Brazil Student Chapter Celebrates Pride Month with Ice Cream

On June 14th the Centro Universitário SENAI CIMATEC AIChE Student Chapter came together to celebrate pride with ice cream. 

The social event was supported by AIChE’s LGBTQ+ & Allies Initiative and the Foundation’s #AllforGood - Engineering for Inclusion program. Funding was also received by companies such as Bayer, Braskem, Kordsa, and O Boticário (one of the largest fragrance companies in Brazil).

Seventy people including students, professors, industry professionals, and university collaborators gathered at the event. Although there was a public transportation strike, students pulled together and carpooled to get to the event, making it a historic moment for all members of the chapter.

AIChE SENAI CIMATEC president Leonardo Barbosa expressed his thanks for all the support the student chapter received, “I have never been so happy after an event or activity conducted by our chapter; I want to thank the AIChE foundation for their support to help make this event happen."

The SENAI CIMATEC AIChE chapter is a trailblazer in creating awareness around diversity and inclusion, not only for LGBTQ+ students and their allies, but for others as well.

Currently they are working on a “Nucleus of Social Responsibility” project to encourage awareness and recognition around women in engineering, minority affairs, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and environmental topics.

Leonardo is collaborating with AIChE student chapters in other parts of Latin America and the AIChE Foundation to help develop a student LGBTQ+ & Allies community.

Leonardo was inspired by attending the LGBTQ+ & Allies Ice Cream Social at the Annual Student Conference last year and called the AIChE Foundation to discuss his plans to bring such an event to his chapter in Brazil.