Joseph Gregar Junior Seminar Mission Statement:
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The mission of the Joseph Gregar Junior Member Seminar of the ASGS is to foster the junior members by focusing on basic techniques and procedures used in Scientific Glassblowing. The goal of the annual seminar is to increase exposure to necessary skills as well as provide expert instruction from the industries top glassblowers.
A brief history of how the Joseph Gregar Junior Member Seminar came to be.
The first “Junior Member Workshop” was held in 1987 at the Boston, Massachusetts Symposium. The program stated ” Instruction and demonstration of techniques as requested by Junior Members attending”. The next year in 1988 at the Atlantic City, New Jersey Symposium was the first Seminar that Joseph Gregar was an instructor. Since then Mr. Gregar has been instrumental in making the Seminar what it is today. 2013 was the last year Mr. Gregar was in charge of the Seminar. Mike Souza took over as the interim leader in 2014 until a more permanent person could be found. This only lasted one year. In 2015 Christopher Bock officially stepped up to guide the Seminar into the future.
How to get into the Seminar:
Perspective attendees need to COMPLETELY fill out the application and mail, email, or fax it to the National Office (Deadline to be determined). Applications received before or after the dates will not be accepted. The information on the application is to help us prepare for the Seminar. There is a total of 12 slots in the Seminar, 4 of them are for award winners and the last 8 will be picked using a lottery system. Finally, before (Date TBD) the 8 applicants will be notified to confirm their slot.
Who is allowed into the Seminar?
Any Junior member or Student member in good standing with the ASGS.
Joseph Gregar Junior Seminar Application – Download
This Years Seminar:
The Joseph S. Gregar Junior Member Workshop Seminar Program is open to the first twelve National Junior / Student Members who are registered for the ASGS Symposium. This seminar is available at no cost to junior and student registrants and will be held on Monday July 24 and Tuesday July 25, 2017.
This year’s symposium and the Junior Seminar program will be held at the Omni Austin Hotel at Southpark, Austin, Texas. It will be a very rewarding seminar with great instructors; Christopher Bock, Joseph Gregar, Klaus Paris and Robert Singer.
Remember registration is limited to 12 for this seminar program. Don’t forget to register for the symposium and fill out and send in the junior seminar qualifying form. This program is a wonderful learning experience that you do not want to miss.
We will have our 4-station quartz and an 8-station borosilicate set up for bench work allowing each participant to have his or her own torch and workstation. We will also have a glass lathe available for some of the projects.
This year our professional instructors will be giving full glassblowing demonstrations showing their techniques of construction of different types of scientific chemical glass apparatus.
After these demonstrations, we will break into groups and work on the glassblowing exercises listed below.
Seminar Topics
Monday, July 24, 2017
8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Instructors: Christopher Bock, Joseph Gregar, Klaus Paris and Robert Singer
Topics: Fabrication of Snyder Columns
Technique for internal bellows
With time permitting we will continue with more glassblowing fundamentals to help improve your skills using both borosilicate glass and quartz.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Instructors: Christopher Bock, Joseph Gregar, Klaus Paris and Robert Singer
Topics:
Slicing tubes in half for furnace boats
Quartz to Pyrex graded seals
Schlenk Line
With time permitting we will continue with more glassblowing fundamentals to help improve your skills using both borosilicate glass and quartz.
This year’s materials are donated by Friedrich and Dimmock, and Duran Glass.
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Instructor Biographical Sketch
Joseph Gregar
Joseph Gregar:Joe is a fourth generation scientific glassblower who began learning the art of scientific glassblowing 47 years ago in 1966 at his family-owned business,The Milwaukee Glass Works Inc. In 1969 he became a scientific glassblower with Pope Scientific Inc., in Menomonee Falls,WI. In 1974 was promoted to Plant Superintendent and head of the custom glassblowing facility. While supervising all phases of production he was responsible for teaching production trainees, apprentices and journeymen glassblowers. In 1980 Joe joined Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL. In 1985 Joe was promoted to the level of Scientific Associate specializing in apparatus design and in 1997 was promoted to Senior Scientific Associate. Joe has held every office in the Midwest Section and served two terms, 1984 &1988 as theASGS National Secretary, ASGS National President-Elect in 1989-90 and the ASGS President in 1990-91 & 2016-17. Joe won the ASGS Helmut E. Drechsel Achievement Award in1989 and the J. Allen Alexander Award in 1993 and 2014. He has presented many technical papers for which he has been awarded three Dennis Courtney Awards from Andrews Glass Co. He has presented three technical posters, and has demonstrated many technical workshops at the National Symposia. He was honored by receiving the first “William A. Wilt Award” in 1999 and again in 2003 for his workshop demonstrations. Joe received the first “President’s Achievement Award” in2008. Joe has served as the National Junior Liaison Committee Chair since 1988.
Bob Singer
Robert Singer: Bob is a 1978 graduate of Salem CommunityCollege. Bob has 38 years of experience working with quartz both in fabrication and design. Bob has been Vice President of Technical Glass Products in Mentor, Ohio since its inception and now heads the company’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana division. Bob had previously been employed by Quartz Scientific of Fairport, Ohio; Quality Quartz and Behm Quartz, both of Mentor, Ohio. In addition, Bob has taken artistic glassblowing courses at Kent State University and Cleveland State University. Bob’s activities for the ASGS include; Chair of the Director of the Pittsburgh Tri-State Section, Director of the Southwest Section, Outreach Committee Chair, ASGS President-Elect in 2006 and ASGS National President in 2007, By-Laws Committee Chair and Past President in 2008. Bob was the Technical Papers Chair for the 39th ASGS Symposium in Pittsburgh, PA and Co-Chair of the 55th Annual Symposium in San Antonio Texas. Bob received the ASGS Helmut E. Drechsel Achievement Award in 2006 and theASGS J. Allen Alexander Award in 2012. We are certainly fortunate to have his expertise in quartz fabrication.
Christopher Bock
Christopher Bock: Chris is the owner of SeaCube Co., a locally owned and operated scientific glassblowing establishment specializing in custom glassware. Mr. Bock started in the glassblowing industry in 1989 and prides himself on having worked through the ranks of many nationally recognized companies. He is known for his detailed custom glasswork and fabrication of custom handtools and other glassworking tools. He has served in many capacities for the Delaware Valley Chapter of the ASGS, and currently serves as Director.
Klaus Paris
Klaus Paris is an ASGS International Member from Germany and a frequent ASGS Symposium attendee. Klaus began his glassblowing apprenticeship in 1982 at the University of Karlsruhe, and received his state-certified engineer master’s degree in glassblowing from Hadamar in 1991. His former employers include Heraeus and The Max-Planck Institute, and he is currently employed at The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology as well as being the second-generation sole proprietor of his family glassblowing business Technische Glasblaserei Paris. Klaus is a member of the Association of German Glassblowers and has held different positions in their advisory board and on their BoD. Klaus has been involved in the organization of multiple symposia for the German Glassblowers Society, where he regularly presents demonstrations. In 2015, at the ASGS Annual Symposium, Klaus submitted a very interesting glass apparatus into the Gerflunken Apparatus competition where he received the second-place honor. We welcome Klaus for his first year instructing the Joseph S. Gregar Junior Member Workshop Seminar program.
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