Mohamed appears fourth from right, with other 2015 International Travel Grant Winners, AIChE Executive Director June Wispelwey and CCPS Technical Director Shakeel Kadri
By Mohamed Kotaish
Amazing, beneficial, and inspiring. I believe those three words best describe my experience after attending the Annual Student Conference in Salt Lake City. It is not just a conference but rather a wonderful heavenly place where you discover the true potentials of chemical engineers.
I would like to thank the AIChE Foundation for their generous grant since I have been dreaming of attending such a conference since last year, especially after reading the previous winners’ blog posts. This grant gave me the opportunity to attend the 2015 Annual Student Conference, which was the most professional, educating, organized, and engaging conference I have ever attended. It also gave me the chance to know seven other grant winners who are all inspiring leaders. I am grateful for having the chance to represent my chapter and gain significant knowledge and motivation from unique AIChE leaders and chemical engineering experts.
The beauty of this conference lies in the diversity of events and topics discussed in sessions. Every session I attended and every chemical engineer I met raised my awareness and widened my ambition. I had the chance to grasp concepts and information that I might not have learned at my university. For instance, the chemical engineers participating in the Chem-E-Car competition and poster competition have motivated me to get involved in more research and to participate in these competitions in coming years. Moreover, one of the most educational and interesting sessions was the Student Leadership Development Program session, where I received fundamental tips, knowledge, and advice from professional individuals. Furthermore, what I really felt significant in this conference was the connections that I built with experts from various domains like academia, consulting, and industry. Last but not least, I had the chance to become a liaison in the Executive Student Committee, where I can communicate with other chapters in my region and provide any help they need.
Everything in the conference was above my expectations, and that is all due to the serious efforts and work exerted by every single member in AIChE. Words cannot describe my appreciation to the founders of AIChE, the organizers of the conference and to every single person who helped me in my travel because without them, I would not have had an amazing experience and inspiring ideas that I can share with my chapter. After my return to my chapter, we have been communicating with other chapters so that we can be linked with a sister chapter, and we have been working on ideas I have gained from other members.
Thank you AIChE for this opportunity that strengthened my personality and increased my self-confidence. Thank you for the love and support I constantly receive from you.