There’s no such thing as starting at the top for most people. Learn how some of today’s prominent chemical engineers got their start in the working world in this weekly series of personal profiles. This week, we feature AIChE president Maria K. Burka.

Every blog needs a Lettermanesque Top 5 listing, so today we tackle something that every young Chemical Engineer asks: is it worth it to get my P.E. license? Check out our top five reasons--and maybe add a few of your own!

Part 6 in the series "Tools and Tips for Successful Management and Leadership." So how exactly do you go about gaining acceptance once you've managed to land that new management position? A lot will ride on it. Success will now be a function of your group/team’s output and performance, not just your own. Your ability to gain the acceptance of your team and get over any speed bumps quickly will be a function of how you approach this initial phase of your new position, and will dictate the time it takes to get them to a high level of productivity.

Yosef Manik is a Fulbright Ph.D. student from Indonesia whose primary area of study is forest resources. He assisted Anthony Halog in researching frameworks and models for sustainability assessment of bio-product supply chains. He presented his research to ChEnected at the Second International Congress on Sustainability Science and Engineering.