Menomonie, Wis. – As Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, UW-Stout emphasizes lifelong applied learning for its students and faculty alike, including promoting excellence in teaching and research through sabbaticals.
Sabbaticals enable recipients to engage in intensive study to become more effective teachers and scholars and to enhance their services to the university.
During the 2024-25 academic year, plastics engineering Professor Wei Zheng conducted sabbatical research to advance sustainability in the field of plastics, focusing on the biodegradation of plastic materials and the recycling of thermosetting materials. She worked with mechanical engineering and plastics engineering double major Molly Garber, of Blaine, Minnesota, and chemistry major Madeline Candline, of Pooler, Georgia.
Studio art Professor Charles Matson Lume held solo exhibitions and artist talks across the country. Through a 2025 Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individual grant, he collaborated with three artists: UW-Stout alums Darren Tesar (’08), Galilee Peaches (’18), and Beck Slack (’21) to publish “at the fountain, at the fountain,” a free artists’ book that features their art and texts.
Plastics Engineering: Building biodegradable, sustainable plastics
Zheng, working with Garber and Candline, successfully designed and built a biodegradation system, calibrated it using cellulose, and tested a biodegradable polymer. They also scaled up the synthesis and produced sufficient “green” thermosetting resin material for reverse crosslinking experiments.
“The project aims to benefit not only UW-Stout students but also to positively influence the general public’s perception of plastics,” Zheng said. “I hope this work will have a multi-level impact on the field of plastics engineering, quantifying the biodegradation of environmentally friendly materials and developing viable methods for reverse crosslinking to address the critical needs in today’s plastics industry.”
Many biodegradable plastics are made from renewable resources. Biodegradable plastics help to reduce waste in landfills, resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions and fewer microplastics, leading to a cleaner environment.
Thermosetting plastics are polymers that undergo a chemical reaction when heated. Once cured, they cannot be remelted or reshaped, posing a challenge in the recycling process. However, plastics engineers and chemists researching the reverse crosslinking process are developing ways to break the chemical bonds, allowing thermosetting plastics to be recycled.
Zheng plans to integrate the accumulated knowledge gained during her sabbatical into the plastics engineering program curriculum and design a pamphlet to promote sustainability within the community.
Garber and Candline think it was incredibly rewarding to work with Zheng and to have an interdisciplinary research experience across their fields of plastics engineering and chemistry.
“The research challenged me to think critically, collaborate effectively, and approach problems with curiosity,” Garber said. “What made it especially valuable was the hands-on nature of the work. Being able to identify issues in real time, make adjustments, and witness the results firsthand gave me a deeper understanding of the process and a stronger sense of ownership.”
“This experience truly shows the importance of a polytechnic education,” Candline added. “With this project, I was given the opportunity to apply my knowledge of chemistry to real-world problems outside of my own field of study. It was really interesting to see the connection between plastics and chemistry. This experience helped me learn more about potential directions my degree can take me.”
Studio Art: Celebrating a love of making art within community
As a visual artist, one of the mediums that Matson Lume uses is light. His investigation into light started with painting. Like Giorgio Morandi, an Italian painter and printmaker of the early- to mid-1900s, Matson Lume noticed the objects he painted could speak.
“Their ‘thingliness’ and sense of light liberated something ineffable and true,” he said. “Over time, I realized each thing had its own image — its shadow. I didn’t need to paint the thing; it had its own painting it carried around with it.”
Matson Lume’s solo exhibitions during his sabbatical included two showings of “lacuna (for Gustaf Sobin)” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art; and at the Jack Olson Gallery in the School of Art & Design, at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois.
The installation was based on using light, poetry, beauty and mortality to engage in the common and uncommon, Matson Lume said in his artist’s statement. It was dedicated to Sobin, a poet and a mentor to the artist.
“The exhibit invited viewers to reflect on the interplay of presence and absence, the ephemeral nature of light, and the poetic resonance of space,” he said. With his art, he tries to give people the space to feel like themselves and to feel their senses and the world again.
Developing the free artists’ book “at the fountain, at the fountain” was a year-long collaboration that challenged the four artists’ ideas and beliefs. Two book launches will be held this fall:
- Saturday, Oct. 4, 2 to 5 p.m.: FOGSTAND Gallery & Studio, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Thursday, Nov. 6, 4 to 5:30 p.m.: North Shore Readers and Writers Festival at the Grand Marais Art Colony, Grand Marais, Minnesota.
A group exhibition will be held at FOGSTAND in spring 2026 to celebrate their shared commitment and love of making art within community.
UW-Stout, a member of the U
