Industry contact helps students connect to education: N.C. State pulp and paper students explain how industry contacts and a "real world" curriculum help them make the best of their college education.

The following is a roundtable interview with pulp and paper students at North Carolina State University. The discussion took place in November 2001 at the TAPPI Pulping Conference in Seattle, Washington.

The participants were:

* Kelley Mandracchia, a junior in pulp and paper and chemical engineering. She is a graduate of East Mecklenburg High School, Charlotte, N.C.

* Jason Persinger, a senior who will graduate this May with a B. S. in pulp and paper and a B. A. in chemistry. He grew up and attended high school in Lewisburg, West Virginia. In May, he will move to Kingsport, Tennessee to begin his career with Hercules Pulp and Paper. He will be working primarily at the Weyerhaeuser mill in Kingsport.

* Julie Cheng, a senior; will receive her B. S. in chemical engineering and pulp and paper science in May. She is a native of Raleigh, N.C. and graduated from W. G. Enloe High School. After graduation, she will work at Kimberly-Clark Corp. in Roswell, Georgia.

* Robert Lowe, who graduated in December 2001 with degrees in pulp and paper and chemical engineering. He is currently working towards his PhD at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology in Atlanta. Lowe grew up Indian Trail, North Carolina and is a graduate of Piedmont High School.

* Erik Welf, a senior who will re-ceive a degree in pulp and paper and chemical engineering this May. He attended Wake Forest-Rolesville High School in Wake Forest, N.C. and prior to that attended high school in Illinois.

The roundtable was conducted by Alan Rooks, editorial director of Solutions! magazine.

ROOKS: What is your perception of the paper industry as a career choice? How did you perceive it going into the program and how has that perception changed?

PERSINGER: My Dad and other family members work in the paper industry, mostly in hourly jobs. They advised me not to get into the industry because they thought career options were limited. Now, as I've gone through the N.C. State pulp and paper program, they've seen how I've been able to work in varied roles at different mills through co-op programs. They've also seen how well the placement process has worked, so they are very excited for me. I've always liked science and math, and this has been a great opportunity because of the scholarship program that provides funding for pulp and paper students.

LOWE: I was dragged into the paper industry kicking and screaming (laughter). I was good at science and math in high school and knew I wanted to go into engineering at N.C. State. I was accepted into the chemical engineering program, but it's hard to get a scholarship there unless you are an outrageously great student with 1600 SATs. I got a call from the Pulp and Paper Foundation to talk about a scholarship, but making toilet paper for the rest of my life did not sound appealing.

But, they offered me a scholarship and my parents told me that was what I would do. For the first year, I still didn't like it, but I started to see that papermaking was complex and interesting and that it requires a lot of science. Now, I wouldn't give it up for anything; it's probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

ROOKS: Why did your perception change?

LOWE: Mostly it was the people in the program. The professors in pulp and paper are very personable, teach great classes and really care about their students.

MANDRACCHIA: My Dad would put advertisements in my room about chemical engineering and starting salaries; he said, "you're my retirement plan." In my senior year in high school, I got a scholarship from the Foundation that would fund two degrees, so I thought, "you can't beat that." The people in the program are outstanding. We're like a family-the faculty, the Foundation, the students, the people in the co-op programs. I have a philosophy that I can do anything as long as I'm working with good people.

CHENG: I went to a very strong math and science high school, and I had an awesome AP chemistry teacher, I fell in love with chemistry. When I decided to go to State, I didn't know if I was going to major in chemistry or chemical engineering. Dr. Hou-Min Chang, a professor at N.C. State, is a family friend, and he told me that if I was going to do chemical engineering I should check out pulp and paper. I didn't know anything about paper but after I checked out the program, I liked what I saw. I switched into pulp and paper with the intention of doing the Chem E double degree. At the end of my sophomore year, I accepted an internship and got some good first hand experience in pulp and paper. Chem E is pretty dry and theoretical, but pulp and paper has very hands on, practical knowledge--the program is very cool.

WELF: I didn't know much about paper and it seemed pretty mundane. But I had a strong math and science background and since the pulp and paper scholarship was combined with chemical engineering, I figured I couldn't go wrong. I went into the program pretty much like everyone else, but I fell in love with it; the people are .great and when you get to work in the industry on internships, you realize there is so much that goes into it.

ROOKS: How do you think consolidation and globalization will affect your careers?

MANDRACCHIA: Globalization may produce more opportunities. Many people want to work overseas at some point in their career, and it can produce some exciting opportunities.

PERSINGER: Today, most people change jobs several times during their careers and consolidation just makes that a lot easier to do. Smaller companies with just two or three mills can't otter many different opportunities. Larger companies can do that on a broader scale and you can develop a more diverse background.

LOWE: All manufacturing industries are affected by these trends, not just pulp and paper. Consolidation sounds scary, and people may think it limits opportunities, but as long as companies are making paper, they'll need new people.

WELF: The direction the industry is going doesn't scare me. Actually, it's a good opportunity for us because we're going to be instrumental in determining the future of the industry by operating more efficient and cleaner mills, and by inventing the equipment that can help do that. We're going to be very valuable to the industry, and I think that's very exciting.

MANDRACCHIA: One problem with small companies is that development work is pretty fragmented. With consolidation, you can have larger groups of scientists working together and sharing their knowledge.

ROOKS: How well has your education prepared you for a career in the paper industry?

WELF: Our curriculum uses a two-pronged approach; they try to give us as much current information as possible, but they also make sure we know basic processes like kraft pulping inside and out. They work hard to instill in us a way of thinking about the industry and analyzing issues so that we will be capable of inventing new processes and streamlining existing ones.

LOWE: The "hands on" approach is great. Nearly every class we have has a lab associated with it. In Chem E, you only take one or two lab classes. We get to run a batch digester and a pilot paper machine. Things like that help prepare you so much better for working in the industry than just sitting in the classroom day after day.

PERSINGER: They are teaching us how to learn so we can go out and make a difference. With the hands-on experience, we can put together all the individual bits of knowledge we have learned and apply them to our jobs. The varied co-op experiences I've had during the summers have really helped out. I was able to crone back to school and say, "I've seen this out in the industry,' and it made it so much easier and more interesting to learn.

CHENG: The paper I worked on as part of my internship was extremely valuable to me. I worked hard on it, and it's a good reference because 1 recorded everything I did and got to know what went on in the mill.

MANDRACCHIA: The pulp and paper program at N.C. State is unusually well rounded. All the professors instill an ethic in us that we can take what we learn and create a better industry, and many of them have direct experience in the paper industry. Our professors care about us and we respect them. The camaraderie that N.C. State pulp and paper has is really special. I'm sure we'll be supporting our school after we graduate, just as we'll support TAPPI and PIMA because they've given us so much too.

WELF: I've had the opportunity to work as part of a department team that looked at how to change the way we are instructed. That has given me an opportunity to see first-hand how challenging teaching is. It was amazing to see just how much effort they put into it. I value that.

ROOKS: What are some of the best things you got out of your co-op and internship experiences?

MANDRACCHIA: I co-oped because I really didn't know about the paper industry. I was asking myself, "Do I really want to spend the next four years of my life learning about this?" On the co-op, I saw how involved the process was and that you were doing different things every day, and that made me want to stay.

PERSINGER: I worked my freshman year and before college, I worked for an engineering firm that was not related to the paper industry. Then I went out on co-op, and it became a big building block for me. Before the co-op, I was burned out on school. When I came back, I really got into my classes and labs. I had direct experiences from the co-op that related to what we were doing in class, and it made everything so much easier. It was a great learning experience.

WELF: The summer experience gives you an opportunity to flex your skills. You learn things in the classroom; but they don't mean much when you just regurgitate them for tests. When you're working, you get to use you've been taught. It reinvigorated me--it was one of the high points of the curriculum.

CHENG: I was given a lot of responsibility in my internships. They actually put me in projects where I was the team leader and came up with ideas for optimization. I was able to come back from the summer and say, "Wow, I actually made a difference." It's an incredible experience and it motivated me to keep learning so I can help out in the future even more.

LOWE: During co-ops, we haven't been put in lab tech positions; in most cases, we've been given important projects that the company would be doing anyway but is lacking the manpower.

PERSINGER: Early in one of my internships, a pulp mill process engineer left the mill, and my manager told me they could hold up on hiring a replacement and put me in his job. Those were big shoes to fill, but they worked with me and it added a lot of responsibility to my internship. On our internships, many of us have been responsible for saving thousands of dollars and making important sales. That creates a real sense of accomplishment.

ROOKS: What advice would you give students just entering pulp and paper programs?

CHENG: I would say, "get to know the professors." Many people are afraid of the professor, but after class just go up and introduce yourself. If you make the effort, teachers will get to know you and work with you. If you have a question, ask it, and if you're still not sure, do a co-op, get first-hand experience, and see if this is what you really want to do.

MANDRACCHIA: I've spoken at a lot of open houses recently, and I say, "If you're going into chemical engineering, how could you not want to do pulp and paper?" Just stick with it because it will be worth it in the future. If you're doing a double major, stay in pulp and paper because those people get you through the chemical engineering classes. Get involved with TAPPI and PIMA; don't just go to classes because there is so much more. We all practically live in the pulp and paper building. It's our home. If you get involved, everything will come back to you.

IN THIS ARTICLE. YOU WILL LEARN:

* How today's pulp and paper science students feel about the future of the pulp and paper industry

* The benefit of co-ops and internships to a pulp and paper student's learning experience

* The advice these students have for others considering a career in the pulp and paper industry

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

* For information about North Carolina State University's Wood and Paper Science program, go to http://natural resources.ncsu.edu/wps/

* To learn more about TAPPI Student chapters, visit www.tappi.org and click on the Student Chapters link in the People section

* To learn more about PIMA Student chapters, visit www.pima-online.org and click on the Student Chapters link on the left side of the page