Dear PSCT Members,

Thank you to our April speaker Jim Reader. His talk on Predicting Defoamer Performance was a great way to round out our technical talks for the 2015-2016 year. I would also like congratulate the Scholarship winners for this year. We are pleased to be able to help these hard working students pursue their goals.

To end our year, we had a Trivia Night on May 9, 2016. This event was a great way for our members to show their expertise in obscure trivia! Team ‘Big MAC’ including team members Chris Gehly, Andy DePage, and Michael Barnes won the contest. Congratulations to them in their victory!

As my time as president comes to an end, I want to thank everyone who has made this year a success. This year would not have been so successful without the amazing Board Members and Committee Chairs: Ken Cutler, Mark DePasquale, Chrissy Stewart, Andy DePage, Jim Wasik, Britney Grabigel, Sam Pluglsi, Tom Van Kuren and Chris Gehly. We had a lot of fun this year, and I look forward to continuing on the PSCT Board next year as the Past-President. I would also like to welcome in the incoming board:

PSCT Officers and Board Members: 2016 – 2017

President Ken Cutler
Vice President Mark DePasquale
Secretary Chris Gehly
Treasurer Dan Bickford
Director at Large Andy DePage
Society Liaison Jim Wasik
Past President Christina Marlier

I look forward to another amazing year for the Pittsburgh Society for Coatings Technology.

Christina Marlier, PSCT President 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members,
I would like to thank Mitch Halpert of Huber for his informative presentation on ATH for Coatings Applications during our March meeting. Our speaker for April is Jim Reader from Air Products. His topic is “Predicting Defoamer Performance in Coating Formulations.” I look forward to an informative session. This is our last technical session this year. This meeting also includes voting on the 2016-2017 board members. The following people have been nominated:
President: Ken Cutler
Vice President: Mark DePasquale
Secretary: Chris Gehly
Treasurer: Dan Bickford
Director-at-Large: Andy Depage
Our May social event this year is Trivia Night at Roland’s Restaurant in the Strip District. The event will be held on May 9th at 6pm. Please sign up for a night of friendly competition and great food. Scholarship winners are welcome free of charge. Information on how to RSVP is contained in this newsletter. I look forward to seeing you all there to celebrate a wonderful year of PSCT!
Christina Marlier
PSCT president 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members,

I would like to thank Jeffery Strobel from Zeeospheres Ceramics, LLC for his talk on “Ceramic Hollow Spheres in Coatings.” Our March speaker is Mitch Halpert of Huber. He will speak about ATH for Coatings Applications. We are coming to the end of the 2015-2016 PSCT season. There are still many points to address before the end of the year social event.
1) PSCT members with High School and College aged students should encourage them to apply for the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship. Any Junior or Senior college student majoring in science, technology, engineering, or math should consider applying for the $500 STEM grant. All information on the requirements are contained later in this newsletter or online. The applications are due March 15.
2) Offer elections will take place at the April meeting. Please consider nominating someone for the following positions: Treasurer, Secretary, Director at Large, Vice President, and President. If you are interested please contact Chrissy Stewart cstewart@kta.com.
3) The May event will be announced at the meeting in March. Please look for information on RSVPing and price in the April newsletter. It will be an amazing event and I great culmination of a successful year. I look forward to seeing everyone there.
Congratulations to Jim Wasik for winning the Paint Pot at the last meeting. The new prize is $25 for the March meeting. Remember, you cannot win if you aren’t present!

Christina Marlier
PSCT president 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members,

I would like to thank Michael Knight from PCCR for his presentation on “Next Generation Polyester Dispersion for 2K Waterborne Urethane Coatings” in January. This month Jeffery Strobel from Zeeospheres Ceramics, LLC will be giving a talk titled “Ceramic Hollow Spheres in Coatings.”
Looking ahead we only have two months left of speakers. March we will have Mitch Halpert of Huber speak about ATH for Coatings Applications. April we will have a representative from Air Products to speak on Specialty Additives.
Bob Gross missed his chance at $50 so if you attend the next meeting, you could win $75.
The May meeting is our social event. We will soon be choosing a destination for this event. If you have any suggestions please contact any one of the PSCT Board Members.
Finally I would like to remind the PSCT Members with High School Senior and College aged children to encourage them to apply for the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship. Students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics fields are also encouraged to apply for the STEM Grant as well. Please review the requirements and deadline which are included in this newsletter.

Christina Marlier
PSCT President 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members,

I would like to thank Max Inks from ExOne Company on his very educational and interactive presentation last month. Max has offered to give tours of their facility in North Huntingdon to any of our members. If you are interested in a tour please contact me and I will facilitate with Max.

Congratulations to Bill Hawk on winning the membership drive drawing. If you haven’t renewed your membership yet this year please do so. We are trimming our email list to current members. Please renew so that you stay informed. Please contact Chris Gehly at cgehly@matw.com for any membership questions.

We had sent out a survey of potential places for monthly meetings. Because of the results the board will explore potentially rotating between several locations so that we can accommodate members from different locations. We will keep you posted on the locations, but always remember to check the newsletter to ensure you will be at the right location.

We have substituted a social event for our regular meeting this December. We will be attending the Pittsburgh Glass Center and making holiday ornaments. This event will be on December 15th and we have had a great response and have reached capacity for the event. Look for pictures of the event in the January newsletter.

As a friendly reminder we have moved the April meeting to April 18th due to the interference of the original date with the American Coatings Show. Please update your calendars.

I look forward to seeing those of you attending the December event soon. If I do not see you enjoy the holidays with your family. I look forward to seeing all of you in 2016.

Christina Marlier
PSCT President 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members,

I would like to thank Cliff Schoff for the presentation in October on Sustainability and Coatings. If you know of anyone who would like to join, the PSCT Membership Application and Dues Renewal Form can be found in the back of the newsletter. The contact for Membership and Renewals is Chris Gehly and he can be contacted at 412-365-2345 or cgehly@matw.com. We always welcome new faces.

I would like to thank our Scholarship Committee Chair, Tom Van Kuren. He, along with the scholarship committee, are in the process of revising the requirements for the scholarship to be awarded in Spring 2015. If you have a High School Senior or College level student, please stay tuned for the new requirements for the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship. Please note that the requirements for the parents of the scholarship recipients will not change. A recipient is only eligible if a parent has attended 4 PSCT meetings throughout the year. In addition to the Scholarship award, a grant of $500 will be offered to one student who is enrolled in their third or fourth year of the Science, Technology, Math or Engineering Program. This grant is in addition to the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship award.

We are doing something different for our December meeting this year. Instead of a speaker we will be having a mid-year social event. It is an evening of fun at the Pittsburgh Glass Center on December 15th. We will be making glass ornaments while enjoying light refreshments and drinks. This event is for members, their spouses and friends, and any potential members. Details are within this newsletter.

Christina Marlier
PSCT President 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members,

I would like to thank the 54 golfers and 26 business sponsors who attended and supported the 2015 Golf Outing. A special thank you goes out to Sam Puglisi and Jim Wasik for organizing and running the event. This is Sam’s XX year of running the golf outing and PSCT and the scholarship recipients are very thankful for what he does.
The proceeds from the golf outing go to the scholarship fund. In addition a $500 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) grant is given each year. This grant is given to an exemplary student who is pursuing a career in one of these fields. The information for the scholarship and grant will be included in next month’s newsletter. Tom Van Kuren is our new scholarship chair. He is looking for volunteers to be on the committee. The committee recommends the requirements at the beginning of the year, reviews submissions, and chooses winners in May. Please contact me or Tom (tvankuren@gmail.com) if you are interested in volunteering.
I want to thank Chris Gehly for his informative presentation on marking technology at the September meeting. Chris discussed the different technologies that Matthews Marking Systems uses to make marks. It was most surprising to me how many items that utilize marks for tracking or identification purposes.
Our next meeting is October 12, 2015 at Walnut Grill. The speaker is Cliff Schoff. He will be speaking on Sustainability and Coatings. I look forward to seeing you there.

Christina Marlier
PSCT President 2015-2016

I am quite honored to be serving as President for PSCT for the 2105-2016 year. Last year we had great attendance at our monthly meeting. I hope that we continue to grow throughout the coming year. We currently have a membership drive going on. If your membership for the 2015-2016 year is paid in full by September 30th, you will be entered into a drawing for $88. The $88 is in celebration of our 88th year. The winner will be drawn at the October meeting. The winner does not need to be present.

One of the prime objectives of our society is promoting education to undergraduate students. We provide a number of scholarships yearly to our members’ children. We are in need of a scholarship chair and committee members for the upcoming year. We only ask that if you volunteer that you not have a child who will be applying this year. If you are interested in the chair position or being on the committee please contact me.

Just a reminder, there is still time to sign up for the September 10th Golf Outing at Cedarbrook Golf Course. As you know, the golf outing is our main fundraiser for the Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship.

We have some great speakers lined up for this year but are still in need of some more. If you would like to speak or have a topic you would like to suggest please contact me. Our goal is to stay current with the interests of our membership so please don’t hesitate to make suggestions even if you have no contacts that can speak to the topic. Our first speaker this year is Chris Gehly of Matthew Marking Systems. He will be speaking on the technology of marking systems.

Lastly I would like to thank our new board members who have volunteered for the 2015-2016 year. Andy DePage: Director at Large, Britney Grabigel: Vice President (President Elect), Ken Cutler: Secretary, Mark DePasquale: Treasurer, Jim Wasik: ACA Liaison. Thank you as well to our new Membership Chair, Chris Gehly.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at our first meeting,
September 14th, at Walnut Grill in Fox Chapel.

Christina Marlier
PSCT President 2015-2016

Dear PSCT Members:

I would like to thank all members who made it out to Walnut Grill for our April meeting and viewed the multimedia presentations prepared by our Hiram P. Ball Scholarship winners for 2015. We have a lot of bright young students, and it was great to hear from them about their academic pursuits and future aspirations.

Our May Social Event, Paint Nite at Getaway Café, was held on May 4 and was a great way to showcase some artistic talents we have within our group. Some photos taken at the event are included in the newsletter.

It has been my honor to serve as the President of The Pittsburgh Society for Coatings Technology for the 2014 – 2015 season. I look forward to serving in the office of Past President for 2015 – 2016, and am excited to see what our incoming President, Christina Marlier, has in store for us. We have a great Board of Directors lined up, including:

President – Christina Marlier, EMD Chemicals
Vice President – Britney Grabigel, PPG Architectural Coatings
Secretary – Ken Cutler, Kop-Coat, Inc.
Treasurer – Mark DePasquale, PPG Architectural Coatings
ACA Society Liaison – Jim Wasik
Director – Andy DePage – M. F. Cachat
Past President – Chrissy Stewart – KTA-Tator

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer, and I look forward to seeing you all in September. And don’t forget, the Golf Outing, will be held on September 10, 2015 at Cedarbrook Golf Course!

Chrissy Stewart
PSCT President 2014-2015

Dear PSCT Members:

I would like to thank Christina Marlier from EMD Group for her presentation on a new environmentally friendly fluorosurfactant at the March meeting.

The April Meeting is the last technical meeting of the year. We are excited to announce that for the first time, the April meeting will feature presentations from the winners of the Hiram P. Ball Scholarship. This meeting will be complimentary for any scholarship recipients who should wish to attend.

In addition to the presentations from the Scholarship recipients, the election of the PSCT Officers for the 2015 – 2016 year will be taking place. Please see the section of the newsletter that outlines the current candidates and come to the April meeting prepared to vote. Nominations will also be open from the floor. A second vote on proposed PSCT Bylaws changes and a Standing Rules change will take place.

At our previous meeting a vote was taken for the location of the May Social Event and a Paint Nite Event won the vote. An e-mail was sent to each of the members providing the details for the outing. Please submit your payment to Britney Grabigel. Britney will be accepting money or checks at the April 13th PSCT Meeting. The May Social Event is on MONDAY, May 4th, and will include dinner at 6 PM and painting to begin at 7 PM.

The 2015 Hiram P. Ball Memorial Scholarship recipients are welcomed free of charge to the May Social Event. The list of recipients can be found in the newsletter including the student receiving the $500 Grant majoring in the Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics field. This is the third year for this Grant.

Chrissy Stewart
PSCT President 2014-2015