The AIChE Annual Meeting is a premier event for chemical engineers, offering unparalleled opportunities for career development, networking, and research presentation. For graduate students and post-docs in particular, the meeting offers an endless array of opportunities to advance.
Over the past two years, at the 2023 and 2024 AIChE Annual Meetings, the AIChE Foundation provided registration and travel support to over 125 chemical engineers just starting their careers, who otherwise would have been unable to attend the meeting. Aligned with two of five of the AIChE Foundation’s priorities of attracting the best and brightest, and educating, training and career development, this support is possible because of donors throughout the AIChE community.
But what makes attending the AIChE Annual Meeting so valuable? Let’s take a look at firsthand experiences from 2024 grant recipients.
Career development & research exposure
Attending the Annual Meeting allows students to present their research, receive constructive feedback, and gain exposure within the professional community. Recipients emphasized how critical this was for their growth as researchers and professionals:
“My research focuses on the application of gene editing systems in bio-diagnostics, and this grant provided me with the opportunity to attend the 2024 AlChE Annual Meeting. Through it, I connected with many scholars in my field, which expanded my research interests and deepened my knowledge. As a senior student considering my future career path, the conference was also valuable for meeting industry scientists and entrepreneurs, providing insights and connections that will be instrumental in my job search. Many thanks!”
— Yawen He, Virginia Tech
“I am a PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University, and my research focuses on developing data-driven solutions for the control and optimization of complex dynamical systems. I am incredibly grateful for the support provided by this grant, which enabled me to present my two talks on reinforcement learning-based battery fast charging and generative networks for battery health monitoring at the AIChE 2024 Annual Meeting. The conference provided invaluable networking opportunities, allowing me to connect with industry experts and leading researchers, gain critical feedback, and explore state-of-the-art advancements that will shape my future work. This support has been instrumental in my growth as a researcher, helping me strengthen both my technical and collaborative skills, and empowering me to advance impactful solutions in my field.”
— Myisha Ahmed Chowdhury, Texas Tech University
Networking with experts & faculty members
One of the most valuable aspects of the Annual Meeting is the ability to connect with faculty, researchers, and industry professionals. Many students cited events like Meet the Faculty and poster sessions as key moments that helped them build relationships:
“Being able to present at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting was really important in the development of my work and the network. Mainly after presenting my work, I was able to connect to people from different universities. It was the first time I went to a reception, and the proximity with faculty and book writers helped me on the understanding of the fellow application and faculty position.”
— Daniel Kestering, West Virginia University
“As a chemical engineering Ph.D. student with a focus on predictive modeling in cardiovascular disease and extensive experience across the petroleum, petrochemical, water, and biomedical fields, receiving this grant has been pivotal in advancing my career. The support allowed me to attend the recent conference, an invaluable opportunity to connect with leading researchers, industry professionals, and fellow students who are pioneering advancements in biotechnology and data-driven healthcare.”
— Saubana Dada, University of Arkansas
“I’m a third-year undergrad at MIT interested in nanotechnologies. Receiving this grant was very impactful for sure, without it I would not have gone to the AIChE conference. I was able to network with graduate school programs and other people that are passionate about nanotech! I also got to learn about other aspects of chemical engineering that aren’t talked about often enough at the undergraduate level. And what made this extra impactful was hearing information come from extremely motivated speaks all throughout the conference.”
—Lucas Ospina, MIT
Impact of the travel grant
For many students, attending the Annual Meeting wouldn’t have been possible without the financial support of the travel grant. Here’s how it made a difference:
"I am a postdoctoral fellow working in cell-free synthetic biology at Caltech. This grant helped me travel to the AIChE Annual Meeting to present my work at the bioengineering poster session and the Meet the Faculty Candidate poster session. I got reconnected with old colleagues and established new connections with colleagues interested in my research and future lab vision. I also received invitation to apply to several faculty application calls - an opportunity that would not have been possible without this grant support that sponsored my travel to the Annual Meeting."
— Yan Zhang, California Institute of Technology
“This is my first AIChE conference, I am apply applying for a faculty job this year. Without the grant, I would have no chance to go to the meeting using my postdoc salary. At the conference, I successfully engaged with many institutes who are interested in my work. I am impressed with how friendly and how passionate people are at the conference.”
— Linna An, University of Washington
How to apply
Thanks to support from the AIChE Foundation, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Schmidt Sciences, and other organizations, AIChE offers conference support at many of its conferences.
Apply now to the conference grant application.
The 2025 AIChE Annual Meeting takes place November 2–6 in Boston, MA. AIChE is accepting abstracts through April 7th.