Bay City Western is proud of its relationship with Dow Corning.

The Bay City Western / Dow Corning Auburn Site School Partnership works together on identified needs by sharing resources to expand and enrich learning opportunities for students, teachers and Dow Corning employees.  Some of the opportunities for students include grants for classroom equipment, special field trips, tutoring, guest speakers, co-op placements, and volunteer efforts.

About Dow Corning

Researchers at Corning Glass (now Corning, Inc.), under the leadership of Dr. J. Franklin Hyde, worked to investigate the possibility of developing plastics with the properties of glass throughout the 1930's.  Glass is silicon-based, making it temperature and moisture resistant and chemically inert.  Plastics are carbon-based, making them strong and able to assume many forms. 

Through their research, a new class of materials, silicones, was discovered.  In 1942, an agreement formalized by a handshake gave birth to an industry: Top managers of Corning Glass and Dow Chemical agreed to form a joint venture for the development and manufacture of silicones.  Dow Corning was created.

The first commercial product sold by Dow Corning was Dow Corning(r) 4 Compound - an ignition sealing compound that made high-altitude flight possible and ushered in a new age of aviation.  When packed in aircraft electrical harnesses, Dow Corning(r) 4 Compound prevented electrical issues caused by condensation.  This enabled aircraft to remain at 35,000 feet for a full eight hours, making it possible to fly planes to North Africa and England instead of ship by sea.

Dow Corning innovations around silicones and other silicon-based materials continued throughout the twentieth century with products such as:

* Silicone rubber insulators for electrical wiring
* Silicone additives that improve personal care products
* Silicone mold releases for everything from tires to cooking utensils
* Silicone adhesives for stickers
* Silicon-based materials that enable electronic devices
* Silicon-based materials for solar technology that help harness the power of the sun
* Silicone materials that improve fabric manufacture

Today, Dow Corning provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide through facilities located everywhere from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to Seneffe, Belgium, to Zhangjiagang, China.  Now a global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services via the company's Dow Corning(r) and XIAMETER(r) brands.  Dow Corning is still a joint venture equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated.

Other Facts

Did you know ... every day the sun provides enough energy to the Earth to meet the world's electricity needs for an entire year!

* Silicones manufactured by Dow Corning are helping solar power become an accessible, self-sustaining energy alternative.

* These silicones improve the cost-effectiveness, durability, and performance of solar panels and photovoltaic devices.

* While solar cells are made of silicon, silicones are used during module assembly, and installation as encapsulants, coatings, potting agents, adhesives, and sealants.

* Because they can withstand the sun's unrelenting rays for year after year, silicones are ideal materials for solar panel and photovoltaic (PV) applications.

See http://www.dowcorning.com/content/discover/ to see other fun facts.