Canadians among latest crop of SPE Fellows inductees

Two Canadians are among the latest crop of plastics industry professionals to be elected as Fellows of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE).

Dr. Costas Tzoganakis is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He is also the chief technical officer of Tyromer Inc, a start-up company of the university that uses rubber devulcanization technology based on a unique patented reactive extrusion process developed in Tzoganakis’ laboratory. “He is an expert in the area of reactive extrusion of polymers and has authored several patents as well as over one hundred refereed publications,” the SPE said. “In 2015, Dr. Tzoganakis received the Heinz List Award from the Extrusion Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers in recognition of his outstanding achievements in reactive processing of polymers.”

Dr. Costas Tzoganakis.

Dr. Karen Xiao is currently the extrusion technology leader with Charlotte, N.C.-based Celgard LLC responsible for product and process development and improvement in microporous membrane applications. Prior to this, she was the R&D director for an equipment manufacturing company responsible for the design and development of multilayer blown film dies and screws. Dr. Xiao currently serves on the board of the directors of the Extrusion Division of SPE; she was Extrusion Division Chair for 2014-2015. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and her Master’s and PhD from the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Dr. Karen Xiao.

The Fellows designation is given to SPE members who have made “outstanding contributions in plastics science, engineering, or management,” SPE said. Only 321 members, counting the newest inductees, have been elected Fellows since the honour was established in 1984.

The other Fellows inductees for this year are:

● Dr. Rong-Yeu Chang, chairman and CEO of CoreTech System (Moldex3D) Co. Ltd.

● Dr. Bharat Chaudhary, principal research scientist at The Dow Chemical Company.

● Dr. Stéphane Costeux, R&D fellow at The Dow Chemical Company.

● Tom Dunn, managing director, Flexpacknology LLC.

● Dr. Mridula Kapur, materials science fellow at The Dow Chemical Company.

● Dr. Masaya Kotaki, general manager of Kaneka US Material Research Center.

● Dr. David Kusuma, VP product development and worldwide R&D at Tupperware Brands.

● Dr. Stephen McCarthy, distinguished professor, University of Massachusetts—Lowell.

● Roger Reinicker, now a consultant after a 41-year career at BASF Corp.

● Dr. Luyi Sun, president of the Chinese American Society of Plastics Engineers.

SPE will honour the newest Fellows of the Society at the upcoming ANTEC 2016 plastics technical conference, which will take place May 23-25 at the JW Marriott Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Ind.