Sarah Tarek – Cairo University, Egypt

2/5   in the series Student Conference Experiences

Each year, a number of select students are provided travel grants to attend the AIChE Annual Student Conference. 

The purpose of this award is to facilitate the participation and leadership development of international student chapter members at the Annual Student Conference and to strengthen AIChE's relationship with these future global leaders. Up to eight travel grants will be awarded to International Student Chapter leaders for the Annual Student Conference.


Sarah was one of the students selected to receive a travel grant to attend the 2014 Annual Student Conference in Atlanta. Below she shares her thoughts and experiences. 

Firstly, I want to thank AIChE for giving me this chance of a totally different experience. Actually it was my first time to travel alone to a very far place like the US, so I started the challenge from the first moment of traveling. Because of believing that challenging yourself is the best way to learn, I forced myself to take the challenge to the end, so I want to talk about the challenges I had there and what I learned there.

The first challenge for me there was talking in a different language from my mother language and communicating in it with different people from different cultures. The most challenging situation I faced there was the group discussion that we had at the end of the presidents meeting when I had to talk about my chapter, its problems, and our plan for this year in front of other student chapters presidents. I was actually more proud of myself after successfully dealing with this situation as I challenged myself, expressed my thoughts, and represented my chapter in a good way.

One of the funniest moments that I had at the conference was the student bash; I enjoyed making friends and taking amazing photos with them. The most surprising thing for me in the conference was how it was organized; it was the most organized event I had ever attended. I enjoyed a lot the Chem-E-Car competition, so I applied for it this year. Finally, I’m so proud of being a part of AIChE.
 

Applying for the Award

The travel grant will be awarded on the basis of leadership involvement in student chapter activities, academic achievement and financial need.

  • Nominations must be made by the Chapter Advisor and only one nomination will be accepted from each AIChE International Student Chapter. ​
  • Advisors may nominate one exceptional student chapter leader, who will be an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering during the 2016-2017 academic year. Please note: students graduating in 2016 are not eligible. 
  • Deadline for Applying: September 14, 2015

Learn more and Apply