Ethical Practice - A Perennial Business Challenge

Deborah Grubbe, President of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers), will be our April speaker for the 2020/2021 Mid-Michigan AIChE Seminar Series on the topic:

Ethical Practice - A Perennial Business Challenge

Tuesday April 13^th from 12 noon to 1:00 pm

We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all meeting attendees. In light of the impact of the Coronavirus, we will be holding our meetings virtually. Please reach out to Pranav Karanjkar (pranav.karanjkar@dow.com) for a Webex link. 

The lecture qualifies for one continuing education hour. CEH certificates are needed for licensed Professional Engineers to maintain their license and certificates will be provided to interested attendees.

Abstract:

Ms. Grubbe will speak to the maintaining of proper ethics in all phases of chemical engineering practice, and will review data from a survey of AIChE members.  She will share some similarities between a few well known ethical lapses and will address trends in ethics performance in education and in business.   Lastly, Deborah will offer some perspectives on what actions you can consider if you find yourself in an ethical dilemma.

Deborah's Bio:

Deborah Grubbe currently owns a consulting company that specializes in improving firms' safety and operational performance. Her client list includes firms in the chemical, oil and gas, construction, healthcare, power and aerospace industries. She is the former Vice President of Group Safety for BP plc, which had its two safest years ever during her tenure. Deborah was trained in the characteristics of safe operations during her 27-year career at DuPont, where she held corporate director positions in operations, engineering and safety. Her many assignments have included capital governance, project management and execution, process safety and risk management, manufacturing management, organizational change leadership and human resources. Deborah also serves as an advisor to start-up companies in Philadelphia and in London.

For 9 years, Deborah served as a member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel and was a consultant on safety culture to the Columbia Shuttle Accident Investigation Board.  She worked with the US Army to support the Demilitarization of the US Chemical Weapons Stockpile, where she focused on safety and on the demolition of the agent processing facilities. Deborah is the current President and a member of the Board of Directors of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and is the former chair of the AIChE Institute for Sustainability, where she led a global effort to establish a professional sustainability credential.  She lectures frequently on project management, leadership, safety and ethics, and is writing books on process safety, engineering professionalism and her career.

In 1986, Deborah was the first woman and youngest elected member to the State of Delaware Professional Engineers Registration Board, where she served as Chair of the Law Enforcement and Ethics Committee.   She hails from Chicago and graduated from Purdue University and the University of Cambridge in England.  Deborah is a registered professional engineer in Delaware and is a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom.  She is a Fellow of both the AIChE and the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and was elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2013.