Engineered Polyolefins for the Mobility Evolution
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2024 Candidates for Board of Directors - Gary Wnek

2024 Election for SPE Board of Directors

Gary Wnek, Ph.D.

SPE Director Nominee

Experience

Case Western Reserve University
19 years 2 months

Professor, Macromolecular Science and Engineering
Jul 2006 - Present — 17 years 2 months
Associate Dean of Academics, Case School of Engineering
Jul 2013 - Jun 2015 — 2 years
Faculty Director, The Institute for Management and Engineering (TiME)
Jul 2004 - Mar 2015 — 10 years 9 months

Virginia Commonwealth University
Founding Chair, Chemical Engineering
Aug 1996 - Dec 2003 — 7 years 5 months

Led the launch of a chemical engineering department in the then-new School of Engineering at VCU

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Associate Professor and Professor
1987 - 1996 — 9 years

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6 years 10 months

Associate Professor
Jul 1985 - Jun 1987 — 2 years
Assistant Professor
Sep 1980 - Jun 1985 — 4 years 10 months

SPE Positions Held

Member, Visionaries in Plastics Committee, Society of Plastics Engineers, 2021-2022
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, SPE Polymers, 2020

Education

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Ph.D. Polymer Science and Engineering
1977 - 1980

Worcester Polytechnic Institute
B.S. Chemical Engineering
1973 - 1977

Summary

I will be entering my 44th year as a polymer educator this fall, and have enjoyed a productive career spanning research, teaching, and service. I believe that I can bring considerable energy and a unique perspective to the role of an SPE Director. I have enjoyed recent participation on the Visionaries in Plastics Committee, and see many opportunities to grow the visibility and impact of SPE especially with younger scientists and engineers having careers in the plastics industry. A key priority would be to further energize and expand SPE student chapters. In addition to the technical content of broad interest, SPE can link professional and personal development opportunities to national and regional meetings along with webinars. Thanks for your consideration.