Rubber Division opens training facility in Akron

AKRON—Expansion of the educational outreach program represents a critical component of the ACS Rubber Division's five-year strategic plan, which began Jan. 1.

And thanks in part to an insightful perception by a high school freshman—along with the determination of his mother—the Rubber Division has inaugurated a space a few steps away from its Akron headquarters dedicated to educating those in the rubber industry: Young, experienced and everywhere in between.

The Elastomer Training Center, a spacious, 32-seat classroom area, opened on Feb. 1. The center, the brainchild of Christie Robinson, the organization's training and development director, includes state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, conference areas, a kitchen and electronic hookups at each work station.

Located in Suite 201 of the same building as the Rubber Division headquarters on the campus of the University Akron, the center has already hosted several courses in 2016, with more to follow.

“I think the benefits are that I'm hoping in 2017 we'll start seeing a reduction in travel costs for instructors as well as me,” said Robinson, who is responsible for facilitating and managing all on-site training as well as on-line courses and the organization's burgeoning student outreach program. “Being located in Akron, it's going to be a good benefit for Akron as well as us because we have such a good pool of instructors and subject matter experts in this area that we can pull from for our technical and non-technical training.”

The center is open to any organization, member or non-member for technical and non-technical classroom instruction. Robinson hopes to use it to build on the Rubber Division's student outreach program.

Last fall, under Robinson's guidance along with support from 2015 Chair Terry DeLapa, the organization conducted a high school program titled “Experience Elastomers: A Day of STEM-Based Rubber Inquiries.” Nearly 150 students and faculty, from nine Northeast Ohio high schools, heard lectures and participated in hands-on experiments led by ACS polymer ambassadors and other members during the International Elastomer Conference, held last October in Cleveland.

Robinson said the idea to extend the student outreach program to high school students and younger—which ultimately led to the creation of the Elastomer Training Center—evolved out of a conversation last spring with her then 15-year-old son, Drew.

Robinson said she asked Drew about his perception of the rubber industry. He described “a man coming out of factory with dirt all over him, tired, really kind of exhausted,” she said. “I said, "Would it surprise you to think that you could get a PhD in engineering and chemistry, and you would still be used well in industry?'

“That kind of started my diving into a student outreach program. That sparked my interest in developing this program and making it more than just a university-level education, more than just going after those kids that have already made up their mind about what degree program they wanted to be in.”

Robinson has been around education her entire life. She served as a high school English teacher and a curriculum specialist at the U.S. Navy Combat Systems School in Mayport, Fla., before earning her Master's in education in adult learning and grades 6-12 certification, from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Buoyed by the success of the outreach program, she said she began to consider what she needed to make it successful. “So one of the tools that I felt I needed was a training facility,” she said. “I felt that I needed a home base here in Northeast Ohio to be able to have our training, and to be able to bring science teachers in and give them the tools they needed to make them successful.”

She kept her thoughts private—”I know not to let the cat out of the bag until I have all my ducks in a row,” she said—so she began to research costs and negotiate a contract with building management. She never revealed her plans until she pitched the idea to Ed Miller, the Rubber Division's executive director, a week before December's Steering Committee meeting. That didn't allow enough time for the proposal to be included on the meeting agenda.

“There's always "other business,' “ Robinson said, smiling.

“I wanted an initial negotiated contract with the building management first,” she said. “I wanted to know what my costs were, how many trainers I thought I'd be able to have here and what revenue and what expenses I thought I'd be able to have. I wanted to know everything, have all my answers ready. I didn't want it to be tabled until the next meeting. I wanted to make sure it was going to be approved when I presented it.”

The idea was pitched and approved in one day.

Then Robinson really got to work. She spent much of her holidays crafting the center—ordering the appropriate equipment, purchasing furniture and training tables, choosing wallpaper and picking out chairs that she felt “people could sit in for an eight-hour day comfortably.”

The facility opened on schedule, and the Rubber Division held an open house in mid-March.

She said she designed the center based on the amenities she required when scheduling training sessions at various hotels across the country. She said it was necessary to have affordable restaurants and hotels nearby in order for students to network after hours, and she wanted to ensure students had enough plugs at their work stations for all the devices that have become a necessity.

“When we're off site,” Robinson said, “a lot of people have to call in to the office when on break, or when there is an "uh-oh' at the factory, or there's a sales call. We wanted to make sure they had a place to power up their devices while they were getting some training.”

And she said it was important to open a facility close to the Rubber Division office to provide students and faculty convenient access to the division's staff, be it to renew membership, discuss technical programs or conduct other business.

Robinson said the Rubber Division will continue to hold courses off site, including events at each of its four student chapters (Virginia Tech; Ferris State University; University of Massachusetts Lowell; and the University of Akron).

As she plans a more robust schedule at the training center for 2017, Robinson is working to develop a rubber technology curriculum for science teachers, designed to help teachers meet state standards.

“Educators are thirsty for content,” said Gretchen Cermak, marketing manager of the Rubber Division. “We want to give it to them to make it easy for them. They're looking for fresh content to bring back to the classroom, and this is a great idea to facilitate that and a student outreach program. The whole entire goal is to make our industry aware to the youth, so that they know there are viable options for a potential career.”