Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division Members:
As we move into the final quarter of 2023 and towards the AIChE Annual meeting in Orlando, below are highlights of the CRE Division Year.
Highlights:
We are happy to report that our CRE division membership and the status of finances of the division continue to remain healthy. The division is doing well with about 530 members, approaching the pre-pandemic high. This reflects the acknowledgement of the creativity and hard work of CRE officers in meeting member needs. Every year, the CRE division funds 20 student travel awards to support outstanding graduate students to attend the AIChE Annual Meeting. In addition, the division also sponsors several diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the annual meeting. This year, we would like to acknowledge the support from Dow for co-sponsoring the “2023 Pioneers of Catalysis & Reaction Engineering” session and the Royal Society of Chemistry for co-sponsoring the 2023 CRE Practice Award.
In 2022 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the CRE Division (albeit late, thanks to the pandemic). As part of the celebration we embarked on a forward-looking initiative to establish the CRE Endowment. Our goal is to raise $250,000 to create long-term financial stability while meeting division objectives. The endowment will support, in perpetuity, division initiatives. Importantly, a prosperous division will help drive efforts to develop technology solutions and address energy and sustainability challenges. Thanks to generous donors, we have reached the $50k threshold, which means the endowment is now active, generating nominally $2k. If we are successful in ultimately reaching the $250k goal, that income would be $10k per year. Currently we are reaching out to alumni from the research groups of senior CRE faculty as well as potential industry sponsors.
CRE remains one of the largest and most active divisions within AICHE—we organize roughly 70 oral symposia and a robust poster session at the national meeting each fall. Every year, we dedicate 10 – 15 symposia in recognition of recent awards and outstanding contributions to the community. In 2022, we hosted a symposium honoring the life of Scott Fogler and his many contributions to the discipline, and we are will similarly come together in memory of Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos at the 2023 meeting. We also look forward to recognizing our 2021 and 2022 Wilhelm Awardees, Phil Savage and Yushan Yan, respectively, at the Fall 2024 meeting, and we anticipate more outstanding programming at the Fall 2024 when we recognize our 2023 Wilhelm Awardee (Mike Harold) and our 2023 Practice Awardee (Beata Kilos). Finally, we are proud of the growth in the catalysis and reaction engineering division over the past decade, and we are excited to highlight the work of rising stars and mid-career researchers from across academia, industry, and national laboratories through new initiatives each year.
In 2020, the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (CRE) Division created the task force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) with the goal of (a) identifying extant challenges that limit representation of women and minorities in the CRE division and (b) providing creative solutions to these challenges. In support of these goals, we have developed an oral presentation session at the AIChE Annual Meeting called, “Pioneers of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering” that recognizes early career scientists in academia, industry, and/or national laboratories that are making outstanding contributions in research, teaching, and/or service to our profession. At the AIChE Annual Meeting in Fall 2023, we will recognize Stephanie Kwon, AJ Medford, Robert Palomino, Ezgi Toraman, and Alexandra Vojvodic. We have also developed an oral presentation session to recognize a Mid-Career Researcher in CRE; this year, Elizabeth Biddinger will be recognized and has organized a session of speakers for this event. The DEI Taskforce has also organized two panel sessions for CRE Programming to support networking and community building for new and established members of CRE. This year, we will host the third annual “Next Generation of CRE: A Professional Development Panel” during the annual meeting as well as the third annual “Navigating Dynamic Careers in CRE” Panel during the student conference the weekend prior.
In addition, the DEI Taskforce has established a mentoring program that pairs graduate student mentees with mentors from academia, industry, and/or national laboratories to boost interactions amongst members of our community at different stages of their careers and create a welcoming and engaging atmosphere where graduate students can connect with members of the AIChE CRE community. The first CRE pilot mentoring program was launched in 2022; a second round of this program has been opened and is welcoming new participants this fall to form new mentee/mentor pairs.
Finally, the DEI Taskforce and Social Media teams have coordinated to highlight various outstanding members of the CRE Community through Twitter and LinkedIn aligning with Heritage Months to recognize the positive intersections of personal identity, professional accomplishments, and community support.
The division continues to invest in and recognize our young talent with the awarding of 20 travel grants. The awardees will be introduced through our social media communications and at the CRE Dinner.
Early 2024, a call for nominations will go out for the 2024 Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos Early Career Investigator Award.
Leadership Opportunities – Nominations Open:
To continue to improve our broader membership engagement, we are now seeking nominations (self-nominations accepted) for several open CRE leadership positions for the 2024 board and committee positions. If you have interest in leadership opportunities, please contact Mike Harold, CRE Past-Chair and head of the nominating committee, by email at mharold@uh.edu. Serving as a leader in CRE is a great way to build a network within our community and to give back. Your nominations are requested by November 20, 2023.
Open Positions for 2023 are as Follows:
- 2nd Vice Chair of the Division (in line for Vice Chair and Chair)
- Board of Directors (3 positions)
- Diversity and Inclusion Task Force Member (4 open positions; new Vice Chair to be elected)
The Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division strives to be the community of choice for those with interests in catalysis and reaction engineering. We welcome any feedback, input, or comments you have to make CRE better.
Thank you for your membership and please encourage your colleagues to join our division. We hope to see you at the Annual Meeting in Orlando! Our annual CRE dinner is on Monday, November 6th! If you still need to purchase a dinner ticket, you can do that when you register for the meeting. If you’ve already registered for the meeting but not the dinner you will need to contact AIChE Customer Service.
Anne Gaffney
Idaho National Laboratory
CRE Division Chair 2023
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