Jocelyn Hess, a senior in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, received two awards at the Society of Plastic Engineering (SPE) Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) in Novi, Michigan in September.

Hess received the SPE ACCE 2025 Graduate Award, which included a $1,000 scholarship, and won first place in the SPE ACCE 2025 Undergraduate Student Poster Competition.

At the conference, Hess presented her poster and gave an oral presentation titled, “Exploring Effects of Additives on the Thermal Stability and Processability of Paper Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene for Automotive Applications.”

Hess has been conducting her research under the advising of Professor David Harper in the Center of Renewable Carbon (CRC) at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. MSE Professor David Keffer and recent MSE graduate Cece Grubb have also assisted and mentored Hess.