Submitted: The Two Sides Team February 5, 2016

Excellent job placement and career opportunities for paper engineering students!

by Katherine Miller

Serving as the Recruitment and Outreach Specialist for the Paper Engineering Program at Western Michigan University has been gratifying in ways I never expected. Having sought out the program after seeing many of the developments in environmental packaging and printed electronics, I never imagined how much of an honor it would be to introduce thousands of students and families to one of the most sustainable industry in the US today, the Forest Products Industry. Most families are completely unaware of the environmental and process opportunities within the Forest Products Industry, and none are aware that every school with an active Paper Engineering program has had 100% job placement for many years. Not only are our Alumni making great money, they are in meaningful careers and many of them assist in positive changes to the way we source, manufacture, and recycle many of the products we use every day. Students asking for Environmental, Bioprocess, or Mechanical Engineering are obvious candidates to become Paper Engineers and students who want to help the environment can find avenues to do this in the Forest Products Industry. To further practice what we preach, the WMU Paper Engineering brochures are created from re-purposed dining service boxes, collected and baled by WMU students, recycled and made into paper by WMU Pilot Plants, and printed by WMU Alumni.

Katherine Miller is Recruitment Specialist and Mentor, Paper Engineering, Western Michigan University

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