Public Affairs & Information Committee (PAIC) | AIChE

Other Sites & Tools

Technical Groups

Public Affairs & Information Committee (PAIC)

The Public Affairs and Information Committee is working to expand AIChE’s interaction with government, prioritize issues that impact chemical engineers, and develop tools for members conducting outreach at the grassroots level.
The Public Affairs and Information Committee is working to expand AIChE’s interaction with government, prioritize issues that impact chemical engineers, and develop tools for members conducting outreach at the grassroots level.

Chartered 

2012

AIChE Supports Coalition to Support Open Science

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has joined more than 125 scientific societies and journal publishers to urgently warn the Trump administration not to move forward with a rumored executive order that would make all papers produced by federally funded research immediately free to the public.

Read more

 

AIChE Climate Change Policy Statement

Read statement published in November, 2019

2019 AIChE Wise Interns

This year's WISE interns are from Bucknell University and the University of South Carolina

Learn more

PAIC is tasked with:

  • broadening AIChE's activities and providing consistent information flow to and from federal government representatives on technical issues where chemical engineering expertise is needed
  • providing the various Institute groups (divisions, forums, and industry technology groups) and members with information on issues under consideration by public officials
  • guiding members and local sections in their interactions with state and local government and, when asked, providing leadership on local issues that can have a broader impact 
  • developing internship and fellowship opportunities for AIChE members in public policy positions
  • providing information on issues at the international level, and
  • working more closely with sister organizations in the evolving global economy. 
 
PAIC consists of at least 15 and up to 20 members, who serve five-year terms. Members may only be re-nominated once, and therefore, serve a maximum of ten years. Members are selected to represent the broad membership, with at least one-third being current or former members of the Board of Directors and one-third chosen from various Institute entities. 

PAIC, chartered in 2012, is a successor organization to the former Government Relations Committee.

Fracking Attracting Increased Interest in Chemical Engineering at NCSU

Recently, AIChE 2014 Past President Phil Westmoreland and two students from NC State University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering were interviewed by Time Warner Cable News about the University’s chemical engineering program and its role in solving fracking’s challenges and in helping the energy industry to continue to evolve.

Read More

Shale Gas Resource Page

To help AIChE members better understand and better communicate about shale gas, the Public Affairs & Information Committee has helped curate valuable shale gas resources. These resources offer technically sound information drawn from AIChE publications, web forums and webinars, conference proceedings and Congressional briefings.

Read More

Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE)

Each year, outstanding engineering students are selected to spend nine weeks in a special summer program to learn how government officials make decisions on complex technological issues and how engineers can contribute to legislative and regulatory policy decisions. PAIC coordinates AIChE’s participation in the WISE program, which is ranked one of the best internship opportunities in the U.S. by the  Princeton Review. For more information please visit: www.wise-intern.org

Leadership

 

AIChE White Papers