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University of Akron “Polymer Awareness Day” yields clean sweep for Firestone student winners

A competition held in October to highlight the uses of polymers at the University of Akron yielded winners from Project Lead the Way’s classes at Akron Firestone High School in all three events held.  “Stone Engineering,” a fictional company at which all Project Lead the Way students are “employed,” made a clean sweep of all events.  Anna Dorfi (9th grade) took first place in the poster session, with a poster on shape memory polymers. Ryan Brosnahan (senior) was first in the technical paper session with a paper focused on using polymers with low dielectric constants, and the team of Alison Latham (9th grade) and Bruce Perry (10th grade) placed first in the polymer quiz portion of the activities. 

“The University of Akron has a world class facility for the study of polymer science and polymer engineering, said PLTW teacher and Stone Engineering CEO Dan Spak.   “Polymer engineering day was a great way to introduce PLTW students to the possibilities found in the new and exciting field of polymer engineering.”

L-R: Ryan Brosnahan (Akron Firestone)- first in the technical papers session.       Bruce Perry (Akron Firestone) - First place in polymer quiz team competition.       Matt Lott (Stow high school)- Second in polymer quiz team competition.       Alison Latham (Akron Firestone) First place in polymer quiz team competition.       Anna Dorfi (Akron Firestone) First place in poster session and second place in Polymer quiz team competition (along with Matt).

Electrospinning fiber process makes an extremely thin continuous thread. In this picture, approximately 25 miles of fiber were deposited on a student’s hand. Note the level of detail which shows through the material.

Student's hand showing deposit of electrospun polymer fiber. This processed is being actively pursued by the University of Akron's polymer engineering department.

Alison Latham of Akron Firestone participates in an electrospinning polymer fiber demonstration. The fiber shown in the picture is approximately 100 times thinner than a human hair.