The 2020 recipients of the FFTA Rossini North America Flexographic Research Scholarship were announced at Virtual FORUM 2020.
Cat Bromels of Clemson University is this year’s first-place recipient, and Alice Ish of California Polytechnic State University is the second-place recipient.
The Research
Bromels’ research is titled “Can the Differential Distortion of Postprint Corrugated Be Calculated?”
“Color-to-color misregistration is easily identified visually and should be easy to resolve with minor press-side adjustments,” says Bromels. “However, this seemingly simple adjustment ignores a variable unique to flexographic plates for postprint corrugated—that they ‘stretch.’
“The intent of this research is to determine if this differential in registration can be defined and understood, allowing for artwork to be accurately adjusted prior to plate making.”
Ish’s research is titled “Comparison of Delta E 2000 of Brand Spot Colors with Digimarc Enhancement for Recycling.”
“My research will be testing forms of flexographically printing Digimarc technology within spot colors to find the change in the Delta E 2000 value,” says Ish. “This technology would make this printed packaging scannable and can be used to make recycling sorting more efficient.”
2019’s Second-Place Recipient
Anissa Mollett, the second-place recipient of the 2019 FFTA Rossini Scholarship, recently presented her research as part of the FQC session at Virtual FORUM 2020, in a presentation titled “Color Accuracy in Biodegradable Paperboard Packaging with Eco-Friendly Inks.”
Mollett’s full research report will be published in an upcoming issue of FLEXO Magazine. FTA members can watch her presentation from Virtual FORUM 2020 on MemberConnect.
FFTA Rossini Scholarship
The FFTA Rossini Scholarship enables students to advance their education through a research project and make a positive contribution to the flexo printing industry. The scholarship is open to undergraduate and graduate students majoring in a program focused on flexography and enrolled in a two- or four-year institution.
First-place award is $13,000, with $10,000 going to student and $3,000 to the institution. Second-place is $9,500, with $7,500 to the student and $2,000 to the institution.