MONACA, Pa. — Tyler Logue’s path to a career in chemistry didn’t start with polymers and lab coats.
It began at Penn State Beaver and initially led toward medicine until he discovered his passion for inorganic chemistry, which deals with the properties and behavior of inorganic compounds such as metals and minerals.
Now a formulations chemist team lead at ARDEX Americas, Logue is thriving in a career he found through his college academic experience. Over the past seven years, he has earned several promotions and credited his professional success to his time at Penn State, and especially the Beaver campus and Professor Michael Hay.
Logue spent two years at Penn State Beaver before transitioning to the University Park campus, where he completed a degree in chemistry in 2018. The choice to start at Beaver is something Logue said he has no regrets about.
“Beaver was amazing. It was the best decision I’ve ever made,” he said.
He said he toured several schools but was drawn to Beaver for its small size and the access it provided to professors. That access led to a unique research opportunity with Hay, an associate professor of chemistry who recruited Logue for his lab after noting his outstanding performance in Chemistry 110.
“During the 2014-2015 academic year, he was enrolled in my general chemistry lecture and laboratory,” Hay said. “Because of his strong performance, I recruited him to participate in my undergraduate research program from spring 2015 through spring 2016.”
Hay said Logue’s dedication and skill were well beyond his undergraduate standing, calling him “my graduate student” because of his work ethic, independence, and how Logue approached his research project.
“He came and went throughout the week to work on his own research project and then met with me every few days to bring me up to speed,” Hay said. “He learned the basics of chemical synthesis, how to perform various analytical techniques, and how to communicate his scientific results in a professional manner.”
That experience paid off when Logue was accepted into a competitive and paid summer internship at University Park as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates program. There, he shadowed a graduate student and deepened his exposure to advanced research.
“If it wasn’t for the experience I had with Dr. Hay, I don’t think I would have gotten that chance,” Logue said.
Before beginning classes at University Park, Logue capped off his research at Beaver by presenting at the 250th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston, an opportunity Hay said demonstrated Logue’s commitment to his scientific development.
Now at ARDEX, Logue continues to apply those early research skills in his role leading the adhesives formulation team.
Logue said he enjoys working in a small lab and said the experience of being in a small setting at his job is not unlike his experience at Beaver campus.
Logue, whose father and brother also attended Penn State, said the University shaped not just his education but his future.
“Penn State gave me more than I ever expected,” he said.