ChEnected Posts by ChEnected Guest

The AIChE Spring Meeting is the year’s key technical conference for practicing chemical engineers. A wide range of subjects relevant to the current needs of industry is covered. Plus, the Global Congress on Process Safety covers the critical needs of process safety practitioners.

Early Bird Registration Ends February 13!

Drew Berry, a 2010 MacArthur fellow, is a biomedical animator who creates scientifically accurate and stunning animations to illustrate how molecules in our cells move and interact. At the TEDxSydney conference, in May of 2011, Drew Berry showcased his animations that help researchers see unseeable processes within our own cells.

For a humorous look at the undergraduate decisions that every chemical engineer makes, check out this tongue-in-cheek "investigative report" on why student students choose chemical engineering as a major. You can watch the video in the panel to the right.

After a great year, YPAB is jumping right into 2012. We recently elected a new Vice Chair, Christine Curran of the South Texas Local Section, and are currently preparing for the Spring Conference which will be held in Houston in April.

With the new year here and so many events happening in chemical engineering, biological engineering, management, safety, and sustainability, we decided to put together a quick guide to events from now through September of 2012. Get your online calendars ready to record the early-bird deadlines and calls for papers.

Upcoming Events for the Chicago, Northern California, South Texas and Puget Sound Young Professionals Sections

The EPA’s Boiler MACT rules will change how your business operates. On Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 2 PM, there will be a 90-minute informative web forum which will give you the facts and help you plan how you move into compliance by the target dates.

This past year was a busy year for the Young Professional Advisory Board Chicago local section. Our YP group has grown tremendously over the past few years with several new active members. The Chicago section has recently restructured in order to give more YPs more chances for leadership roles. Each month we hold an event specifically focused on young professional topics rotating our focus each month between technical topics, professional development topics, outreach events and purely social events. In the past few months we hosted events all throughout the greater Chicagoland area.

Scientists in Germany have created a way to cloak objects acoustically, using a technique that neither absorbs sound nor reflects it.

Carbon nanotubes are the blackest material known and they absorb a broad spectrum of light. This creates the potential for using nano-coatings to perfectly cloak objects in the dark of night and from radar at any time of day.

AIChE is organized into three “operating councils” that manage many of the activities of AIChE. The Societal Impact Operating Council (SIOC) is the one of these that has primary responsibility for the way that the Institute relates to the world beyond AIChE.

You're invited to participate in this month's online meeting of the AIChE Virtual Local Section (Virtual.aiche.org). The meeting is Thursday Nov 17th, starting at 8 PM eastern US time, and you can participate via Internet connection (preferred) or phone.

Wahoo Wizards is a community outreach program that was started eleven years ago and is supported by the AIChE student chapter at the University of Virginia. Named after the unofficial mascot of the university, this program aims to immerse K-6 students in the Charlottesville, VA, community in science and engineering.

The Featured YP for November is Katherine Gawel. Read on to learn about her background, her advice to other young professionals, and her passion for baking and travel.

The growing demand for carbon-neutral energy sources has fueled the search for biologically derived products. While the predominant liquid fuel is gasoline, the search is on for biofuel alternatives, but many pose considerable challenges. Currently ethanol is the most widely used biologically generated fuel. Ethanol, however, is difficult to transport in pipelines and also contains just 70% of the energy content of gasoline.