On October 7, 2019, more than 500 people gathered at the University of Rhode Island (URI) to celebrate the opening of the Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering.
TPA’s President & CEO Michael Brandmeier, and Toray Industries, Inc.’s Chief Representative for America Kei Shimaji attended the ceremony on behalf of Toray. TPA was honored to be one of the guest speakers in addition to URI’s President David Dooley and representatives from the federal, state and local governments. TPA contributed two million dollars towards the construction of the new building, which many are calling the most advanced and strikingly beautiful university engineering facility in the United States.
As a gesture of appreciation of TPA’s partnership with URI, a special “Toray kiosk” was built into the central atrium of the building, which will showcase TPA’s films and foam products. A specially prepared marketing video was created and will be shown on a continuous loop highlighting products offered not only by TPA but also by all of the Toray Group companies in the United States so that URI students can understand the breadth of Toray Group’s product lines.
In Brandmeier’s speech, he highlighted the importance of the relationship between Toray, TPA and URI. “We view the investment in URI the same way we view our capital investment plan. We are making a long-term strategic decision, driven by an overwhelming imperative, to find the best people we can to run our business in the future, many of whom we believe will be from the URI.”
