30 Under 30 Class of 2021: Educators

The mold manufacturing industry has hard shoes to fill, but the next-generation under the age of 30 is eager to try with grace and grit. From teacher assistants, apprentices and journeyman mold builders, to engineers, project managers and company owners, and everything in between, the crop of young professional talent from around the globe is breaking the mold, as they say. And these masters of moldmaking and mold design are equally eager to share their tribal knowledge and pass on that passion, which keeps this community advancing into the future.

Today’s blog features an under 30 individual, Michael Shone, who holds a position in training and education. Read his story below.

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University of Massachusetts Lowell, Plastics Engineering Department (Lowell, Massachusetts)

Michael Shone, Teaching Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate

Currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Plastics Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Michael has been providing invaluable contributions to undergraduate plastics engineering students’ training and education in the area of moldmaking and engineering as a teaching assistant for plastics mold engineering.

Since taking the class as an undergraduate in 2014, Michael has helped faculty members by supporting the class with great passion and enthusiasm. In 2015 and 2016, he was an undergraduate teaching assistant, helping students with their mold designs, generating toolpaths, machining and molding. From 2017 until 2020, Michael stepped up as the lead teaching assistant, taking more responsibility for students’ project success. His expertise, leadership and devotion has helped 200+ students design, build and test their injection molds. Every year, his contributions make possible the realization of 8-10 injection molds from undergraduate students in just three months.

Through the years, Michael has mastered part/mold design, simulation, CAM, machining, polishing, assembly and molding. He has also created video tutorials to assist students with difficult concepts like CNC programming. Michael was awarded the Henry Thomas Design Excellence Award in 2016, Outstanding Teaching Assistant in 2018, and Russell Ehlers Processing Excellence Award in 2019.

Michael has also done extensive research on powder injection molding for an industrial sponsor as part of his Ph.D. work, which has resulted in the design and production of multiple research molds. While his research is still in progress, he presented his injection molding simulation work at the 2019 Moldflow Summit and the 2020 Connect conference, as well as his powder injection molding rheology work at the ANTEC 2018 and PPS 2018 conferences.