Working with students to help them realize their ideas in glass is very rewarding.
- Meet Tracy Drier. As a research glassblower, Tracy works with Lauren Aria in the department’s glass shop in room B-201, helping graduate students and professors by designing and building the glassware they need to achieve their research goals. Tracy says the process is very collaborative and begins with clarifying their concepts. “If the glass shop door is open, we are in,” Tracy explains. “You should feel free to stop in with your project or question.” He finds it especially rewarding to share the background, process, and results of these projects with other scientific glassblowers through presenting and publishing. He says it helps increase the knowledge base within the profession. Tracy holds a bachelor’s degree in paper engineering from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He earned a one-year graduate certificate in paper and paper management from Helsinki University of Technology, Otaniemi, Finland. He achieved another certificate, this one in scientific glassblowing, with training at Salem Community College in New Jersey. Last month, he celebrated 24 years with the department. Before UW, Tracy worked at Aldrich Chemical Company in Milwaukee, building production glassware for their catalog. Before that, he was a paper engineer in Appleton. Outside of work, Tracy likes to create multimedia art out of glass, metal, stone, wire, leather, and found objects. His work ranges from practical to sculptural.
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