We increased coordination with other AIChE groups in a number of ways, perhaps most notably by working with AIChE’s Fuels and Petrochemicals Division to sponsor the Student Outreach Program held concurrently with the Spring Meeting in Austin, Texas. This program encourages high school students to pursue careers in chemical engineering. Environmental Division officers participated in a full-day event at the University of Texas with approximately 200 local high schoolers, answering questions and participating in interactive sessions. We have committed to support the program and related initiatives at future Spring Meetings, possibly expanding to similar local events in the future.
We established a new award. If things go as planned, the inaugural “Environmental Division Early Career Award” will be presented at the 2016 National Meeting in San Francisco.
We recognized Professor Pratim Biswas of Washington University in St. Louis as the recipient of the Environmental Division’s Lawrence K. Cecil Award, our most prestigious honor. Many of you were present at the 2015 National Meeting in Salt Lake City when Dr. Biswas presented his lecture, entitled “Aerosol Science and Engineering Enabling Environmental Nanotechnology”, during the annual Cecil Award Lecture (I hope you will all participate again at the 2016 Cecil Award Lecture when this year’s awardee presents at the National Meeting in San Francisco).
Under the leadership of our Programming Chair and Vice Chairs (Debalina Sengupta, Dick Siegel, and Jeff Seay, respectively) and with support from many area and session chairs, the Environmental Division developed a robust compilation of technical programming at the two largest AIChE meetings: the Spring Meeting in Austin and the National Meeting in Salt Lake City. Programming highlights included:
Sponsorship of approximately 35 sessions at the two meetings, including the Environmental Division poster session in Salt Lake City, and collaboration with several other AIChE divisions and forums to cosponsor another two dozen sessions between the two meetings
Co-sponsorship of a topical conference titled “Environmental Aspects, Applications, and Implications of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology”
Honoring recipients of the annual Graduate Student Paper Award:
First place: Lu Xu, Georgia Institute of Technology
Second place: Siva Naga Reddy Inturi, University of Cincinnati
