Virginia Sommer is a Process/Specialty Engineer at Fluor Corporation and the co-Meeting Programming Chair at the 2024 AIChE Spring Meeting & 20th Global Congress on Process Safety taking place in New Orleans, LA, on March 24–28, 2024. We recently caught up with Virginia to find out what we can expect at this year’s conference.
What is your role for the 2024 AIChE Spring Meeting & 20th Global Congress on Process Safety?
I am the overall co-Meeting Programming Chair (co-MPC) for the upcoming 2024 Spring Meeting, alongside Tony Cai, who is the MPC this year.
Can you give us some insight into this year’s meeting and what events shouldn’t be missed?
Once again, we have a lot of great programming lined up for this year’s Spring Conference. The meeting will get started with the AGILE Award Keynote Address by AGILE Award recipient Mark Lashier, President and CEO at Phillips 66. He will be discussing current industry change and embracing that change to regenerate, renew, and grow the future. The Energy Transition topical is back for its second year with nine sessions, including the Energy Transition Roundtable with Energy Leaders, with participants from Shell, UOP, the US DoE, and the National University of Singapore. The Global Congress on Process Safety will be in full swing with sessions such as “Hello Sustainability – Remember to Consider Process Safety and Inherently Safer Design” and “Don’t Pardon the Dust – Risk Based Approaches to Managing Combustible Dust Hazards.” I also want to highlight that there are several process safety sessions in Spanish and Portuguese, adding to the many diverse aspects of this conference. Also, don’t miss the great networking opportunities at the conference, such as at the Opening Reception on Sunday night and the Poster Session, Networking Reception, and the IDEAL Reception on Monday night.
What information are you hoping attendees walk away with?
I am hoping that attendees meet up with friends they haven’t seen in a while, connect with new contacts, and gain knowledge that they can take with them and apply in their own fields. Take advantage of this opportunity where many technical experts gather in one place. Learn from them and enhance your team or your own skills. And of course, take time to sit back and enjoy the conference!
Learn more about the 2024 Spring Meeting and 20th GCPS.
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Virginia Sommer
Virginia Sommer is a Process/Specialty Engineer at Fluor Corporation, where she has worked on various projects, from refinery revamps to grassroots renewable fuel facilities, and is now currently managing the Process work for a very successful client program of projects. Read more.