because his company that he worked 641 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:23,560 for his internship is a premier leader in making sheets specifically for thermoforming. 642 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,920 Maybe you could talk about some of the applications that those sheets go into. 643 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:36,600 Yeah, I'm Kydex, SEKISUI, Kydex, and they make PVC sheet for thermoforming applications. 644 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,600 It's in everything. 645 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:48,180 Agriculture, aerospace, Kydex is main kind of market is airplane interiors. 646 00:37:48,180 --> 00:37:53,920 So if you're riding coach, you're probably not going to see Kydex's stuff. 647 00:37:53,920 --> 00:38:01,720 But when you get into those luxury interiors, that's Kydex's kind of thing. 648 00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:07,840 Your seat backs, the folding trays down in front of you, overhead compartments, all that 649 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:11,760 kind of stuff is Kydex's bread and butter. 650 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:16,760 I just bought a sheet of Kydex, like a 12-inch square sheet of Kydex. 651 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:22,160 I think somewhere I was telling you back when I was using the zero-drop shoes. 652 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:25,680 I won't name the right, the really, really super thin ones. 653 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:30,600 And I went on a run and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I miss a rock plate in my shoe. 654 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:37,520 So I wanted to like retrofit a rock plate into these super light running shoes. 655 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,440 And so I found this this Kydex sheet and I where did that come from? 656 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:46,120 Where did you just come across a Kydex sheet? 657 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:51,280 The big A disease story, just like you would find anything else. 658 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:56,480 So yeah, I got this sheet and I cut it to my shoes and it works. 659 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:57,600 It's amazing. 660 00:38:57,600 --> 00:38:59,360 It's got that flexibility. 661 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,280 You know, it's got the protection against the rocks. 662 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:07,440 And yeah, so there's a shoe on the market right now that is hundreds of dollars retail 663 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,720 that does an in a carbon plate. 664 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:12,680 You can take in and out for different surface needs. 665 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:13,680 Yeah. 666 00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:15,160 So you just created that just like that. 667 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:16,160 Ten bucks. 668 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:17,160 Yeah. 669 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:18,160 Wow. 670 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:19,160 That's awesome. 671 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:20,160 And it was Kydex. 672 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:21,600 Was it the right thickness already? 673 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,640 Did you have to think it is the right thickness? 674 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:24,640 It was. 675 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:29,320 They actually build it for they sell these sheets so you can form your own gun holsters. 676 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:30,320 Right. 677 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:35,720 And I'm like, well, if it works for guns, it'll work for my shoe, apparently. 678 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:40,720 And I could have like, you know, gotten the heat gun and really formed it around my foot. 679 00:39:40,720 --> 00:39:44,060 But I was like, I just put it in flat and it worked out just fine. 680 00:39:44,060 --> 00:39:48,000 So I may still take the heat gun to it and just give it that shape, you know, so 681 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:49,800 custom to my foot. 682 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:50,800 Wow. 683 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:51,800 That's cool. 684 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:53,800 I didn't know you're a trail runner. 685 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,080 Yeah. 686 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,240 That's another whole podcast. 687 00:39:57,240 --> 00:40:02,040 That's the second theme that we're going to carry through. 688 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:03,640 Sumer's much more of a trail runner. 689 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:05,600 Oh, see, there you go. 690 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:06,760 That's humility. 691 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:08,640 I think we're all runners. 692 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:09,640 If we run, we're runners. 693 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:10,640 Right. 694 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:11,640 Yeah. 695 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:12,640 Yeah. 696 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,000 Now that we're off the topic. 697 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:21,680 Can you tell us a little bit about things you do in your free time or things you enjoy? 698 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:22,680 Sure. 699 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:23,680 Thanks for asking. 700 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:24,920 That's fun stuff. 701 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:26,760 Well, I run as well. 702 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:27,760 Oh, nice. 703 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:28,760 Yep. 704 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:32,560 And trail running and do some races. 705 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:35,360 I got to brag a little bit about my daughter. 706 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:41,280 My oldest daughter ran a hundred-mile ultra marathon two weeks ago. 707 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:43,440 And she it was her first one. 708 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,640 She finished first female third overall, but it was because of her paces. 709 00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:52,400 You see, she invited some folks that she runs with to run sections with her. 710 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:53,400 And I got to do that. 711 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,720 And that was that was a lot of fun. 712 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:57,240 At three hours with my daughter. 713 00:40:57,240 --> 00:40:59,480 I don't get that much time with her these days. 714 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,120 That was a lot of fun. 715 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:02,680 But yeah, she's a really good runner. 716 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:07,240 But we and then another daughter of mine, I'm blessed to have four beautiful daughters. 717 00:41:07,240 --> 00:41:11,680 Two, two of my daughters and I we run a lot of races together. 718 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:15,080 So we do trail races and five days and 10 days and stuff like that. 719 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:17,240 So that's something I really enjoy doing. 720 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:21,480 I'm getting to the point where I probably only run if I'm going to run with them. 721 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:25,080 I'm busy and it's not as much fun anymore. 722 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,500 But anyway, I still like to run. 723 00:41:27,500 --> 00:41:31,320 So back to the hundred mile or I have to ask, where was that Pine Creek challenge? 724 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:34,960 OK, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. 725 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:36,280 I pay somebody for that. 726 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,480 It was either last year or the year before. 727 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:39,480 Nice. 728 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:40,480 Did they win? 729 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:42,920 No, I can't claim that they won. 730 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:44,400 Actually, no. 731 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:46,120 Well, did they finish? 732 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:47,760 That's winning. In ultra marathon. 733 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:48,760 It's just about finishing. 734 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:53,440 I was with somebody that ended up winning the 50-mile version. 735 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,400 So yeah, I almost forgot about her. 736 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:57,400 Sorry, Julie. 737 00:41:57,400 --> 00:41:59,640 Well, you got her in there. 738 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:00,640 Yeah, that's good. 739 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:01,640 Yeah. 740 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:02,640 Oh, that's nice. 741 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:03,640 Yeah. 742 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:04,640 So that's fun. 743 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:09,480 And I'll bring this up because there's another connection here is I met my wife through Frisbee 744 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:10,480 connections. 745 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:11,480 I have a beautiful wife. 746 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:14,480 We're going to celebrate our 40th anniversary this weekend. 747 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,320 So family is another really important part of my life. 748 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:22,720 Again, four beautiful daughters, a wife that's just as beautiful on the inside as she is 749 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:24,080 on the outside. 750 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:28,600 And she's kind and patient and has put up with me for 40 years. 751 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,920 So pretty awesome. 752 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:33,120 That's been a huge part of my life. 753 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:35,640 And then we also have five grandchildren. 754 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,720 So just love spending time with family. 755 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:41,640 But anyway, so I met my wife through contacts with Frisbee. 756 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:44,240 I got my job at NASA through contacts with Frisbee. 757 00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:47,400 I got into playing tournaments at a young age. 758 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:51,480 I played in the world championships in 1982. 759 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:55,680 But Carlos's brother is way better than I am at disc golf. 760 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:56,840 So you're doing disc golf. 761 00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:57,840 Yeah. 762 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,600 Well, I've been playing disc golf since people didn't just play disc golf. 763 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:06,200 They just played anything that you used a Frisbee for and still play pretty regularly. 764 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:10,640 And your brother Tony, he's not only a really nice guy, but a fantastic disc golfer. 765 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,640 So I really it just kind of came out of left field. 766 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:15,720 It was it was pretty amazing. 767 00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:19,720 But I think if you had the time that that that he had to put in. 768 00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:25,740 Well, I've been putting in 45 years of Frisbee, so I should be as good as him. 769 00:43:25,740 --> 00:43:30,320 But anyway, I'm doing other things in the meantime, and just love being around him and 770 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:32,840 some other disc golfers in the area. 771 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:34,880 They're really great folks. 772 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:36,800 It's amazing what goes into disc golf. 773 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:42,680 You know, when I he showed me first is, you know, the cart and like he carries like two 774 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:47,680 dozen, three dozen discs and each one has its own little characteristic. 775 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,560 You know, the just slightly different shapes. 776 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:54,060 There's lots of different shapes, but even just a slight difference in shape, slight 777 00:43:54,060 --> 00:44:01,440 difference in the weight, you know, will send that disc flying to the left, right or both. 778 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,120 If you need to go around something. 779 00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:08,440 I've gone on a couple excursions with him and it's really, really fun and interesting. 780 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:10,840 And to be as good as he is, it's a lot of work. 781 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:11,840 It's hard. 782 00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:12,840 He's really good at it. 783 00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:14,720 Well, I'll be sure to pass it along to him. 784 00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:20,440 Well, you know, my background is in aerospace and plastics. 785 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:21,920 And so it's fitting, right? 786 00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,920 Frisbee my whole career. 787 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:29,120 But yeah, it's been like I said, a lot of fun. 788 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,440 Yeah, thanks for asking. 789 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:35,720 I was wondering if you could tell us a little about your trip to Ecuador. 790 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:37,840 Oh, sure. 791 00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:43,040 So one of my four daughters lives in Ecuador and she's married to an Ecuadorian and they 792 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,200 have two kids. 793 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:47,600 That's Shannon. 794 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:52,400 So I'll just shout out to my wife, Patsy, and my daughters, Kristen, Kaylee, Kelsey 795 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,840 and Shannon. 796 00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:56,200 But Shannon lives in Ecuador. 797 00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:00,880 She went down there for work-study when she was at school in Penn State and fell in love 798 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:07,080 with the people and ended up going back to work there after she graduated. 799 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:11,320 And we thought it'd be a year or so, but here she is five, six years later, married two 800 00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:12,600 children. 801 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:15,040 She comes home when she can. 802 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,000 And we go down there pretty frequently. 803 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:23,080 But I had a really awesome opportunity this summer to go with my wife, Patsy, and then 804 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:29,140 nine other people from our church to work what we call a mission project in the community 805 00:45:29,140 --> 00:45:30,140 in which she lives. 806 00:45:30,140 --> 00:45:37,240 Her husband's indigenous and those communities, they're all kind of friendly but separate, 807 00:45:37,240 --> 00:45:41,640 all these different communities and they all have their own thing, but they all play soccer 808 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:43,600 or what they call football. 809 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:52,240 And so her community has had a dream to have a small soccer stadium forever since my son-in-law, 810 00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:54,280 Javier, was a kid. 811 00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,720 They play on the street and where they live is in the Andes Mountains. 812 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:04,800 So when the ball goes off their little homemade field, it goes down a ravine like 300 feet. 813 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:05,800 So they're... 814 00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:06,800 Not it, not getting the ball. 815 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:07,800 That's not it. 816 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:08,800 That went last time. 817 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:13,680 So anyway, our church group was able to go down and help them finish up this. 818 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,920 They finally got from the government, they got this land to put this little stadium and 819 00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:19,560 a community center. 820 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:22,560 And we went down and helped them finish building a fence around. 821 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:27,200 We did all the brickwork, put up all the wire mesh fence above the brickwork so that 822 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:30,040 they wouldn't have to go chase the ball down the ravine. 823 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:31,040 Oh, nice. 824 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:34,080 You could appreciate that as a soccer player. 825 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:36,360 But that was just a tremendous opportunity. 826 00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:43,320 So yeah, another place I like to spend time is with my church family and my faith in God 827 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:48,480 is just a huge part of my life has been since I was about 18. 828 00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:49,960 But that was a great experience. 829 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:54,160 So not only did I get to go and do an amazing job and see God at work, but I got to hang 830 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:58,440 out with my daughter and her husband and our two grandchildren down there. 831 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:00,920 Yeah, thanks for asking. 832 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:01,920 Yep. 833 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:08,440 So as your career kind of comes to an end at Penn College, what kind of legacy would 834 00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:14,200 you like to leave for incoming students and people that have had you as a professor over 835 00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:15,200 the years? 836 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:23,280 Well, hopefully, I have a few more minutes before I completely appreciate it. 837 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:29,440 Yeah, that's a perfect question. 838 00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:32,080 My legacy, I haven't thought about that. 839 00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:35,160 But and I can tell you again, we're in good hands. 840 00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:39,920 I said earlier that, you know, my colleagues are in good hands, any legacy that I would 841 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:43,600 think of from here forward, I feel like what's done is done. 842 00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:47,960 So I've had like you said, the majority of my career is behind me. 843 00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:51,200 And I just would hope that, you know, I've done a good job here. 844 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:58,480 I've hoped that I added value to the students that came through here and to the college. 845 00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:02,480 But I'm not really worried about my legacy is going to be whatever it is. 846 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:08,400 And I'm much more grateful and thankful for the opportunities I've had here. 847 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:15,760 This job is so exceeded anything I ever wished for as a young person when I was your age. 848 00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:22,040 And it's taken care of my family and given me a lot to be fulfilled in taking care of 849 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:26,840 the bills wasn't as easy when we had four little kids, but it's made up for it here 850 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:28,240 in the later years. 851 00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:31,760 And I'm not worried about my legacy. 852 00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:32,760 So thanks. 853 00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:33,760 It's a great question. 854 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:37,640 But I'm just the future is bright. 855 00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:43,320 As one of your students, I think you tend to lead by example. 856 00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:47,840 You teach us more than just the plastic side. 857 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:48,840 You're a great role model. 858 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:50,840 You've had a great career. 859 00:48:50,840 --> 00:49:00,600 And we think I want to say this. 860 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:05,800 You show us how to be both professional and a good person. 861 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:10,000 I think I really, really respect you. 862 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:15,400 And I think a lot of people in the plastics program tend to move their career towards 863 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:20,360 the way that you've lived and taught us. 864 00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:21,360 So thank you very much. 865 00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:24,960 Thank you for saying that. 866 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:25,960 Of course. 867 00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:32,760 I've done so well so far with these podcasts. 868 00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:35,640 I've been close to tears before, but that was really sweet. 869 00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:36,640 Thank you. 870 00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:37,640 It's not. 871 00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:41,200 Thanks for sharing that, I should say. 872 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,040 Yeah, I'm not the only one that feels that way either. 873 00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:45,040 Good. 874 00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:48,120 Everyone respects you, Dr. Kanner. 875 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:52,920 So, Sumer, you know, along with getting water that we need to make sure we have a box of 876 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:53,920 tissues here at the center. 877 00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:57,000 We need to add to our list tissues and water. 878 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,000 So just the essentials. 879 00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:02,400 So it's a positive note to leave things on, I think. 880 00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:03,800 Thank you so much. 881 00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:04,800 Yeah. 882 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:05,800 Thank you for having us. 883 00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:06,800 Yeah. 884 00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:07,800 Cheers. 885 00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:11,960 Mason Kirkett, before we say the cheers, is there anything else you'd like to add at this 886 00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:12,960 point? 887 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:15,040 Now that I can talk. 888 00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:16,040 Thank you, Mason. 889 00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:19,280 Really appreciate you saying that. 890 00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:21,640 And it's just a real pleasure to be here. 891 00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:23,800 You all made this a wonderful time. 892 00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:24,800 Thank you so much. 893 00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:25,800 Thank you. 894 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:26,800 Thank you, Kern. 895 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:27,800 Thank you, Mason. 896 00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:28,800 Thank you. 897 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:32,000 Thanks for hanging out with us today. 898 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:36,640 Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 899 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:40,640 Check out our show notes for bookmarks to your favorite sections and links to resources 900 00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:42,680 that we mentioned in today's episode. 901 00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:48,000 You can also find past episodes and see what's on deck for upcoming ones at pct.edu slash 902 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:49,000 podcasts. 903 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:53,160 And of course, we are open to your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. 904 00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:58,200 So send those over at podcast at pct.edu. 905 00:50:58,200 --> 00:50:59,200 It's been real. 906 00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:06,840 We'll catch you next time.