SPE names honored service members and fellows at Antec 2017

Anaheim, Calif. — The Society of Plastics Engineers named three honored service members and four fellows at the society's Antec 2017 conference in Anaheim.

These honored service members were recognized at a May 7 dinner:

Donald Duvall, a senior managing consultant with the Aurora, Ill, office of Engineering Systems Inc. A member of SPE since 1981, he has served on the board of directors and as chairman of the Engineering Properties and Structure Division and the Failure Analysis and Prevention Special Interest Group. He was a founding member and is the current chair of the Plastic Pipe and Fittings Special Interest Group, which nominated him for the honored service member designation.

Duvall also served for 25 years as an adjunct faculty member in Illinois Institute of Technology's Department of Mechanical, Material and Aerospace Engineering.

Benjamin Lopez has a 30-year career in blow molding machinery, working for the manufacturers of Kautex, Battenfeld Fischer, Uniloy Milacron and Bekum machines. He joined the board of directors of the SPE Blow Molding Division in 2004, and has served as chairman, secretary and treasurer. During his time as chairman and past-chairman, the Blow Molding Division has increased its recognition in the industry considerably and raised attendance and the number of exhibitors at the ABC conference, SPE said.

Lopez implemented, directed and worked on a special education committee of the division board to develop a blow molding training class as a technical community college, and establish a blow molding training program.

The Blow Molding Division nominated Lopez.

Marie-France Sosa, director of sales at Plastiques GPR and a spokeswoman for the certification in sustainable development, has more than 24 years of plastics experience. She holds a bachelor's degree in industrial design from the University of Quebec, as well as a technical degree in applied technologies of plastics materials and three certificates in sales and negotiation, customer service and marketing from the HEC Business School of Montreal.

Sosa has served on the Quebec Section, which nominated her for Honored Service Member, since 1993 on the board of directors, and as the division's secretary, education chair, membership chair, program chair, president and most recently chair of the North-East TopCon 2016.

SPE named four members to the status of fellow:

Vipul Dave joined Johnson & Johnson in 1996 and had several roles in the medical device and consumer sectors of the company. He is currently a director and fellow in the Global OTC Technology Group at the McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division.

His research has focused on understanding structure-property-processing relationships of polymers for health care applications. He has more than 27 U.S. patents, and 40 U.S. patent applications, has written more than 30 articles in journals and books and presented more than 70 papers.

Dave earned a master's degree in polymer science from, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and a doctorate's in materials engineering science from Virginia Tech. He is a board member of SPE's Medical Division, which nominated him as a fellow.

Teresa Karjala is a principal research scientist at Dow Chemical Co. in the packaging and specialty plastics materials science group in Freeport, Texas. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware. She has more than 25 years of experience leading research and development.

Karjala, who has 60 U.S. patents and 30 patents in Europe, has written more than 70 research articles and presentations.

She was nominated by the Engineering Properties and Structure Division.

John Rathman, principal blow molding specialist at Chevon Phillips Chemical Co.'s Plastics Technical Center in Bartlesville, Okla. Over a 40-year career, he has worked in various technical areas of blow molding, including the development of automotive fuel tanks, use of barrier technologies for fuel tanks, moving-section molds for blow molding irregularly shaped parts, improvement of natural color of polyethylene through additives, and the development of high-performance PE resins.

Rathman has five U.S. patents and more than 20 publications and conference presentations. He has been an active director for the SPE Blow Molding Division since 2003, and that division nominated him as a fellow.

Miguel Rodriguez-Perez is a professor of the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Valladolid in Spain, where he founded the Cellular Materials Laboratory. He has been involved in more than 75 research projects connected with developing improved cellular polymers, and has published more than 160 papers in international journals, as well as given plenary talks at more than 20 conferences.

He is a member of the editorial committee of the journal "Cellular Polymers" and the "Journal of Cellular Plastics, and is a member of SPE's Thermoplastic Materials and Foams Division. His current research is focused on cellular nanocomposites, micro and nanocellular materials and cellular bioplastics.

SPE's Building and Construction Special Interest Group nominated Rodriquez-Perez for the fellow designation.