PITTSBURG, Kan. — A $1.4 million federal grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology will help the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University develop and promote new polymeric materials and plastics processing capabilities — all with an eye toward creating new jobs in the region. “Everything we’re doing is around creating jobs," said Tim Dawsey, executive director of the KPRC. “We have a huge agricultural economy here which is very vulnerable to the next drought, freeze, or flood.” “We must diversify it to keep it sustainable, and to do that, we’ll use our plastics and polymer expertise to develop new technology-based jobs – higher-paying tech jobs, manufacturing jobs — into the area.