Sitting around the Thanksgiving table in a stupor, at least one relative is bound to haul out the explanation that the tryptophan found in turkey is to blame. But is it really?

The ChE discipline would benefit by putting just as much focus on developing the next generation of Jack Welchs as well as Linus Paulings. What is the business case for doing so? This series has shed light on how these other skills directly affect our careers and ability to get work accomplished and even the potential impact on the financial viability of our engineering departments.

The chemical engineering faculty and staff at the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder developed Screencasts to give students an effective alternative to simply hitting the books or reviewing classroom notes. Screencasts are short videos (10 minutes or less) of narrations with screen recordings.

Approaching the problem of cancer as not just a medical problem but as an engineering problem has allowed Mark Davis a chemical engineer and researcher at Cal Tech to solve a persistant problem with our current methods of treating the disease via chemotherapy.

There is an interesting question regarding the contribution that so-called “synthetic fuels” (i.e., those made from raw materials other than crude oil) could make to our motor fuels supply. Technology for several of these fuels has been commercialized, with substantial contributions from chemical engineers.

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.

With gas prices soaring, several friends decide to save money by siphoning gas from other people’s vehicles. They need to siphon 40L of gas in order for the group to have enough for their mopeds for the week. Sunday night, they were siphoning gas out of a large truck at the local market.

Tuesday night, a balmy New York City November night and one of NYC's premier reception halls—Gotham Hall—provided the perfect backdrop for AIChE's IYC Gala, one of the culminating events of an unprecedented year-long celebration of chemistry and chemical engineers.

The gala served as the primary fundraising vehicle for its new energy and water initiatives, two focal points at the heart of the International Year of Chemistry. See photos.

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.

We are always selling. Vendors sell goods, consultants sell advice, politicians sell themselves, demonstrators who occupy Wall Street sell their cause, entrepreneurs sell new concepts, artists sell designs, and even parents sell their standards. Regardless of the way you describe it, teaching, pitching, proposing, convincing – sales is about getting another person to do something and we all need to know how to do sales well to get things done.

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.

Mentorship is a type of networking. Networking is the deliberate and systematic process of building and maintaining relationships based on mutual benefit. Research suggests that mentorship is a critical networking tool that can be an effective way to achieve career growth as well as contribute to your own psychological wellbeing. For the second year, The Young Professional Committee (YPC) and The Fellows Committee will be collaborating, and piloting a mentor program.

Trying to figure out your career path? One option: be a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-many—broaden your skill set to make yourself more valuable to small businesses.