Hannah Maize

Alumni
Polymer Engineering

Her job? To create better products and to do it more efficiently. And in the world of plastics, that’s a highly valued skill set. Hannah is a process engineer for Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials. She loves her job career and the thrill of solving challenges. “I'm never bored and always learning something new,” she says.

TAKING THE LEAD: Q&A with Hannah

WHAT DO YOU DO AT MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL ADVANCED MATERIALS?

The short answer is that I put fires out. I'm mainly responsible for process improvement on the manufacturing floor. I get into a bit of project management as well. I make sure that we make the best quality product as efficiently as possible. I do some office work, but can spend the whole day on the floor and come up to my desk maybe once or twice.

WERE YOU WELL-PREPARED FOR YOUR POSITION?

Absolutely. The problem solving skills I developed from the program and the fact that I had a lot of hands-on experience has helped me a lot.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT WORKING IN PLASTICS?

People think we make water bottles and everything's disposable. There are the other facets of the industry, like ours, where we make products to reduce waste, like the metal to plastic replacements, where you're going to be going through parts less quickly because they wear better. There are tons of opportunities for biodegradable, completely bio-based materials. We actually supply cups and lids made from the bio-sourced plastics here. It’s only going to keep growing.

WHAT WAS IT THAT REALLY SOLD YOU ON THE PLASTICS PROGRAM AT PENN COLLEGE?

Seeing the students during an open house sold me. They were the ones running the machines. And I was like, "That is really cool. These kids aren't much older than me and they're just totally cool about this." I thought that was awesome.

WHAT DID YOU ENJOY ABOUT THE PLASTICS PROGRAM?

I didn't realize how much I wanted or needed the hands-on aspect of learning until I had it. If I would have majored in something that's just theoretical, I would have been miserable sitting in a classroom all day. You have lecture classes a couple of hours a week. Then, you have three-hour labs that correspond to each of those classes.

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

The fact that I knew that I was going to have a job walking right out of college, and I knew I was going to be prepared for that job. I had a job locked down before the end of my first semester, senior year!

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE PENN COLLEGE CAREER FAIR?

The Career Fair was probably one of my favorite parts of the Penn College experience. We were required to go and talk to a bunch of employers. I haven't really heard of that happening at any other college. And they weren't dead-end positions either! They would get in touch with you—they wanted you to come work for them.

YOU HAD LOTS OF OPTIONS. WHY MITSUBISHI?

I really enjoyed the synthesis and advanced materials classes that we took in the program, and that’s what we do here. I feel like there are so few companies in the industry that do what we do. So it just felt exclusive and special.

WHY SHOULD SOMEONE CONSIDER PLASTICS AS A CAREER?

Plastics are the future. They're everywhere and not going anywhere. There are so many opportunities for biodegradable and bio-based materials. I feel like we're just scratching the surface on that.

Always Learning: Enriching Opportunities

During her time at Penn College, Hannah was able to attend the Society of Plastics Engineers 32nd Annual Blow Molding Conference in Atlanta with classmates. At the conference they participated in technical presentations and networked with potential employers.

Tomorrow Maker: A Natural Leader

In addition to being chosen as an Awesome Woman Exemplar and receiving the Plastics Faculty Award, Hannah was also selected as the student speaker at her commencement ceremony.