Meet Luke Richardson—Featured YP for September

Where are you from? Paducah, Kentucky What company/institution do you work for? Arkema Inc., Calvert City Where did you complete/are you completing your chemical engineering education? University of Kentucky - Paducah How many years have you been a member of AIChE? Six years Describe a recent challenge you managed, notable achievement, or obstacle you overcame at your job or in your work as an AIChE member? I wanted to start a Local YP Section here in Western Kentucky. I started working on getting a list of members in my area and started contacting members. I hosted the first West Kentucky YPs house party last summer. It went pretty well - about 12 Young Professionals attended. We grilled out, introduced ourselves to one another and discussed our backgrounds and what we were doing now. What do you do to meet people in your field? I attend conferences whenever possible, I use LinkedIn to make contacts and work with the YPs.

If you weren't a ChE what would you most want to be? Camera man for National Geographic, Animal Planet, or Discovery. How many ChEs does it take to screw in a light bulb? Zero, they have to get electricians to do that. It's in the contract. Do you have any advice for current or future young professionals reading ChEnected? My advice to anyone working as an engineer is to talk to your operators and supervisors and listen to their suggestions. You can learn a lot, and a little casual conversation can go a long ways in getting people to cooperate. You can contact Luke through his LinkedIn profile.

Join us in CONGRATULATING Luke by commenting below!

Comments

Jeff Seay's picture

Congratulations, Luke! Glad to see you are staying involved with AIChE!

Bill Murphy's picture

I am not sure if you learned the benefits of casual conversation with operators from school or from hard knocks, hopefully from school. I am glad to see that you understand that the company team has a deep bench that goes well beyond the engineering offices.

Denise Brazzell's picture

You deserve this accolade Luke--and the many more that I am sure will come as your professional career develops! So proud to have bee a part of your education in some small way.

Candace Curtis's picture

Way to go, Luke! Congratulations! That's very cool!