(502a) Mentoring Through the AIChE Student Chapter

ABSTRACT

As faculty advisor for an AIChE student chapter each of my 22 years in chemical engineering education, I have enjoyed the privilege of mentoring a number of students through a variety of outreach and service activities.  Working side-by-side with students on projects ranging from our Boy or Girl Scout Merit Badge Days to Habitat for Humanity to LEGO NXT robotics outreach in middle schools, I get to observe and encourage our students as they develop their own leadership skills and grow in their vision for giving back to both the profession and society.  Service learning activities offer an abundance of opportunities to build, among many positive characteristics, students’

• “understanding of professional and ethical responsibility” to society (ABET Student Outcome “f”)
• “recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning (ABET Student Outcome “i”) and
• “knowledge of contemporary issues” (ABET Student Outcome “j”)

In this talk, I will report on the considerable number and variety of activities our student chapter engages in each academic year comprising a strong service-learning component.  I will also share anecdotes about the mentor/protégé relationship that I have experienced with students and some of the contributions this effort makes to our chemical engineering program assessment of Student Outcomes.