By: Christine Curran
Since 2002, the South Texas Section of AIChE Young Professionals (STS-AIChE YP) has provided recent chemical engineering graduates the opportunity to participate in social, educational, and service events. The overall aim of STS-AIChE YP is to convert recent graduates into experienced industry leaders through fun, yet informative, technical programming. Despite a professional development focus, STS YP also hosts many service projects and social events throughout the year. This year presents a very busy conference schedule for STS members. The national AICHE Spring Meeting will be held in Houston April 1-5 and STS YP will be volunteering at the YP Mixer event on Tuesday, April 3 and throughout the conference. The Southwest Regional Student Conference will also be held in Houston March 23-25 at the University of Houston campus. STS YP volunteers plan to help judge the paper competition. In the fall, the Regional Process Technology Conference will be held nearby in Galveston, Texas, on October 4-5. On October 5, a YP technical session will be held followed by a mixer. Finally, STS volunteers will likely help with the annual Offshore Technology Conference in Houston's Reliant Center April 30-May 3. Beyond the healthy conference calendar, STS YP looks forward to volunteering at the K-12 level in science fairs, Mathcounts, and the Future City competition. Additionally, social events are already in the works, including house parties, happy hours, and dinners. Industry tours are planned in April and September. To keep current on the STS YP schedule, please use the website: http://www.sts-yp.org/. For more information about the STS YP please contact Lisa Swanson at lisaswanson@providenceeng.com.