Leaders of the Plastics Pioneers Association will let the SPE Foundation administer its college scholarship program, officials of both groups announced during the Society of Plastics Engineers' conference in Charlotte.
Endowments from members pay for the scholarships under the Plastics Pioneers Education Fund. G. Palmer Humphrey Sr., a leader of the group, said the endowment topped $1 million at the end of 2005.
The Plastics Pioneers moved administration of the scholarships to Brookfield, Conn.-based SPE from its longtime home at the Plastics Institute of America Inc. in Lowell, Mass.
Gail Bristol, managing director of the SPE Foundation, called the agreement to offer Plastics Pioneers scholarships through the foundation ``a logical choice.''
``We've had a scholarship program in place for years, and the addition of the Plastics Pioneers Association scholarships augments what we currently have available and provides one convenient place for students to apply for scholarships,'' Bristol said.
Humphrey and Bristol announced the news at a May 7 news conference during SPE-Antec.
This year, 10 $3,000 scholarships will be available through the foundation for students dedicated to careers as plastics technicians or engineers. Applicants must be undergraduate students in either a four-year college or two-year technical school.
The PIA had run the Plastics Pioneers' Education Fund for more than 15 years. Albert Spaak, then PIA's executive director, helped the fund by donating his 1990 retirement bonus back to PIA. At that time, PIA was housed at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Since 1996, PIA has been housed at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.