2023 Election for the 2024 Board of Directors

Joseph D. Smith works at Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology (MST; previously Missouri Rolla) and leads Elevated Analytics Consulting as Chief Technology Officer. He has served AIChE as a Director (2014–2016), Institute Treasurer (2017), and Secretary (2019–2021), and is a Fellow of the Institute. He has served on AIChE’s Local Sections and Student Chapters committees for over twenty years. His previous career includes the Dow Chemical Co., Cabot Corp., Koch Industries, and Idaho National Laboratory. He formed Elevated Analytics Consulting in 2006 and led a joint venture with CD-adapco (purchased by Siemens).

Since 2011, he has held the Wayne and Gayle Laufer Endowed Energy Chair at MST. There, his research focuses on bioenergy and resilient energy systems. He has published more than 70 papers, holds 13 patents, contributed chapters to the John Zink Combustion Handbook, The Industrial Burner Handbook, Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, and recently published a book, Computational Fluid Dynamics for the Chemical and Petrochemical Process Industry.

Statement

AIChE is THE worldwide professional organization for chemical engineers. I have seen firsthand the duties and profession-leading opportunities of the AIChE President while I’ve served as Treasurer and then as Secretary. Based on my industrial, academic, and AIChE experiences, I can lead the evolution and influence of our diverse profession as we address critical educational and technological issues of secure clean energy, ChE biomedical and biotechnology advances, and sustainable process and product development.

To do so, we must reach out more effectively to students, young professionals, and long-time members. I have served as a local section chair and worked with ChE student organizations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, so I know the value of initiatives that build diverse, vibrant groups of professionals, increase international student participation, and increase conversion of student members to AIChE member professionals. As we grow in the U.S. and internationally, we can expand our influence by “Doing a World of Good!”

If elected President, I will also focus on:

• expanding AIChE Academy and the Institute for Learning and Innovation by developing ChE liaisons between universities and industry that advance technology, resilience, high-value jobs, and global and local economic activity, especially in underserved regions;
• expanding chemical engineering’s leadership role in advanced manufacturing, leveraging AIChE’s successes in process intensification, safety, and biological engineering; and
• advancing diversity and inclusion using strategic initiatives that grow member involvement.

I am well prepared and enthusiastic to serve as your President, and I would appreciate your vote. Please contact me with your own thoughts about AIChE’s opportunities at smithjose@mst.edu.

Georges Belfort, PhD, holds an endowed Institute Professorship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI; Troy, NY), and conducts research on membrane-based purification of mRNA (vaccines), in vitro production and purification of biofuels, and organic solvents. He was educated in chemical engineering at the Univ. of Cape Town, South Africa, where he received his BS degree, and at the Univ. of California at Irvine, where he earned an MS and PhD in engineering. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2003; chosen by AIChE as one of the “100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era” as part of the Institute’s Centennial Celebration; and has chaired the managing board of AIChE’s Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) since 2014. He is a past president and co-founder of The North American Membrane Society. He also served on the scientific advisory board for the Max Planck Institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering at Hebrew Univ., Israel. He has been a member of AIChE since 1966. Besides winning several notable scientific awards from AIChE and the American Chemical Society, he has supervised more than 100 graduate students and postdocs.

Statement

As a member and Chair of the managing board of the Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) for the past eight years, we — AIChE’s Board of Directors, the SBE advisory board, AIChE staff, and I — have worked to meet numerous strategic objectives of AIChE, and have strengthened SBE by expanding the range and depth of our bioengineering conference/workshop topics for the benefit of members. These have included such conferences as AfroBiotech, Accelerating Biopharmaceutical Development, Metabolic Engineering, Cell-Free Systems, Microbiome Engineering, CRISPR-Cas 9 Technology, and Quantum Computing Applications. Equally important are recent and on-going efforts to expand the equity, diversity, and inclusivity of the members of the SBE advisory and managing boards.

Most of SBE’s conference and workshop topics involve collaboration between chemical engineers and interdisciplinary scientists. Such “convergence” between different fields will allow us to solve difficult societal problems such as global warming, developing new and efficient energy sources, reducing the cost of water desalination and brine disposal, development of time-degradable plastics, understanding/modifying Alzheimer’s disease, and vaccine discovery and scale up. I have worked on most of these topics and have seen the synergy and success gained from collaborating with scientists. My collaborative and leadership experience at SBE and with convergence approaches to serious societal challenges, as well as my international experiences and deep concern for equity, diversity, and inclusion, should bring new ideas to the AIChE Board.

Dave Parrillo is currently the Vice President of R&D for Dow’s Packaging and Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons division. This $28 billion revenue division is key to Dow’s decarbonize-and-grow strategy. His more than 29 years of experience in the chemicals, materials, and energy industries includes positions with General Electric and Air Products and Chemicals.

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and serves on the External Chemical Engineering Advisory Board at the Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, and on the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Advisory Board. Dave is a supporter and sponsor of Dow Employee Resource Groups including the Women’s Inclusion Network, the Hispanic Latin Network, and the Asian Diversity Network.

He earned a BS from the Univ. of Rhode Island and a PhD from the Univ. of Pennsylvania, both in chemical engineering. He is currently on the advisory board for AIChE’s Institute for Learning and Innovation (ILI), driving collaborative interactions between academia and industry.

Statement

I have been a member of AIChE for 29 years. Industry and academia have changed dramatically since my studies and first employment. Today, chemical engineers are employed in many more sectors of the economy with varied skill needs. My passion is to enhance the career development of chemical engineers by better connecting industry, academia, government organizations, and AIChE.

I have been working as a member of the advisory board of AIChE’s Institute for Learning and Innovation to further these goals. Through this AIChE Institute, Dow created our first PhD industry interns’ program focused on cross-functional internships of combined chemical engineering and digital skills. These internships attracted applications from more than 5% of the U.S. population of mid-term PhD chemical engineering students. This was only a small pilot, but it demonstrated the potential for beneficial increased interactions.

AIChE has members from all sectors and the potential to become a larger hub for:

• defining new skills for chemical engineers,
• providing a virtual place for upskilling,
• working with academia to augment curricula,
• creating a digital database connecting chemical engineers.

As a community, we need to continue to enhance the development of our chemical engineering workforce for the future.

AIChE is in an excellent position to help the chemical engineering profession create and support a new future. I am running for the AIChE Board to be part of designing and implementing new models for this future. I ask your support in doing so.

Mary Ellen Ternes, Partner, Earth & Water Law, LLC, and an AIChE Fellow, has served as a leader in ChE and environmental law with EPA, industry, and as a senior partner and environmental-practice group chair at private law firms providing outside counsel for business, municipalities, and science-focused environmental nonprofits. She earned her BEChE at Vanderbilt Univ. and her JD with high honors at the Univ. of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. Her AIChE activities include Co-Chair, 2010 Spring Meeting; Vice Chair, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum; Founding Chair, Chemical Engineering and the Law Forum; Chair, Climate Change and Regulatory and Legislation sections, Environmental Div.; Founding Chair, Public Affairs and Information Committee (PAIC); co-author, AIChE 2014 and 2019 Climate Change Policy; Editorial Board, Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy; Climate Solutions Policy Initiative; and recipient of the Environmental Div.’s Service Award. Outside AIChE, she served/serves as President, American College of Environmental Lawyers (Fellow); Chair, 2008 Annual Conference on Environmental Law, American Bar Association; External Advisory Committee, Vanderbilt Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Dept.; Senior Fellow, Global Council of Science and the Environment; and United Nations Delegate for treaty negotiations to end plastic pollution.

Statement

Chemical engineers are key to developing sound environmental policy, where ChE principles are central to identifying effective solutions. We continue to provide effective mitigation solutions for air and water pollution, hazardous waste management, ozone depletion, and climate change, as we design sustainable solutions to avoid waste and thus pollution. We constantly prevent problems, but we’ve also led transitions away from processes and products that have caused unanticipated problems.

AIChE should continue as a leader in advancing ChE and environmental law, working through partnerships. AIChE plays a critical role in educating our profession to best manage business+environmental risk, connecting our members with interdisciplinary partners to ensure that they are always included in the policy conversation. As founding Chair of the Public Affairs and Information Committee, I understand how the Board can work with PAIC to monitor significant evolving issues, see that wise and practical policies are sought, and communicate with you, the government, and the public.

As an AIChE Director, I will focus on:

• addressing societal issues through ChE insight and expertise, including climate change and plastic pollution, creating a sustainable path toward mitigation of both issues;
• engaging ChEs with other communities to propel solutions for maximum benefit;
• creating and supporting career-growth opportunities with cutting-edge learning through programming and publications;
• Advancing AIChE through its IDEAL commitment.

Jessica O. Winter is a Distinguished Professor in the William G. Lowrie Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and past Associate Director of the Center for Emergent Materials, an NSF Materials Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at The Ohio State Univ. She received her BS from Northwestern Univ., after which she spent two years at Intel in process engineering. She then completed her MS and PhD at the Univ. of Texas at Austin. She is a global leader in nanobiotechnology and nanomanufacturing, and is a Fellow of AIChE, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. She is an associate editor for Materials Advances and the Journal of Materials Chemistry B. She is also a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Core Quantum Technologies, a company delivering nanoparticle reagents for cancer diagnostics. She is a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and commercialization of academic research. She has spoken before congressional committees on these topics multiple times and has been published by The Hill.

Statement

I am honored by this opportunity to serve the Institute. I have substantial AIChE leadership experience, serving as Chair of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum (NSEF) and the Chemical Engineering Technology Operating Council (CTOC). In CTOC, I led a task force for implementing inclusive practices in AIChE divisions and forums. I currently serve on the Public Affairs and Information Committee, Awards Committee, and the Fellows Council. My career-spanning academic and industrial experience has shown me the power of chemical engineering to address complex global problems. If elected, I will support the AIChE mission to build an inclusive community united in “doing a world of good.”

• I will work with the Institute to highlight the positive contributions chemical engineers make to society, especially in safe and sustainable manufacturing. Enhancing our profile will strengthen our profession, increase public support and partnerships, and facilitate recruitment of future engineers.
• I will expand Institute programming to empower the next generation of chemical engineers while extending the pipeline, including programs for outreach and career exploration, student and professional training, mentorship across career stages, and building inclusive ecosystems for our members.
• I will initiate programs to improve communication within the Institute. AIChE is a complex, volunteer organization that can be difficult to navigate. Streamlining and targeting communications will enhance member engagement, clarify leadership pathways, and spotlight the accomplishments of our organization.

Share your views with me at winter.63@osu.edu.