As 2025 ends, it is important to look back as we plan for a new year. An oft-quoted Chinese curse says, “May you live in interesting times,” where “interesting” usually refers to times of trouble. As Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” — a sentiment that also describes our present day. Without focusing on our “interesting times,” I conclude that we have dealt with these challenges as best we could and we have grown because of them. We live in an era of great challenges, but also of extraordinary innovation; today we talk about space flight as routine, fusion energy as more than a dream, and cures for cancer as a reality. It is an exciting time to be a chemical engineer and have the possibility of working on amazing technology! As I reflect on 2025, I have been honored to serve as the AIChE President.
The theme for our 2025 Gala was “inspiring the power of good.” As we head into the new year, I challenge each of you to keep this theme as your guiding North Star by seeking to cultivate and engage a fully inclusive workforce. Our IDEAL principles will help our profession attract and retain the best and brightest to “inspire the power of good” as we navigate the future.
Improving our brand
The American philosopher George Santayana stated that “those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.” A safety culture relies on remembering past mistakes to avoid making them again. A corollary to Santayana’s quote is “remembering past successes leads to future accomplishments!” Remembering the past is not about living in the past; it is about using the past as a springboard for future growth. In 2025, AIChE worked with the Science History Institute to document key contributions process engineers have made by transferring technology from the lab to society. The work of Dr. Margaret Rousseau in designing the first commercial penicillin production plant is an example of how a process engineer saved millions of lives! Chemical process engineers have made countless other contributions that need to be documented and celebrated to ensure future contributions to society.
Reimaging your career through lifelong learning
In today’s fast-changing society, chemical engineers must engage in lifelong learning to reinvent themselves to remain relevant. Artificial intelligence (AI) is part of our future; we must learn to use this tool to solve today’s global challenges. AIChE’s century-long mission includes providing continuing education to an ever-evolving profession. Since 1907, AIChE has published extensive data in thousands of articles in CEP; this trove of information represents a valuable avenue for future AI deployment. AIChE is committed to helping members reinvent themselves using advanced tools such as AI to ensure they remain relevant to our increasingly technical society.
Sustainable manufacturing, energy poverty, and AIChE
When science is challenged, chemical engineers should stand and be heard. In 2025, many questions were asked about how we could contribute to a sustainable future. AIChE members of the Public Affairs & Information Committee (PAIC) spent countless hours addressing our published statements on climate and sustainability. AIChE’s climate statement declares that AIChE and its members hold paramount the safety, public health, public welfare, and the protection of the environment in performance of their professional duties. We are committed to playing a leadership role in offering solutions through systems analysis and other approaches that create safe, resilient, and sustainable processes, products, and facilities.
AIChE’s efforts to promote advanced manufacturing through the RAPID manufacturing institute have focused on developing technologies to produce chemicals and energy more sustainably. One of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is “Ensuring access to affordable, dependable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030.” Energy poverty is one of today’s global challenges. Over a billion people go to bed each night without access to electricity, and three billion rely on traditional biomass for cooking. Advanced manufacturing is one way that AIChE is helping to address this global challenge.
During the World Congress of Chemical Engineering held this summer in Beijing, China, I discussed these global challenges with other chemical engineering societies. One of my 2025 goals was to strengthen collaborations with other organizations to address global challenges, including climate change and energy poverty. Today, AIChE is working through the United Engineering Foundation with other engineering societies to address critical issues, including sustainable manufacturing and energy poverty. AIChE has tried to address these issues positively to be heard in the ongoing dialogue on climate change and energy poverty.
I am proud to be an active Fellow in AIChE, and I was honored to serve as your 2025 President. Please continue to “inspire the power of good” in your journey. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at president@aiche.org.
Joseph D. Smith, 2025 AIChE President
This article originally appeared in the Institute News column in the December 2025 issue of CEP. Members have access online to complete issues, including a vast, searchable archive of back-issues found at www.aiche.org/cep.
