SPE Golden Gate section has been Northern California's plastics support group, networking hub and educator since the 1940s. Today, our mission continues to focus on education, advancing plastics technology knowledge and helping professionals and students in all areas of the plastics industry by providing networking and educational events as well as facilitating student and professional collaborations within our community. The objective of the Golden Gate Section is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics. The SPE GGS will continue to bring innovation to our members by relevant monthly programs. Partnering with other local companies and educators to share knowledge, resources and leverage volunteerism through mutual interests and the philosophy that together we can achieve more. Our section's primary purpose is to support our members with opportunities to learn and innovate through a collaborative framework in a community focused on advancing plastics technology and sustainability.
I am honored to have the opportunity to represent SPE GGS as the President this year. I'm excited to share my passion about polymer science and re-energize this Section with new events and activities.
My main goal is to provide our members with many interesting tours, workshops and networking opportunities. We recently hosted a networking event at EAG Laboratories, which included a short technical lecture followed by food and conversation. This was a fantastic opportunity for our members to interact and get to know each other better. We are planning to host several such events in the upcoming year.
I am also pleased to announce that we are in the process of creating a new Mentorship program between students and senior engineers/scientists. Once we have compiled directories of potential mentors and mentees, we will help match those with common interests and professional aspirations. Please contact me at yschneider@eag.com if you would like to be involved.
The mentorship program is just one part of our larger effort to foster a strong relationship between the student chapters and the SPE community at large. We are working very closely with the student leadership on co-sponsored events and have welcomed several new professors to our Board of Directors. We are planning to host a Professional SPE Career panel in February as well as revamping our Education Expo so that more students are involved.
Finally, we are updating our website and becoming more present in social media with a new Facebook account. We hope this will help our members stay aware of our upcoming activities. We have always had a presence of LinkedIn and are continuing to post articles and share events. As I share my excitement about the upcoming year, I hope that you feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns. My door is always open and I'd love to know how our organization can do better to serve you and your needs.
Warmest regards,
Yanika Schneider
SPE GGS President
yschneider@eag.com