PPG Foundation Donates $40,000 to Coatings Department at North Dakota State University

 

The PPG Foundation donated $40,000 to the NDSU Foundation and Alumni Association to benefit the Coatings and Polymeric Materials Department at North Dakota State University to help establish and provide scholarship funding for a professional Master of Science program in color technology.

This new program will complement the university's long-standing coatings and polymeric materials program, which is one of few programs in the world that provides academic research and education focused on polymer organic coatings.

A $30,000 PPG Foundation grant made on behalf of PPG’s science and technology function is helping to cover infrastructure, equipment, faculty and other costs related to establishing the program, and an additional $10,000 grant will establish a PPG scholarship fund for the program.

Dean C. Webster, department chair, coatings and polymeric materials, said NDSU is creating the program to help address a need industrywide for trained graduates.

“There is currently a need for an academic program in the U.S. offering training in color technology, because there is a great demand from employers like PPG to fill color-science roles in the paints and coatings, cosmetics, plastics, and agriculture industries, to name just a few,” he said. “We are very grateful for PPG’s support in helping us establish the need across many industries for degreed color scientists, and for the grants the PPG Foundation provided to support our new program and help satisfy this need.”

PPG scientists have actively served on the NDSU Coatings and Polymeric Materials Industrial Advisory Board over the years, joining other coatings industry representatives to help guide the department’s curriculum. This advisory board encouraged the addition of a color science program at NDSU, and last year, PPG members led a forum in which learning objectives for the color technology program were established.

“PPG values North Dakota State University’s coatings and polymeric materials department because it helps prepare students for careers that relate directly to PPG’s business,” said Bill Eibon, PPG director of technology acquisition for automotive coatings, and an NDSU advisory board member. “We’re excited to help NDSU launch its color technology program and look forward to seeing how future graduates will advance the practice of industrial color science.”

Visit www.ndsu.edu.