Click here to register for the webinar.

Are you interested in learning from industry leaders about their groundbreaking innovations with soy in the U.S. auto and tire industries? If so, please join the Collegiate Biobased Network’s (CBN)* May 3rd webinar where representatives from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Ford Motor Company will also share information about internship and career opportunities at their companies.

All Ford vehicles produced in North America contain soy-based polyurethane foams in seat cushions and backs. United Soybean Board (USB) funding supported joint research with Ford that led to commercialization of the foam. Ford continues to look for additional ways to incorporate the use of soy and other renewable materials in its vehicles and one day hopes to completely eliminate the use of petroleum-based parts.

Goodyear’s cooperation with USB yielded a first for the tire industry. Following extensive experiments, lab testing, road testing and more, Goodyear introduced soy-based technology in its Assurance WeatherReady™ tires, a broad line tire that covers 77 percent of cars, SUVs, crossovers, pickups and minivans.

Speakers:  The speakers will share insights and opportunities gathered through their extensive work with soy as a sustainable, biobased alternative.

  • Robert A. Woloszynek, Ph.D., Chief Engineer, Polymer Science and Technology, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
  • Janice L Tardiff, Elastomer Materials Technical Expert, Design and Final Assembly Department, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering – Ford Motor Company

Webinar date: Thursday, May 3, 2018

Time: 2 – 3 p.m. eastern

Click here to register. If you are a college student and have not yet joined the Collegiate Biobased Network (CBN) please do so here (link to CBN registration).

Speaker Bios

Janice Tardiff is leading the elastomer material research at Ford Motor Company. She holds a Chemistry degree from Kalamazoo College and a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University.  She has been at Ford Motor Company for 25 years, conducting project work focused primarily on developing and implementing advanced materials technologies into automotive materials.  Current project work has focused on the incorporation of sustainable materials into rubber compounds and investigations into the use of advanced materials in rubber.  Her positions within Ford have varied from Research to Manufacturing, giving her experience in the development, implementation, and maintenance of new technologies in the automotive industry. 

Bob Woloszynek has worked at Goodyear since 2007, hiring into the company’s Polymer Technology Group as a Senior Research Chemist following his graduate studies.  He served as Principal Investigator for the development of a new catalyst system and subsequent family of tire polymers, which are used in Goodyear products globally.  Bob became the Principal Investigator on Goodyear’s soybean oil project in 2012, shortly after the company began its relationship with the United Soybean Board.  He has also been Lead Engineer in Goodyear’s Material Science organization, and was recently appointed Chief Engineer, Polymer Science & Technology, where he is tasked with leading a team of scientists and engineers to develop new polymer and compound technologies to support both Goodyear’s tire and chemical operations.  He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Baldwin-Wallace University, and a Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University.”