PORTSMOUTH- Shawnee State University student, Justin Salyers, is shaping his future through plastics engineering technology. The Wheelersburg, Ohio resident is a senior in the Plastics Engineering Technology program and is also pursuing an associate degree in Computer Aided Drafting & Design (CADD). With these two degrees, and in-class experience, Salyers began receiving job offers early into his senior year and has accepted a position as an Exterior Design Engineer at Honda for when he graduates. As he nears completion of his education, he enjoys sharing how the program has impacted what he wants to do in his career.

“Shawnee has a Plastics Day every December where they let high school students come in and see what technology they’re working with,” he said. “They also have an alumni panel, and by being able to talk to the alumni and learn about their jobs I realized there were so many different opportunities that I could go into.”

In the program Salyers has been able to work hands-on with the machinery in his lab hours and gain practical experience with each of them.

“I’ve designed a 3-D printed mold that goes onto the injection molding machine and ran a process with that,” he said. “It was a golf tee mold. For my senior project we get to come up with the design process, and we made coasters. Every year we come up with something different.”

For students interested in the Plastics Engineering Technology program, Salyers says it’s very much worth exploring.

“Keep all your options open,” he said. “The program is very successful. Try to always go above and beyond, and the staff is very helpful. They want you to come into the program and leave with success.”

The Plastics Engineering Technology program at SSU is one of four programs in the world that is accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET. Students gain skills within the program to work with manufacturing and consumer businesses to develop plastics components for a variety of consumer and industrial applications. Many graduates of SSU’s program find careers in large manufacturing companies as processes engineers, design engineers, project engineers, and production managers.

To learn more about the Plastic Engineering Technology program at Shawnee State University visit www.shawnee.edu/plastics.