Dear PSCT Member,
It is time to renew your dues for the 2013 – 2014 membership (July 1 – June 30) year for the Pittsburgh Society for Coatings Technology. This year will be the 86th Anniversary of the PSCT. Our society was founded in 1927 as “The Pittsburgh Paint and Varnish Production Club” and has changed names a few times. Our objectives of promoting the welfare and education of the members through exchange of emerging technologies have not changed. Also, promoting educational scholarship to undergraduate students remains a prime objective of the PSCT.
We had 83 active members last year and had great attendance at our monthly meetings. We have been meeting at the Spaghetti Warehouse in Pittsburgh which has been more central to all of the members as we are scattered around the southwest PA area. There is a renewed enthusiasm within the society with many new chemists, technicians, engineers, and sales and marketing associates as members.
Here are some highlights from last year:
- We had our annual golf outing with Rob McCourt, Randy Russell Sr., Randy Russell Jr., and Mike Walton coming in at 14 under par and taking the Dar-Tech trophy.
- We had eight meetings with state-of-the-art technological presentations. Some of the topics discussed were Coatings for Glass, Optimizing Hiding and Performance of Architectural Coatings, Building a Personal Brand and Networking in a Digital World, and Molecular Design for the Next Generation of Additives.
- We also had our annual Holiday Dinner at Freddie’s Restaurant at the Bayer Corporation Campus, which is always a great time.
- The May Outing was at the Penn Brewery in the Troy Hill section of Pittsburgh and proved to be another fun event where the new scholarships were announced. Debbie Zimmer of the Dow Chemicals group presented the 2012 Prettiest Painted Places Competition, Color Trends and Marketing Research Data on a variety of end-user needs during the event.
- The Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship program is better than ever with a record 14 recipients for the 2013-2014 academic year. Each winner received $500 each. Aubree Fairfull was the winner of an additional $500 of the first PSCT Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Grant. It was introduced by the board in October 2012.
We will be introducing our new and improved website (www.paintsociety.org) soon, which has been updated by Peter Chakos and committee. The website will not only relay information about the Society and upcoming events but also offer members an easy way to renew membership and sign up/pay for meetings ahead of time. An email will be sent out whenever the website is ready to use.
As an added incentive to renew your membership, we are going to award $86.00 to a paid up member at the September 9th meeting. Please have your dues paid on or before September 6th, 2013 to be eligible.
Sincerely,
Britney Grabigel
PPG Industries, Inc.
(PSCT Membership Chairman)
151 Colfax Street
Springdale, PA 15144
grabigel@ppg.com
