The 30-Minute Volunteer

Volunteers are indispensable to AIChE. From the local section grassroots-level, up through the Board of Directors, volunteers make the work of AIChE and its many functional areas possible and give the Institute its direction and identity.

Participation as an Institute volunteer allows you to raise your visibility in the chemical engineering community and to learn and apply transferable skills that you often wouldn’t acquire in the course of your professional work assignments.

While long-term volunteering opportunities — such as committee leadership — might be difficult to take on, shorter-term task forces or “micro-volunteering” may be something you can more easily commit to.

Micro-volunteering involves easy, quick, low-investment tasks, and is a way for members to engage with AIChE, practice skills, and enjoy the benefits of participation. Choosing the right volunteer role is key; focused project work may be more appealing to you than making a multiyear commitment to a broader committee. AIChE welcomes and appreciates any time you can dedicate to advancing our profession and our society.

AIChE volunteer commitments vary depending on the opportunity and you.

Volunteer opportunity types

• Committee Volunteer Opportunities (2–3-yr commitment): These roles are term-based.
• Task Volunteer Opportunities (1 yr or less): These are usually project specific and typically involve a commitment of 6 months to a year.
• Micro-Volunteer Opportunities (6 months or less): These tasks allow members to contribute expertise, talent, or feedback in small increments, usually of 30 minutes to 6 months.

Micro-volunteering opportunities include

• participating in K–12 outreach
• writing or editing meeting announcements or social media content
• acting as a liaison between your employer or alumni organization and an AIChE group participating in a focus group
• being a commentator on AIChE’s Engage forum or another AIChE social media channel
• benchmarking your AIChE group’s activities against those of other professional societies
• inviting a “newbie” to be a “conference attendee buddy” at an AIChE event.

Find the right volunteer opportunity online at AIChE’s Volunteer Central (engage.aiche.org) or visit aiche.org/volunteer. Have another idea for micro-volunteering? Email membership@aiche.org.