Chemical Engineering Conference In Minneapolis Highlights Energy, Water Sustainability, Bioengineering Advances

 

American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

AIChE’s Annual Meeting is expected to draw more than 5,000 engineers and undergraduate engineering students with plenary lectures, 13 topical conferences, more than 750 technical sessions and special events.

 

The national Chem-E-Car Competition will feature teams from colleges across the country racing small cars powered by alternative fuels that the students have created. 

Minneapolis Convention Center, 1301 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis

Sunday, October 16 - Friday, October 21, 2011

 

Presentations cover all aspects of chemical engineering, from sustainable water supplies, to pharmaceuticals, to bioengineering, to nanotechnology. The second International Congress on Energy will feature more than 100 sessions related to energy technologies, markets, business strategies and policies covering the solar, nuclear, lignocelluosics, biorefineries, hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and green innovation.

 

AIChE will update content on its social media channels throughout the Annual Meeting.  News, photos, videos, special event and keynote coverage is available at www.chenected.com/annual.  Facebook (www.facebook.com/chenected) and Twitter feeds (@chenected) will have regular updates direct from the meeting. The official hashtag for the meeting is #AIChEAnnual.

 

Chem-E-Car:  

College teams race shoebox-size cars powered by alternative fuels in carefully calculated chemical reactions. The cars must carry a small payload a certain distance. Adding to the tension of the competition, the weight of the payload and distance are not revealed to the competitors until one hour before the contest begins. Teams must quickly make calculations about their fuel use.

 

International Year of Chemistry Plenary:

The U.N. General Assembly has declared 2011 the “International Year of Chemistry” to promote a worldwide celebration of the contributions of chemistry and chemical engineering to the well-being of people everywhere. Thomas W. Peterson, assistant director for engineering, National Science Foundation, will speak.

 

Annual Meeting Plenary – Chemical Science Innovation:

Future of the US Chemical Enterprise: Corporate, academic and research leaders will discuss the future of this critical component of the US economy. Monty Alger, CTO, Air Products; John Anderson, president, Illinois Institute of Technology; Bill Banholzer, CTO & executive VP, Dow Chemical; Robert Brown, president, Boston University; Anthony Cugini, director, National Energy Technology Laboratory;  Sangtae Kim, executive director, Morgridge Institute; Joe Miller, CTO & executive VP, Corning; and Larry Wendling, VP corporate research, 3M, will speak. This two-part plenary is cosponsored by the Council for Chemical Research.

 

Sustainable Energy Plenary:  

This session will focus on legal implications for sustainable energy, coal gasification and global warming, carbon dioxide capture and analyzing the cost of sustainable energy technology. 

 

Professional Progress Award Lecture, F = m a of Biology?  

Each year, AIChE invites a chemical engineer who has made fast-paced progress in the profession to deliver a featured lecture. Michael W. Deem, John W. Cox Professor of biochemical and genetic engineering and professor of physics & astronomy at Rice University, will deliver this year’s address.

 

James E. Bailey Award Lecture, sponsored by the Society for Biological Engineering, Natural Products and the Chemical Engineer:  

The award is presented to an individual who has had an important impact on bioengineering and whose achievements have advanced this profession in any of its aspects. Chaitan Khosla, chair of chemical engineering at Stanford University, is this year’s recipient. 

 

Bionanotechnology for Gene and Drug Delivery I:

Bionanotechnology uses concepts from chemistry, physics, and molecular biology to identify components and processes for the construction of nanomaterials and nanodevices for health care, including applications in tumor imaging, drug delivery, and tumor ablation.

 

Wednesday, October 19 11:15AM – 12:15PM 

63rd AIChE Institute Lecture, Beyond Water:

Expanding the Spectrum of Efficient Large Scale Separations: Each year, AIChE invites a distinguished chemical engineer to present a comprehensive review of his or her specialty. This year’s Institute Lecturer is William Koros, Roberto C. Gouizueta chair and GRA eminent scholar in membranes at Georgia Institute of Technology. Membrane materials, structures, modules and system design have fundamentally changed the water purification industry. More recently, the revolution has begun to spread beyond water to more difficult to separate gaseous species, such as oxygen-nitrogen separation, hydrogen and natural gas purification and monomer capture and recycle. Koros will discuss the challenges in expanding the separation spectrum. 

 

Wednesday, October 19 3:15 PM – 5:30 PM 

Drug Delivery III:  

This session deals with the latest advances in drug delivery methods and related technologies. Papers discuss new delivery applications for cancer treatments, imprinting daily wear contact lenses with drug therapies, using nanoparticles to combat atherosclerosis, new ways to circumvent the stomach’s mucus lining and testing silk films for synthetic dye delivery. 

 

Development and Commercialization of Emulsion Aggregation Toner Technology by Xerox – 4th Corporate Innovation Award & Lecture:  

The Industrial Innovation Award recognizes a company for outstanding innovation. This year, Hadi Mahaadi, vice president and director at Xerox Research Centre of Canada, will discuss the Emulsion Aggregation Toner Technology (EA) that was invented, developed and commercialized by Xerox. EA represents a breakthrough in the chemical engineering processes for preparing toner materials using nanotechnology. 

Thursday, October 20 12:30 PM – 3:00 PM 

Sustainable Electricity: Generation, Transmission and Storage:  

This session will highlight challenges and solutions related to improving the sustainability of electricity.

 

Outreach in Biomaterials Program:  

This session covers outreach activities that promote understanding of, and interest in, biomaterials among young people and the general public. They include: PharmCamp, which enables middle school girls to make informed decisions about careers in science and engineering; TEC camp, which introduces middle school girls to the world of engineering and computing; high school teachers’ programs to provide juniors and seniors with hands-on biomaterial lab experience; and the use of new communication technologies, such as Flip cameras, Skype and Prezi to connect high school students to chemical engineering graduate students.  

 

More information on all of the activities surrounding the AIChE Annual Meeting is available at www.aiche.org/annual.