DuPont Teijin Films Awards Grants to VSU Students

DuPont Teijin Films Awards Grants to VSU Students

(left to right) Oscar Martin, DTF Hopewell technical manager, with scholarship recipients Christopher Carmichael, Sade Hill and Hassan Adams, as well as Joe Bourne, DTF Hopewell site manager.

The DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) Hopewell plant recently awarded $500 educational grants to three Virginia State University (VSU) engineering students as part of its Annual Day of Celebration commemorating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The students, Hassan Adams, Christopher Carmichael and Sadé Hill, were a team that competed in an engineering research project contest sponsored by DTF Hopewell.

Oscar Martin, technical manager, and Barbara Brown, customer service specialist, both of DTF Hopewell and members of the Day of Celebration planning team, and Pamela Leigh-Mack, dean of VSU’s School of Engineering, Science and Technology, presented the grants to the students.

“As part of the contest, we worked with Nasser Ghariban, chair of VSU’s Engineering Department, to define group research projects for the sophomore engineering manufacturing processes class. Several teams of three students participated. After working on their projects, they prepared reports and presented their results to a panel of judges comprised of DTF representatives, VSU faculty and their peers,” said Oscar. “The judges selected the team that did the best on their project and presentation.”

Virginia State University's Gospel Chorale performed several songs during the DTF Hopewell Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Celebration that was held on the college campus.

The groups looked at the mechanical properties of DuPont™ Mylar® 500, a polyester film only made by DuPont Teijin Films. As part of the experience, the class visited the DTF Hopewell plant and was oriented on the company’s film-making process. They did research on the various processes and performed experimental tests on samples provided by DTF to determine the film’s tensile strength and elongation percentage and compared their results to DuPont’s data on the material.

“The entire journey gave us a better understanding of what Mylar® is made of, how high-quality film is made and why the company is so successful,” the members of the winning team said.

“In the engineering, scientific and technological disciplines, it is not sufficient to only have the content knowledge of these fields, but rather it is essential that students have a conceptual understanding of information,” said Pamela. “The best way to achieve this is through experiential learning where students work on real world projects utilizing the mathematical and engineering concepts they are learning.”

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