Newsletter June 2018

NJ SAMPE Screening on June 7 





John and Hugh before the screening


On June 7th, Dr. Louis Pilato, appearing in our film, organized a 
screening  during the monthly meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of SAMPE (Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering). The event was held at Evonik Industries Applied Technology Center in Piscataway, New Jersey.

After the meeting, a cold buffet dinner was available for members of SAMPE, several Evonik employees and invited guests.

Dr. Burk Wagner, appearing in the film, was accompanied by Nancy Byck Welch, daughter of Larry Byck, Baekeland's chemist from 1910 to 1957. She brought some of her father's Embed Art Bakelite samples to display along with Hugh's collection on a table in the back of the room.

Nancy appears in three short videos available on our website 

Nancy and Vinay Mishra, PhD, Business Development Manager,
Thermoset Platform at Dixie Chemical

The audience was enthralled  by the film and asked many pointed questions in the Q&A afterwards. Maybe because Louis had brought his wife, four sons, their wives, a friend and a grand daughter, the feeling of the whole audience was of one large family. Many conversations were stimulated by the film. Several people talked about future opportunities to show the film at local schools.


Our group just before starting the film


Director, John Maher sharing a funny moment from the making of ATB
with the Pi
lato family and others...

Many thanks to Dr. Louis Pilato for organizing the event. Special thanks to Scientist Joe Abrantes from Evonik for his hospitality and his helpful preparation beforehand. Special thanks to Applications Manager, Cray Valley and NJ SAMPE Treasurer Megan Casey for handling the details. Thank you to Advance Engineering Manager, Gentex Corporation's Russ Caspe, PhD, for stepping in for Business Director at Evonik, Borys Schafran, as MC. Thanks to Evonik's A/V Technician, Ken Howe , who made sure the projection system ran smoothly.
 
Team All Things Bakelite felt the event was a tremendous success and we look forward to showing our film at other pairings of meetings at industry facilities. 
 
chinaJohn Maher, Marc Huberman, Nancy Byck Welch, Hugh Karraker and Burk Wagner

Hugh Presents ATB in China 

 
After touring the Summer Palace and The Great Wall in Beijing, Hugh and his wife, Sherry flew to Shanghai where Hugh presented our film at the Baekeland 2018 Symposium. The next day the couple traveled to Hangzhou for the light show and gondola ride on the lake. 

 
Hugh and Sherry at the Summer Palace


Hugh at Baekeland Symposium 1
Hugh registering for the Symposium


Special thanks to Professor Tong Zhao, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences for his gracious hospitality at the Symposium; and for translating the film script into Chinese. 

Hugh and Sherry thank Symposium organizer, Jason Cui, secretary SAMPE China Mainland Region, for his kind assistance with their travel and lodging arrangements.

We thank independent phenolics consultant Dr. Louis Pilato, who appears in our film and the Baekeland Symposium Committee, for facilitating and underwriting part of Hugh and Sherry's trip. 
 

Hugh with Symposium attendees in Shanghai


Hugh with Professors Tong Zhao, Yusuf Yagzi,
Hatsuo "Ken" Ishida and Dr. Louis Pilato.


Hugh gave a few remarks at the opening of the Symposium,
  and later in the day he introduced the film. 75 Chinese company representatives, professors and students, and international company representatives and professors were riveted to the screen. 

After the closing banquet of spectacular Chinese food, Prof. Zhao and others sang songs of their respective countries. This kind of performance has become a tradition for Baekeland Symposium events.

Professor Tong Zhao
Professor Tong Zhao 
Professor Angels Serra and Dr. Bartosz Tylkowski

Professor Yusuf Yagzi
Professor Yusuf Yagzi

Professor Dennis W. Smith
Professor Dennis W. Smith















Hugh gave copies of the film to Professor Zhao and Jason Cui to share with their colleagues, students, other schools and related industries. 

Next year's Symposium is scheduled to be in Tarragona, Spain. A Spanish translation is in the works for this event and possibly other Spanish speaking audiences. 
scienceScience History Institute in Phildelphia

As you may recall from our April Newsletter, Marc and Hugh visited the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation) in Philadelphia.

Hugh returned to the Institute May 9th for their "Heritage Day". The event included awards, dinners and a screening of the documentary, The Instrumental Chemist, about Arnold O. Beckman and his important inventions. The producers are presently negotiating with a distributor and are editing the film down to a shorter length for the education market.

Hugh caught up with Brigitte Van Tiggelen, the Institute's European representative, who showed our film in Norway last August, Gary Patterson, member of the Institute Board of Directors and Prof. Edward Werner Cook, who has been showing our film to his chemistry students at Tunxis Community College in Connecticut.  

Edward Werner Cook, Brigitte Van Tiggelen and Hugh


Hugh met several new folks including retiring Institute Board of Directors member biochemist Sharon Haynie. At the other awards dinner, Hugh sat beside Bill Suits of the North Jersey Section of the American Chemical Society. They discussed a screening of our film for his group in the fall. 

npeHugh with Bill Suits 

Marc at NPE the week of May 7
 
Throughout the week, Media Manager, Marc Huberman pitched our film at the National Plastics Expo in Orlando, Florida. The event is held every three years.
 
Marc arrived on Saturday, May 5th to view the Kentucky Derby at Marlow's Tavern with Sr. Director, Business Development, PLASTICS Industry Association, Russ Broome and Technical Application Development Specialist, PolySource, 
Laura Myers.

On Sunday, Marc attended the Plastics Hall of Fame Awards and reception where he congratulated and conversed with several inductees. (Leo Baekeland is one of the award's posthumous recipients).

Award ceremony in the Linda Chapin Theater 


Hall of Fame Award inductees banners


Marc and Russ


T he PLASTICS Industry Association launched an addition to their website,  http://www.thisisplastics.com Our film's trailer is featured in the  Plastics 101 - 155 Years of Plastic  section. 

Special thanks to Mia Freis Quinn, Vice President of Communications, Anne Torregrossa of Marriner Marketing and Russ Broome, for making this a reality.


Marc experiencing the interactive portal at the
"This is Plastics" exhibit


User interactive experience - see 360° sound-domes overhead 


Dome close-up


The NPE Network production studio was busy conducting live-stream interviews with movers and shakers in the industry.

NPE Network Studio


During the Expo, Marc was headquartered at the UMass Lowell booth, where our marketing materials were available for attendees. 
 




Students were at the booth all week offering information about the school

On Tuesday, April 8th, Marc attended the UMass Department of Plastics Engineering reception and dinner, for the opportunity to meet and network with alumni and friends. There, he learned about the UMass Plastics 4.0 program, which sponsored UMass student's participation at NPE2918, thereby giving them the opportunity to learn the latest developments in plastics. 

If you'd like to add your support to this program, please contact [email protected], 978-934-4821.

We thank Department of Plastics Engineering, Chair David Kazmer and Professor Emeritus, Robert Malloy, for their generous assistance.
 
Marc with Professor Kazmer


Marc with Professor Malloy


For four days of the Expo, Marc met with representatives from every segment of the plastics supply chain, focusing on material suppliers. He also attended a number of networking events and met with representatives from other universities.

He was inspired to see many students touring NPE, learning about the many career opportunities available in this amazing industry. He also noted that NPE2018 was committed to waste diversion and recycling efforts. Their goal was to divert 100% of the waste stream from landfill disposal. They achieved 87% in 2015 and hope to surpass that number this year!
 
Thank you, Marc for representing the Team so effectively. We're surely going to see a lot of action in the coming months.
beall
Glenn Beall shows film at
Rotational Molding Conference

Photo credit Russ Broome

During the Society of Plastics Engineers' Rotational Molding Conference held June 2 - 6 in Warrensville, Ohio, our film was presented by Glenn Beall of Glenn Beall Plastics, Libertyville, Illinois.

Glenn and Hugh first met at an exhibition of Bakelite at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, Connecticut in 2008. He has been a mentor to Hugh and two years ago, introduced us to Russ Broome, formerly President and Managing Director at SPE, now Sr. Director, Business Development at PLASTICS Industry Association. 

Glenn reported that he had good IT support on the projection, and he received a lot of complimentary comments on the film.

Glenn at tech rehearsal

Glenn flanked by Chairman of the Conference,
Larry Whitemore of Stoner Molding Solutions and
Russ Broome of PLASTICS 
Prepping for National Public Television 

Director, John Maher and Editor, Craig Mikhitarian are in the process of prepping the film for national public television. Details to follow...
Besides screenings at plastics and chemical industry events, we continue to promote and market our film to educational institutions, libraries, museums and media companies worldwide. 

If you know someone that works in film distribution, please contact
Marc Huberman at: 
[email protected]


All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic

Two versions of the film available
21 minutes / Educational - Industry
56 minutes / Full length

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