Joseph attends Kettering University as an A-section Senior III Chemical Engineering major with a minor in Sustainability. He attended Swartz Creek High School, graduated in 2022, and lived at home while attending school. While currently working for a pharmaceutical supplier as a quality engineer intern during co-op terms, Joseph previously worked as a quality assurance laboratory co-op for a plastics compounding company. His work there, along with running quality control tests, included operating injection molding machines. While not currently employed in the plastics industry, Joseph is thankful to the SPE Blow Molding Division for encouraging his studies!
Future Blow Molding Professionals
Internship Scholarship
The Future Blow Molding Professionals Internship Scholarship was established in 2021 by the SPE Blow Molding Division to support students to seeking experiential learning opportunities in the Blow Molding industry. Our goal is to encourage students in plastics related fields to pursue careers in the blow molding industry. For this purpose, the Blow Molding Division Board of Directors has pledged to provide a scholarship of $3,000 to a qualifying student pursuing these types of opportunities. This scholarship is generously sponsored by W. MULLER USA, Inc.
Qualifications for the Future Blow Molding Professionals Internship Scholarship are:
1. The applicant must be enrolled full time in a degreed undergraduate or graduate discipline in a science, technology, or
engineering discipline that is associated with the Plastics Industry. Qualified degrees include Plastics Engineering, Plastic
Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Materials Science.The applicant must
attend a school in the United States or Canada.
2. Candidates must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher (4.0 scale).
3. The applicant must be a member of an SPE Student Chapter or a member of SPE where no Student Chapter is available to the
student.
4. The applicant must have an accepted offer to work, as a Co-op or Intern, at a Blow Molding company or company that services
the Blow Molding Industry. The applicant must provide written documentation of the offer from the employer, stating the type of
work they will be performing as an intern. The duration of the internship must be at least 2 months.
5. The applicant will submit a brief essay with their application describing the importance of blow molding to the technical parts and
packaging industry and any work/co-op/internships completed in the past.
6. Should qualifying candidates not be identified for this scholarship, no award will be granted by the SPE Blow Molding Division
Board of Directors.
Students can apply for this scholarship by visiting SPE Foundation Scholarships.
Future Blow Molding Professionals Scholarship
(2026)
Jackson Comes
University of Washington
Jackson Comes is a third-year PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington with a research focus on sustainable bioplastics manufacturing. His work explores new methods for producing biodegradable plastics from industrial waste using engineered microorganisms. He also develops genetic tools that enable these manufacturing platforms to be deployed more efficiently. He is passionate about the future of plastics manufacturing and is excited by the opportunity to develop scalable production technologies that improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact, while strengthening domestic manufacturing. Jackson hopes to help build a more sustainable and resilient plastics industry through innovative biomanufacturing processes.
(2025) Joseph Rode, Kettering University
(2024) Nicholas Frederick, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Nick Frederick is a senior at Penn State Behrend studying Plastics Engineering Technology. Nick has completed two internship positions over the past 4 years including one at Thermo Fisher Scientific where he worked on process development and new machine and product implementation and also where he first discovered a passion for blow molding. This past summer, he interned at Greif Inc. working on process improvement strategies for their drum manufacturing facility. Nick is eager to enter the workforce in the blow molding industry and is excited to see where it will lead! In his free time, Nick enjoys spending time outdoors, walking his dog, working out, golfing, and spending time with his family.
(2023) Clara Chung, UCLA
Clara Chung is a senior at UCLA studying Cognitive Science with a Specialization in Computing and a Food Studies minor. She was first introduced to plastics while working as a Product Development Intern at Niagara Bottling, where she enjoyed learning how to problem solve through the packaging challenges of some of her favorite beverage products. Clara is also passionate about the sustainability opportunities within plastics. She hopes to pursue a career in product management in the food and beverage industry, and she is excited to apply her experience from Niagara in her future endeavors.