Welcome to AIChE’s What’s Trending feature, where you'll discover some of our most viewed and read content from prior months. Check out the video above for a short recap. Want to be featured in our next AIChE trend report? Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and YouTube and use hashtag #AIChEtrends when you share.
Readers' Top Pick: AIChE Announces Langer Prizes for Innovators and Entrepreneurs
The Langer Prizes for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence will award unrestricted grants of up to $100,000 to assist researchers — particularly those working in chemical and biological engineering — in pursing “blue-sky” ideas that may lead to important technical and commercial innovations.
The annual fellowships are being endowed in the name of Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a pioneer in drug delivery and biomaterials for medical applications.
Details about the Langer Prizes — including application instructions and information on how to contribute to the endowment fund — are available at www.aiche.org/LangerPrizes, or by email at LangerPrizes@aiche.org.
We Celebrated: Brazil Student Chapter Celebrates Pride Month with Ice Cream
The colors of the rainbow came together (with ice cream!) on Friday, June 14 at a pride event at the Centro Universitário SENAI CIMATEC AIChE Student Chapter.
The event, supported by AIChE’s LGBTQ+ & Allies Initiative and the Foundation’s #AllforGood - Engineering for Inclusion program, brought together more than 70 people, including students, professors, industry professionals, and university collaborators. Read more.
Expanding the Presence of Difference: Diversity in Engineering
Almost 70% of scientists and engineers employed in the U.S. are white. As the U.S. is growing more diverse, the engineering field is not following suit. For example, Hispanic individuals account for only 6% of workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations, although they make up 15% of U.S. adults. Black individuals make up 5% of the STEM world, but 12% of the total U.S. population aged 21 and older. Women account for only 15% of the engineering workforce, but make up 51% of the total U.S. population. Read more.
We Shared: Two Roads: MS ChE or MBA?
The protagonist in Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken is confronted with two diverging roads. Forced to make a choice in order to progress forward, they famously choose the road less traveled. Many of us are confronted with such a choice throughout our lives. The point of divergence may come for you, like it did for me, when you realize your undergraduate degree is no longer adequate for achieving your goals. While you could choose from numerous paths, including a master’s degree in a different engineering discipline, most chemical engineers grapple with the choice of pursuing a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering (MS ChE) or a Master in Business Administration (MBA). Read more.
Industry interviews: Process Development with Shell’s Joseph Powell
Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. Joseph Powell is Chief Scientist at Shell and also a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of this year's Process Development Symposium. I had a chance to catch up with Joe and to learn more about Shell's approach, strategy, and future of process development. Read more.
Fluidization with CPFD’s Peter Loezos
Fluidization XVI is the 16th iteration in a series of conferences aimed at tackling challenges and successes with the design and operation of fluidized beds and fluid-particle systems. This conference will bring together world renowned experts in the field to help bridge fundamental research on fluidization, emerging applications of fluidization, and novel fluidization technologies. I had a chance to interview Peter Loezos prior to this year's conference to discuss current developments, challenges, and the future of fluidization technology. Read more.
We Discussed on AIChE Engage
Your top engage discussion was about LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis) Training. Join the conversation. Other popular discussions on Engage include:
- Oil Refinery Going Out with a Bang, Not a Whimper?
- Changing Tastes
- Continuous oscillatory baffled reactors
We Networked at Conferences
We learned, networked, and shared at recent conferences, such as the 2019 Offshore Technology Conference, Commercializing Industrial Biotechnology 2019, Sixth International Mammalian Synthetic Biology Workshop (mSBW 6.0), Fluidization XVI, 12th Natural Gas Conversion Symposium, 2019 Process Development Symposium, and 2019 Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution & Design (SEED). Make sure to save the date, submit an abstract, and register for an upcoming conference here.
Stay up to date with AIChE and join the discussion. #AIChEtrends