Chair's Column

Conner Comments as the AIChE Management Division Chair 2024

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Welcome to the AIChE Management Division 2024. I am extremely excited to chair our division this year. I have chosen to concentrate on key areas for us to strive for improvement this year. Those areas include the following:

• Membership
• Communication
• Collaborations
• Awards and Recognitions
• Programming

We plan to implement these areas of our division using committees to determine the goals, objectives, and milestones.

Membership

We strive to increase our membership in the division this year in several ways, including membership drives that include providing another Management Division Survey. The purpose of the survey is to assess current needs and interests of division members and learn of the reasons that some former members have become inactive or stopped feeling a sense of belonging to the division. We must strive to clearly communicate to our membership how to become more involved and feel on board with our priorities.

Communication

We must maximize the communication of our story through better use of emails, monthly meetings, the use of social media such as LinkedIn, the AIChE website and the AIChE Box account. Our division has made improvements in our reach to division members and the AIChE divisions and forums and strives to make it possible for all to know what our division is doing and why, we must utilize and maximize our interaction with the AIChE CTOC and CEOC. We must include the wealth of expertise that exists in our division to benefit the membership, the AIChE Divisions and Forums and the world.

Collaborations

Our plans include improved communication and collaboration with other AIChE divisions and forums concentrating on the Early Career Community, Chemical Engineering and the Law, the Environmental division, and the AIChE Board and staff. Our plans include more use of webinars, podcasts, the use of Innovation and Learning Institute, AIChE Academy for our expertise in emotional intelligence, psychological safety, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and leadership and management.

Awards and Recognitions

Our division will continue the process of selection of the prestigious Young Leader Award, Management Award, and the Division Service Award in 2024. These award winners have participated in our AIChE Spring and Annual Meetings by providing presentations and program content. These winners have shown expertise in areas including artificial intelligence, leadership and management, decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear legacy facilities, production of products goods and services for a thriving world. A new recognition is in the works for 2025 that will recognize those involved in entrepreneurial endeavors and in activities that benefit our nation. These awards are described in our website and the ability to nominate candidates and timelines are provided.

Programming

The Management Division strives to provide value and content through the design of sessions at the Spring Meeting and Annual Meeting. The Young Leader Award session is presented at the Spring Meeting and the Management Award session at the Annual Meeting. These sessions provide relevant content in areas of interest to AIChE. Recently, in the 2024 Spring Meeting, session content included artificial intelligence, process safety, diversity, equity and inclusion, leadership and management, and sustainability.

I look forward to working with all of you to accomplish our goals in membership, communication, collaborations, awards and recognitions, and programming.

Harold T. Conner, Jr. PhD, PE, ASEM Fellow, AIChE Fellow, AIChE MGMT Chair