AIChE's 2019 Gala will Showcase the Good Works of the Chemical Engineering Profession | AIChE

AIChE's 2019 Gala will Showcase the Good Works of the Chemical Engineering Profession

August 30, 2019

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) will celebrate the many ways that chemical engineers — and the organizations that employ them — are “Doing a World of Good” at the 2019 AIChE Gala, to be held on December 3 at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City. At this year’s gala, AIChE will honor Merck & Co., Inc., and the Procter & Gamble Company — two multinational companies that are being lauded for their efforts to improve the quality of life for consumers and the global community. 

At the gala, Merck & Co., Inc. will be recognized for developing innovative therapies to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world — including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. The Procter & Gamble Company is being honored for its demonstrated leadership and achievements in sustainability — marked by strategies aimed at keeping plastic waste from reaching our oceans, developing new technologies that make recycling and recovering plastics easier, and inspiring consumers to embrace alternatives like refills and reusable packages.

Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will be accepting the award on behalf of Merck. The Procter & Gamble Company will be represented by David S. Taylor, the company’s Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer.

In announcing this year’s gala honorees, AIChE Executive Director and CEO June Wispelwey said, “AIChE is delighted to celebrate the contributions of these exemplary organizations and company leaders — who are achieving impressive advances toward solving the global challenges in healthcare and the future of our environment.” She added, “The achievements of these two companies embody AIChE’s vision of the ‘World of Good’ that chemical engineers and their employers contribute to the well-being of people around the globe. These companies serve as role models for the chemical engineering profession.”

The gala is organized by the AIChE Foundation, and will raise funds to underwrite AIChE’s “Doing a World of Good” campaign, which supports programs that bring chemical engineering expertise to bear for the benefit of society. These projects include the expansion of leadership development and retention programs aimed at women engineers and engineers from underrepresented groups, efforts to improve pre-college STEM education, and programs that inspire women engineering undergraduates, graduate students, and young professionals.

The 2019 Gala dinner chairs are (as of August 20): Bruce Chinn, President, Chevron Chemicals; Kathy Fish, Chief Research, Development and Innovation Officer, Procter & Gamble Company; Erin N. Kane, President and Chief Executive Officer, AdvanSix Inc.; Anne Roby, Executive Vice President, Linde; John Y. Televantos, Senior Partner, Arsenal Capital Partners; and Michael Thien, Senior Vice President of Global Science, Technology and Commercialization, Merck & Co., Inc.

For more information about the AIChE Gala, visit www.aiche.org/gala.

About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 60,000 members in more than 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.