The featured student this week is Zoe Antonas, a chemical engineering major from Knoxville, Tennessee, who worked for Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee.
Antonas worked in the Additives and Functional Products (AFP) department doing coatings development, specifically in the applied factory coatings group. Her main project was to synthesize multiple solvent borne polyols at various glass transition temperatures in order to make coatings for easy-open-ends (EOE), or the pop-tops on soda cans.
When describing the benefits of her co-op, Antonas says, “There are so many benefits; it’s difficult to choose just one. But I would have to say the most valuable benefit was the experience of working in a true, 40 hr/week job and seeing what it takes to be a good employee. For me, this experience led to confidence. Just seeing how much I learned and improved over the last 10 weeks has helped me realize that I know I have what it takes to eventually be a successful chemical engineer.”