The Young Professionals Advisory Board offers three Travel Awards for Undergraduate Students to cover expenses in traveling to the National Student Conference. This year's winners for the Conference in Minneapolis were: Stefannie Corea of the Universidad Nacional Aut?noma de Honduras; Breanne Muratori of the University of Connecticut; and Ishan Joshipura of the University of Arizona.
A few of the winners share their experiences with us:
Stefannie Corea:
"Unimaginable Opportunities"--the perfect description of my experience at the AIChE Annual Student Conference as a ChemE studying in Honduras. I was able to absorb as much information as possible, understand as much as I was able, and meet as many people as I could. I learned how to finally seize the moment and it wouldn't have been possible without the financial aid offered by the YPAB and the warm welcome and acceptance of our sister chapter at Mississippi State University. I will apply the skills I acquired at the Conference to enhance our Honduran Chapter, and help my fellow classmates in the pursuit our common goal--the improvement of our field. I deeply appreciate this opportunity.
Breanne Muratori:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to go to the AIChE Conference! Over the course of the weekend I met so many new people, both professionals from industry as well as other undergrads from across the country. The conference itself gave me so many great ideas for improving my chapter back at UConn. We are currently implementing many new tools which I learned from the sessions. Competing in the poster competition was also a great experience. I ended up receiving one of the third place awards for the materials division. There were also five other winners from my school! Thank you again for this amazing experience!
Ishan Joshipura:
I'd like to thank the Young Professional Advisory Board for the opportunity to travel to the 2011 AIChE Student National Conference in Minneapolis, MN. My university's student chapter does not have sufficient funding to support travel to both national and regional conferences, let alone one of the two. Without the travel award, I would not have considered attending this conference.
The conference was an excellent experience! I attended many workshop/seminars hosted by other student chapters, where leaders from those chapters shared their unique advice on operating a successful chapter. As president of my chapter, this was invaluable information and it will serve my chapter greatly in the months to come. Also, I was delighted to befriend a chapter president who was also named Ishan!
At the Graduate Fair, I networked and interacted with professors from esteemed graduate programs. As a senior planning to attend graduate school, the Graduate Fair helped immensely with the application process.
Finally, I participated in the student poster session on Monday, where I received 1st Place for the Fuels, Petrochemicals, & Energy session. Although I was aware of the poster session at the conference, I did not consider entering before receiving the YPAB travel award.
I can't say enough about how wonderful of an experience this was. I thank you again sincerely for the wonderful opportunity to attend the AIChE Student National Conference.
Want to apply for next year?
More information on the YPAB Travel Award for Undergraduate Students can be found here. To contact the YPAB, click here.