National Taiwan University (NTU) students established their AIChE Student Chapter just three years ago, and already they have a history of career exploration opportunities and engagement with the wider AIChE community.
Chemical engineering graduates from NTU branch out to several types of industries – petroleum, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals, to name a few. NTU taps into their alumni network to better undergraduates’ understanding of the wide range of opportunities available to them. Around three to four times a year, the student chapter invites a couple of speakers to NTU to give a talk about industry or other experiences such as studying abroad. The talks give students a high-level introduction to different fields, and for more in-depth information, NTU facilitates interviews with the graduates.
Tapping alumni as career resources
Members of the NTU AIChE Student Chapter make appointments with alumni to gain more details and answers to their questions. At a coffee shop near campus, the students meet with the graduates for casual discussion. Sometimes, alumni are located far from NTU and unable to sit down with the students in person. To work around these barriers, they may set up a Skype call. Through two-way conversations, undergraduates expand their network and their understanding of post-graduation life.
Involved in international activities
To engage with the wider AIChE ecosystem, the NTU AIChE Student Chapter encourages its members to participate in free online seminars held on AIChE Academy. The seminars on AIChE’s website cover topics ranging from HAZOP studies to the design of stirred tanks. Additionally, some friendly competition helps the students to broaden their horizons and meet AIChE members from around the world. In the past few years, NTU has competed in Chem-E-Car Competition® and made submissions to AIChE video competitions. They made their way to Minneapolis in 2017 to compete in Chem-E-Car, and they competed again at the Annual Student Conference this year (You can view their 2019 Chem-E-Car entry video).
“Running a whole new project and a team for a competition, attending a foreign conference and competition are all amazing chances to learn,” Po-Yu Liang, President of the NTU AIChE Student Chapter wrote.
The chapter is still relatively new and today consists of around ten members. When starting out, they received insight from the National University of Singapore’s AIChE Student Chapter. They are continuing to expand their footprint to become known by more chemical engineering students.