PPG Foundation donates $40,000 to US university

The PPG Foundation has donated US$40,000 to the NDSU Foundation and Alumni Association to benefit the Coatings and Polymeric Materials Department at North Dakota State University (NDSU).

The donation will help establish and provide scholarship funding for a professional Master of Science programme in colour technology.

This new course will complement the university’s long-standing coatings and polymeric materials programme, which is one of the few courses 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 programme, and an additional $10,000 grant will establish a PPG scholarship fund.

Dean C. Webster, Department Chair, Coatings and Polymeric Materials, said NDSU is creating the programme to help address an industry-wide need for trained graduates.

"There is currently a need for an academic programme in the US offering training in colour technology, because there is a great demand from employers like PPG to fill colour-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 colour scientists, and for the grants the PPG Foundation provided to support our new programme 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 colour science programme at NDSU, and last year, PPG members led a forum in which learning objectives for the colour technology course 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 colour technology programme and look forward to seeing how future graduates will advance the practice of industrial colour science.”

The PPG Foundation aims to bring colour and brightness to PPG communities in the USA.