Dow's Fitterling: Why It's the Best Time to Be a Chemical Engineer

James (Jim) R. Fitterling is president and chief operating officer of The Dow Chemical Company. At the 2016 Annual Student Conference, attended by nearly 2,000 students, Jim gave the keynote speech entitled "The Best Time to Be a Chemical Engineer." He talked about the evolving profession, how it is interconnected with other engineering and science disciplines, and encouraged students to prepare for the future by sharpening their networking skills and celebrating diversity in the workplace and profession.

Jim is one of the co-chairs of AIChE's Doing a World of Good Campaign. As part of this campaign, Jim and Dow have been instrumental in advancing AIChE's Undergraduate Process Safety Learning Initiative, a program that incorporates process safety training into the chemical engineering curricula at universities throughout the world.

After Jim's talk, Karen Fletcher, CEO of AIChE's RAPID Manufacturing Institute and former vice president DuPont, had a chance to sit down with him to talk about his efforts and his message to students. You can watch the interview in the panel above.