Alum Shares Experience in Classroom
Published 10.07.2005
Keith L. Jeffcoat, a 2001 graduate of Pennsylvania College of Technology's plastics and polymer engineering technology program, returned to campus on Wednesday to share insight with current students.
Jeffcoat has since earned a master of business administration and works in Cincinnati for Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company that develops and markets advanced surgical instruments and medical devices.
In his role as a development engineer in the company's research and development department, Jeffcoat helps to design components of new products, as well as equipment to make those parts.
Jeffcoat is currently working on a product that is scheduled to be launched in March. For this product, he is responsible for the design of 11 components that will go into the device, as well as three new pieces of machinery and modifications to five existing pieces of equipment in order to make and assemble the parts.
Originally from the Baltimore area, he told students that he gained an interest in plastics when he came to Penn College for a high-school field trip that highlighted the plastics program. As a Penn College student, he developed a passion for plastics.
At WestMed, where he worked prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Jeffcoat's passion focused into creating medical devices that will help patients. WestMed is a respiratory anesthesia company that develops breathing apparatus.
Jeffcoat told students he has learned to value his engineering technology degree. His work has been in engineering and design, as opposed to operating machines, and he said his hands-on education gave him a vast understanding of plastics processing that makes him unique and valuable compared to many engineering graduates.