Vernon “Vern” Kallenborn Scholarship

In April, 2018, the Vernon Vern Kallenborn Scholarship was established with the Winona State University Foundation. The scholarship will benefit and encourage students who are majoring in Composite Materials Engineering.

Criteria

Each recipient must be an undergraduate enrolled full-time and in good standing at Winona State University (minimum of 12 credits per semester, Fall and Spring).
Each recipient must be admitted into the Composite Materials Engineering Program.
Each recipient must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.75 (4.0 = A).
Each recipient must submit an essay explaining
What got you interested in the Composite Materials Engineering program
Why this program will help you with your career
How will you will contribute to the composites industry in general

Background & Motivation

Born April 21, 1934 south of Cleveland Ohio, Vern loved the outdoors and enjoyed all the natural aspects of the hills of Ohio. He joined the Army in 1953 and was assigned to the Army Security Agency where he was a cryptanalyst serving in Germany and Turkey though 1956.

Vern graduated from John Carroll University with a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics.
He began his career in research and development at Glastic Corporation in South Euclid, Ohio. Glastic was a significant supplier of reinforced molding compound to the electrical component industry as well as a pioneer in the composites field.

In 1963, Vern was hired by the Standard Oil Research Laboratory to develop a sheet molding compound call Structoform. This process was sold to Fiberite Corporation. Vern relocated to the Winona area.

In 1970, Vern, along with Stanley Prosen, founded Aligned Fiber Composites, (AFC), In Chatfield, MN. Now operating as Strongwell, it is one of the largest pultrusion houses in the world. In 1978, Vern and Stanley formed Diversified Fabricators, Inc.(DFI) to do development work in lightweight, high strength, high modulus, composite profiles utilizing carbon fiber matrix reinforcement.
In 1990, DFI was sold to a private enterprise in Erlanger, KY. Vern moved to the northern Kentucky area to continue his research efforts in advanced composite, retiring in 2011.
Vern was always investigating how to produce better, stronger, lighter, more efficient composite structures. In doing so he was able to pass on his passion for investigation of property development. He had an amazing capability to teach situational thinking to both production and laboratory staff. He was never satisfied to simply solve a problem. He wanted each solution to become a lead in to the problem solving process.

Vern was a modest person with many credits to his name for product and process developments. He was also highly regarded in the reinforced plastics industry as a pioneer.