AKRON—Rubber Division representatives reported a successful trip to Europe in an effort to extend the group's outreach. Heather Maimone, Rubber Division American Chemical Society membership manager, and Christie Robinson, training and development director, visited Europe Nov. 9-22 to increase communication with other rubber associations and companies globally.
For the bulk of the European visit, Maimone and Robinson worked with David Cawthra and Gail Reader, ACS corporate members and Tun Abdul Razak Research Center/Rubber Consultants who organized a United Kingdom program. That program covered introductions to the Institute of Materials (IOM3), the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the Elastomer Training Action Group and several other representatives from the U.K. rubber industry.
The program gave U.K. participants the chance to forge closer working relationships with Rubber Division ACS.
A meeting with ELTAG members and TARRC personnel including Stuart Cook, director of research, and Colin Robinson, business manager of Rubber Consultants, was held at TARRC's laboratories in Brickendonbury, Hertford. Other participants included John Dorken, chair of ELTAG and chairman of the British Rubber and Polyurethane Products Association, and Sally Beken, knowledge transfer network manager, polymers, at the U.K. government organization Innovate U.K. The meeting included a presentation, an open forum for discussion and a tour of TARRC's laboratories.
A meeting was held in Grantham at the IOM3, a U.K. engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterization, processing, forming, finishing and application. The meeting included Kate Harrison and Diane Aston, education manager, discussing membership and education themes. Rubber Division ACS and IOM3 are working together to build a reciprocal member agreement that will increase visibility of the advantages of membership, student outreach and educational training to the industry in the U.K.
Rubber Division ACS and Rubber Consultants met with Alison Handley, membership manager at the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Both organizations will collaborate together to increase visibility to both the rubber and automobile industries in the U.S. and U.K.
Maimone and Robinson met with James Busfield of Queen Mary University, who is also the chair of the Polymer Group and Rubber in Engineering Group in London. They discussed the possibility of the formation of a student chapter in the U.K. or Europe. Busfield is also involved in the planning of IRC 2019, working with TARRC, ELTAG and IOM3, and discussed that the groups could work together on educational program planning for IRC 2019 in London.
In the Netherlands, Maimone and Robinson met with Rafal Anyszka, with the University of Twente, to discuss the formation of a Rubber Division ACS student chapter or overall student chapter for Europe. They also visited Rubber Division ACS corporate members at Kraton Corp. to review member benefits.
The final leg of the European visit was to attend the 2017 International Conference, "With rubber through life" in Warsaw, Poland. While there, Maimone and Robinson met with the Lodz University of Technology student chapter students and Dariusz Bielinski, professor. A plaque was presented to the student chapter.
Earlier in 2017, staff traveled to India and China with the same goals, plans to continue international travel to extend outreach are in place.