FEATURE
Kerry Pianoforte, Editor
The School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) held its 44th Annual International Waterborne, High-Solids and
Powder Coatings Symposium February 19-24 in New Orleans,
Louisiana. The Waterborne Symposium is a technical forum for
environmentally friendly coatings technologies. Proceeds from
the symposium are used by USM for various elements of academic program development including junior faculty development, graduate student stipends, equipment acquisition and
maintenance, and especially scholarships for undergraduate
students majoring in Polymer Science. Most of these students
enter the coatings or related polymer industries upon graduation. These scholarships are key to USM’s efforts to recruit the
highest-achieving students into their Polymer program.
This year’s event had 400 registered attendees and featured
47 talks organized into seven sessions related to various aspects
of surface coatings: waterborne, additives, polymerization, general, high solids and powder coatings.
“This year’s Symposium looks to have more than 400 attendees, 47 presentations, 29 booths at the technical session and 26
student papers,” noted Dr. James Rawlins, USM professor and
Symposium moderator.
Plenary Speaker from Dow,
Keynote Address from PPG
The opening session commenced with plenary speaker, Sarah
Eckersley, global director of R&D, TS&D Coatings, Monomers
and Plastic Additives at the Dow Chemical Company, who presented a talk entitled “If We Build It, Will They Come?”.
Eckersley talked about making technologies relevant and the
intersection of technology and the marketplace.
“As technical professionals, we usually operate under the assumption that technological advantages drive technology adoption,” she said. “We believe that if we build it, they will come
– assuming that the cost is in line with the benefit. “Many of us
have been disappointed by lukewarm marketplace acceptance
The 44th Annual
Waterborne
Symposium
This annual event featured 47 presentations on a variety of topics related to surface
coatings including waterborne, additives, pigments and emerging technologies.
