The Evonik Experience
It is not very often that a student skips Friday afternoon plans to step on the campus of an international specialty chemical and medical technology corporation. But on one Friday afternoon, not just one but over 60 student scientists, innovators, and leaders stepped on Evonik’s campus…
BIRMINGHAM, AL – On Friday, September 29th, 2017, over sixty Science and Technology Honors (STH) students ranging from freshmen to seniors visited the Evonik Corporation site in Birmingham at Oxmoor Valley. Located just fifteen minutes away from UAB, Evonik Corporation at Birmingham Laboratories is the first “Innovation Center” for Evonik in the United States. The German-based, cutting-edge corporation, described as “one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies” combines its strengths in business and innovation to deliver its products. While Evonik products vary across the board, the STH students specifically learned about its drug delivery services, a focus of the Birmingham site. The Evonik staff specifically explained to students how their newest technology controls a drug’s ability to localize in a certain 2 part of the body and to release over a customized duration of time.
Upon arrival, the STH students were seated in the formal presentation auditorium; Dr. Thomas R. Tice, the Senior Director of Evonik Corporation at Birmingham Laboratories, introduced the students to the corporation and its mission. Several Evonik employees, including heads of various departments, proceeded to discuss their division’s role in the drug delivery creation process. While listening, STH members continuously asked questions about the roles, work, and priorities involved in each division. After finishing the formal presentation and physically viewing some new Evonik technology, the students were split in groups and took tours of the facilities. One prominent stop included a new manufacturing cleanroom charted for utilization in the next few months; the staff described the filling line and technology present and the students even interacted with the machinery. The visit ended with a networking event where students conversed with Evonik staff members.
Overall, the experience opened the eyes of several SciTech students to opportunities and careers both at Evonik and in the realms of business and science. The students described their experience with a myriad of words (arranged into the word cloud at the top). Some of the highlights of the event from the student perspective included physically holding thousands of dollars of technology (i.e. a dissolving heart stent) and networking with some of the brightest in their fields of interest right here in Birmingham. The Evonik staff after the visit stated they very much enjoyed meeting and talking with the enthusiastic UAB students. The site-visit to Evonik was certainly a STH program highlight for the fall semester. With these types of visits, a student explained, we are not only growing in knowledge, but also in passion and drive, to find our own corner of the world to make our mark in the same way Evonik Industries has.
