The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) will showcase the innovative work of chemical engineers and the pivotal roles they play in addressing global challenges at the 2017 AIChE Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Oct. 29-Nov. 3.
The meeting — to be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center and Hilton Minneapolis — highlights emerging areas of chemical engineering technology, including new opportunities in renewable energy, medicine, bioengineering, manufacturing, and process intensification, while surveying the latest developments in the discipline’s fundamentals. Experts across chemical engineering specializations will discuss new research and technologies in 3D printing, smart manufacturing, sustainable engineering, bioengineering, energy, fuels and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, chemical engineering education, separations, materials science, particle technology, nanotechnology, and more, in a technical program consisting of thousands of presentations in more than 700 sessions.
June Wispelwey, Executive Director of AIChE, said, “This year’s Annual Meeting in Minneapolis will highlight our new and enhanced topical conferences, which reflect the many areas in which chemical engineers contribute to improving our daily lives. Topics include sustainability, new frontiers in translational medicine, next-generation manufacturing, and global challenges that cross boundaries, such as the food-water-energy nexus.”
With its emphasis on technical innovation and the professional growth of chemical engineers, AIChE’s Annual Meeting is the foremost educational forum for chemical engineers working in research and development. Organizers expect more than 5,000 engineers, scientists, and business leaders to attend the meeting to acquire insight into developments in the field’s growth areas and to connect with fellow professionals.
Among the meeting’s 14 topical conferences, many are new or expanded, including conferences devoted to: next-generation manufacturing; process intensification; chemical engineers in medicine; the global challenges at the nexus of energy, water and food; thermal deconstruction of biomass; and the engineering of microbiomes with applications in health care, agriculture, and energy.
These programs will be supplemented by established topical conferences that present the latest intelligence in nanotechnology and nanomaterials (including environmental aspects and energy applications), advanced systems for fossil energy usage, innovations in green process engineering for sustainable energy and the environment, and sensors. The program also features the annual meeting of the AES Electrophoresis Society and the 2017 International Congress on Energy, which incorporates a symposium on solar power and chemical systems.
With innovation underscoring many of the conference offerings, a highlight of the 2017 AIChE Annual Meeting is a new Meet the Executives panel titled “Innovating for a Sustainable Future” on Oct. 30. Panelists include Chris Mallett, Corporate Vice President for Research and Development at Cargill; José Luis Méndez-Andino, Vice President of Research and Development at Owens Corning; A.N. Sreeram, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at The Dow Chemical Company; and Teressa Szelest, President of Market and Business Development North America at BASF Corporation. S. Shariq Yosufzai, Vice President for Global Diversity at Chevron Corporation, will moderate the discussion.
AIChE’s ongoing work to ensure an inclusive profession continues at several Annual Meeting sessions. The meeting includes a new plenary — Diversity and Inclusion: Starting and Thriving in the Workplace — on Oct. 31, as well as forums dedicated to advancing the inclusion and professional prospects of women, underrepresented minorities, LGBTQ engineers, and disabled engineers. Additionally, the role of chemical engineers in society will be examined at a Public Policy Town Hall sponsored by AIChE’s Public Affairs and Information Committee.
The Annual Meeting provides myriad professional development opportunities for AIChE members at all career stages. A Career Services Workshop on Oct. 30 will offer advice on networking, preparing effective research poster presentations, and working with publishers.
At the Annual Student Conference, Oct. 27-30, more than 1,500 undergraduates from 100 schools worldwide will participate in career workshops, scholarly and intercollegiate competitions, a recruitment fair, and networking events. The Student Conference is also the venue for AIChE’s 19th Annual Chem-E-Car Competition.
For information about conference registration and an up-to-date schedule of events, visit www.aiche.org/annual.
Major Lectures:
• The John M. Prausnitz AIChE Institute Lecture, Wednesday, Nov. 1. G.V. (Rex) Reklaitis, the Burton and Kathryn Gedge Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, will deliver this year’s lecture, titled “Process Systems Engineering Contributions to Pharmaceuticals.”
• The IACChE’s James Y. Oldshue Lecture, Tuesday, Oct. 31. Held in alternate years at the AIChE Annual Meeting and the Inter-American Confederation of Chemical Engineering’s (IACChE) Inter-American Congress, this lecture will be presented by José Roberto Nunhez, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil, whose talk is titled “CFD’s Role in Understanding Mixing Processes.”
• The Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering Lecture, Tuesday, Oct. 31. This lecture will be given by the Institute’s 2016 Acrivos Professional Progress Award recipient, Christopher W. Jones, Love Family Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Associate Vice President for Research at Georgia Institute of Technology. He will discuss new technologies for the removal of CO2 from dilute gas streams.
• The James E. Bailey Award Lecture, Tuesday, Oct. 31. Presented by AIChE’s Society for Biological Engineering, the Bailey Award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of biological engineering. The 2017 Bailey Award recipient is Antonios G. Mikos, the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University, whose presentation focuses on biomaterials for tissue engineering.
About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 53,000 chemical engineers in 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.