Thomas Nosker:  

After wondering a bit about what to do after high school, and knowing I loved cars, I decided to go to Ga Tech and get a Mechanical Engineering degree so I could work on the R&D side of the car industry. Tech was tough, but I figured out how to study and did well after the initial shock. By the time I finished, I could tell the US Auto industry was not doing well. So, even though I received multiple offers from them and the military aircraft industry, went to Ga. Power to work on the Plant Vogtle nuclear plant. In October, 1980, my father died after a short illness, and I decided to move my mother and myself up to New Jersey to be near relatives. I never intended to stay. I enrolled in graduate school, and basically never left Rutgers University. I ended up with a PhD in Polymer Physics. I started working on plastic recycling in the 1980's with PET soda bottle recycling as a graduate student, then was the fir...Expand for more