Welcome to Technical Entity Trends (TENT), a new monthly CEP column written by the staff of AIChE’s Technical Entities (TEs). The TEs are communities of chemical engineers and other professionals that address some of society’s grand challenges: health and nutrition, energy, environment and sustainability, water, and more. TENT will explore trending topics related to the TEs’ areas of specialization, and will introduce you to some of the projects and initiatives that the TEs are working on.
The TEs are involved in a diverse range of rapidly developing areas and offer opportunities for chemical engineers to engage in topics outside of what may be viewed as traditional chemical engineering. Each TE was developed to create a home for emerging niche topics within the broader field of chemical engineering.
The Institute for Sustainability (IfS) (www.aiche.org/ifs) is a network of scientific, engineering, and financial experts who develop and deploy new technologies and practices through multidisciplinary collaboration. IfS focuses on industrial ecology, sustainable business practices, education, and international sustainable development.
The Center for Energy Initiatives (CEI) (www.aiche.org/cei) provides a platform for members to network across disciplines as well as creates content that covers a wide variety of energy-related topics, including carbon management, critical materials, natural gas and shale gas, and unconventional oil.
The International Society for Water Solutions (ISWS) (www.aiche.org/ifs/community/isws) provides a forum for communication and networking among engineers and scientists who have a shared interest in water research and water technology development. The primary objective of ISWS is to tackle critical water-related issues and meet societal needs in the area of water sustainability by presenting and improving potential solutions and sharing knowledge globally.
The Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) (www.aiche.org/sbe) is a global organization of leading engineers and scientists dedicated to advancing the integration of biology with engineering in bioprocessing, biomedical, biomolecular, and a wide range of other applications.
The International Metabolic Engineering Society (IMES) (www.aiche.org/sbe/community/imes) is a group within SBE that seeks to advance metabolic engineering as an enabling science for bio-based production of materials, pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, chemicals, and fuels.
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneuring Excellence (CIEE) (www.aiche.org/ciee), AIChE’s newest TE, supports professional development of engineers and scientists involved in scientific, applied, and professional entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity. CIEE provides a forum for facilitating creative thinking, idea generation, innovation, and entrepreneurial behaviors among members. CIEE also provides training, education, workshops, conferences, and mentorships to enhance skills needed to succeed as entrepreneurs and innovators.
While each Technical Entity focuses on its own area of specialization, the TEs also often collaborate on cross-cutting topics. Examples of such topics include the food-energy-water nexus, commercializing industrial biotechnology, and biofuels.
This column will be written by TE staff. Lucy Alexander (lucya@aiche.org) is the Engineering Associate for IfS, and Derrick Wu (derrw@aiche.org) is the Engineering Associate for CEI and ISWS. Lucy and Derrick both earned BS degrees in chemical engineering from Cornell Univ. Gabriel Levesque-Tremblay (gabrl@aiche.org) holds a PhD in biotechnology from the Univ. of British Columbia and did postdoctoral work at the Univ. of California, Berkeley. Gabriel puts his experience and passion for business to use as the Engineering Specialist for SBE and as the main staff for the CIEE.
Like AIChE itself, the TEs rely on the expertise and involvement of their members, and respond to their needs and interests by launching relevant products and services. As new focus areas arise, we expect to launch more TEs to meet members’ needs. For example, we are in the process of launching a new Regenerative Engineering Society (RE Society) and planning its inaugural conference later this year .
If you are interested in learning about work being done at the Institute and seeing connections to the international community and collaborations with other disciplines, you should follow this column. And, consider getting involved in a TE. We look forward to sharing some of the trending topics related to the work of AIChE’s Technical Entities and their members.
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