AIChE Young Professional (YP) Liaisons for CAST

Fani Boukouvala and Onur Onel have been selected to serve as the AIChE Young Professional (YP) Liaisons for CAST. Through this role, Fani and Onur will represent CAST within the AIChE-wide YP program and will aim to increase engagement of CAST YPs in various professional development and networking opportunities. Fani (Georgia Tech) will serve as the Academic YP Liaison, while Onur (ExxonMobil) will be the Industrial YP Liaison. Together, they plan to organize several professional development and networking events for CAST YPs during the Annual and Spring AIChE meetings and increase enrollment and engagement of YPs across academia and industry in CAST. All CAST members eligible for AIChE’s YP program (BS degree completed; under the age of 35) are encouraged to become AIChE-YP members through this link, at no cost.  

Fani is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned her Chemical Engineering BS degree at the National Technical University of Athens and her PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Rutgers University (2013).  Before joining Georgia Tech, she spent a few years as a postdoctoral associate at Princeton University and Texas A&M University. Fani is also the 2019 Area Chair for 10e (Data and Information Systems). As an academic YP liaison for CAST, Fani will aim to serve as a point of contact for graduate students and postdocs interested in academic positions in Process Systems Engineering. 

Onur obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University under supervision of Professor Floudas (2017). His thesis work focused on modeling and optimization of large-scale processes for fuels and chemicals production. During this time, he also served as the inaugural president of Texas A&M Energy Research Society. Since July 2017, he has been with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, working in the area of advanced process control. As an industrial YP liaison for CAST, Onur will aim to increase industrial-YP participation in CAST events and the YP interaction between industry and academia.