Inspiring Graduate: Isaac Harnack (’25)
- Hometown: Crystal, Minnesota
- Degree: B.S. Plastics Engineering
In high school, Isaac Harnack, of Crystal, Minnesota, wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and be a mechanic for tractors and large farm equipment. “I have always had a mechanically inclined mind, and machines just make sense to me,” he said.
However, after looking at different career prospects, Harnack’s mom encouraged him to apply to UW-Stout, as one of her friend’s sons had graduated from the packaging program.
“I took one look at the School of Engineering majors and stumbled upon the plastics engineering program. After seeing an injection molding machine for the first time, I knew that this was the path forward. I had never seen anything like it before and wanted to know its every function.
“On top of this, Stout’s polytechnic spirit drew me closer to the school, as every class is hands-on constantly, you aren’t just learning theory. Here, using industry-standard equipment is just another Tuesday. The fact that making mistakes is encouraged as a point of learning is what kept me here,” he said.
Harnack completed two internships: one at Graco, in Rogers, Minnesota, and one at RTP Company, in Winona, Minnesota. He earned his plastics engineering degree and crossed the commencement stage on Dec. 20 as one of 527 UW-Stout graduates.
Harnack is fascinated by injection molding, which really boils down to two subcategories: making and designing the tools that run in the machines or processing the tools that run in the machines, he explained.
“I want to be a processing engineer, as the ‘thinking on your feet’ aspect is where I thrive. This would mean taking a tool and setting up machine parameters to run parts for my company or dealing with processing issues as they occur,” he said.
How do you hope to make an impact in your field?
Plastic is often given a bad rap, as most people only think about plastic as waste. However, it is a good alternative for making things cheaper and better for consumers if it is properly executed. If I can apply the skills I’ve learned in waste-saving measures to my company, it could have a global impact on our no-waste initiatives.
Because I am environmentally conscious, most of the projects that I undertook during my internships were about reducing waste in the injection molding or post-consumer recycling aspect of the process. This was achieved by putting waste product back into the injection molding cycle, which allowed the parts to be made more cheaply and with greater environmental consciousness.
Most people may not realize that plastic isn’t infinitely recyclable like aluminum, and it will break down over periods of time, so another project I got to work on was sourcing new additives to restore plastic’s strength in the post-consumer recycling business. The main goal was to revitalize old plastic and help cut down on waste with new additives to restore chemical bonds.
How has UW-Stout prepared you to work in your field?
Stout helped make my internships possible by having job fairs with applicable job sites for my major. The Midwest is a plastic manufacturing hub, and companies are constantly looking for students with plastic engineering experience under their belts. I was lucky enough to have two internship experiences.
Not all schools require an internship experience to graduate, which makes Stout students and graduates that much more desirable to companies.
For my Graco internship, the hands-on machining classes, the understanding of plastic polymers, and how the injection molding machines work really helped highlight my knowledge of these processes to my boss and fellow interns. However, because this was not a plastic-focused internship, I did a lot more manufacturing-style tasks, which opened my eyes to the other side of the engineering world and helped me better understand how that industry works. Instead of working on the processes, I was making tools to automatically remove parts from the machines and cut back on labor. This experience allowed me to understand what I can do to help other engineers have an easier time collaborating on projects with me. I have been in their position, and I know what I want to hear to solve the problem at hand.
At RTP, the global compounder, I showed my technical knowledge and skills that I gained at Stout. Out of the five interns at the company, I had the most hands-on knowledge of the processing aspects of plastic. This was highlighted by my ability to run extruders and injection molding machines with little to no training besides the mandatory safe operating training.
This really showed Stout’s education compared to other schools’ education in terms of the hands-on knowledge that I brought to the table.
Because of my background, training time was shortened and allowed me to be more autonomous more quickly than other interns, to the benefit of my supervisors. I was the intern to five engineers, while the other interns only had one. Getting on my feet quickly and showing that I could handle a large number of tasks and complete them all within their deadlines really showed my skills effectively. Most plastic-related companies use RTP’s custom-engineered polymer products. The fact that I had an internship with them has opened a lot more doors.
What stands out about your UW-Stout experience?
The biggest thing that stands out is the plastics engineering professors: Alex Jordan, Wei Zheng and Adam Kramschuster. They are all extremely knowledgeable and have different backgrounds in testing and analysis in plastic processing techniques.
I feel this is best highlighted in our capstone projects, which are the final experience as a Stout student. Plastics engineering typically has the best-researched and executed capstone projects, whose subjects range from a heavy testing and analysis focus to a processing focus. Each project is unique, and with it comes unique challenges and questions that, as a student, seem impossible for anyone to know anything about. Every time I talked with my professors about any issues I was having with my project, they would have the answers for me, or, once researched, show me how to properly execute the information I found. Their input on my project has been crucial to furthering my understanding of even the most niche topics.
Another standout experience is the community developed by professors and students, as having such a small and specialized major means that from freshman to senior year, all the people you graduate with are there with you every step of the way.
In terms of my favorite lab experiences, I really enjoyed our Injection Molding II class, where we got to work with manufacturing engineering students to design and machine our own injection molds. My partner and I engineered a golf tee for a simulator, and we had great success with molding our parts. Not many students get to have an experience like this, which really makes you stand out to potential employers.
How did your involvement on campus impact your experience?
As the program ambassador for the plastics engineering program, I am the lead lab assistant. My main goal is to keep the lab running and help with advanced research tasks put forth by the professors or help with lab improvements.
Just recently, we got the green light for four new 3D printers, which I had a major hand in helping acquire.
This was extremely beneficial to experience firsthand, as most companies have a lengthy process for equipment purchasing, and this experience was no different. Research, planning and ensuring we have enough space and resources available to support new equipment are all factors that play a part, and I had to prove that we could handle them.
I have received scholarships from regional plastic processing companies, which helped relieve some of the financial strain that college puts on a person. There are many internal and third-party scholarships available to plastics engineering students, even as freshmen. We are associated with the Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE), which has hundreds of national student scholarships available to any student who applies and meets the requirements.
What challenges did you face in earning your degree and how did you overcome them?
One of the hardest decisions I had to make was to take University Physics 2 over the summer because it did not fit into my class schedule. This is typically a five-credit class, and over a two-month period, you were expected to complete 40 hours a week of homework. On top of this large amount of homework, I was also working full-time, so for two months straight, I would come home from my eight-hour shift and open up homework for another four to six hours.
What are you most proud of as you finish your degree?
I am most proud of the fact that, in terms of my immediate family, I am the only one to have ever gone to an engineering school. On top of this, I have been able to maintain a consistent 3.7 grade-point average and have been placed on the Dean’s List every semester.
Earning my plastics engineering degree is undoubtedly one of the hardest things that I have done in my life and seeing it through is what makes this whole journey worth it. It gives me great pride that I stuck with this path and saw it through.
