An international assembly of chemical engineering researchers, innovators, thought leaders, and early-career professionals will reimagine the future course of their profession at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA, Oct. 27–31. The associated undergraduate Annual Student Conference takes place Oct. 25–28.
This year’s AIChE Annual Meeting — the first held on the U.S. West Coast since the 2016 conference in San Francisco — will showcase breakthroughs and opportunities across an ever-changing chemical engineering landscape. The meeting’s 700+ technical sessions will spotlight chemical engineers as major players in key areas including the transition to renewable energy, decarbonization, sustainable manufacturing, and more. One new topical conference highlights green materials for energy, environmental, and biomedical applications.
The technical program will be supplemented by major lectures, panel discussions, exhibits, poster sessions, and many opportunities for networking.
Reduced conference registration rates are in effect until Sept. 16. Annual Meeting registrants receive permanent online access to the meeting proceedings, and are eligible for discounts when they also register for co-located AIChE specialty conferences taking place in San Diego. Visit www.aiche.org/conferences-events for details.
Special events
Underscoring the conference’s “Chemical Engineering Reimagined” theme, programmers have slated two panel discussions. In the first, “Creating Ideas that Get to the Marketplace” (Oct. 28), researchers and entrepreneurs will discuss how the world’s evolving needs present opportunities for chemical engineering solutions, with advice on how to commercialize innovation. In another discussion, “The Future of Sustainable Food Production” (Oct. 29), researchers, practitioners, and entrepreneurs will present their visions for the future of global food systems and what chemical engineers can do to meet the demand for food. In another featured event, held on Oct. 30, AIChE Fellows will partner with representatives from the Science History Institute to envision “Chemical Engineers Stepping Up to Lead the Energy Transition.” (See the article, p. 59).
▲ Grossmann
The John M. Prausnitz AIChE Institute Lecture (Oct. 30) is named for the pioneer of chemical-engineering-oriented molecular thermodynamics. The 76th Institute Lecture will be delivered by Ignacio E. Grossmann, the Rudolph R. and Florence Dean University Professor of Chemical Engineering and former department head at Carnegie Mellon Univ. Grossmann will discuss his application of models and algorithms in the optimal synthesis and planning of sustainable chemical process and energy systems.
▲ Inga
The James Y. Oldshue Lecture (Oct. 28) is co-organized by AIChE and the Inter-American Confederation of Chemical Engineering (IACChE), and will be given by Juan Inga, Director of Inga Group. Inga will discuss “Sustainability Efforts in Existing Chemical Process Facilities.”
▲ Broadbelt
The P. V. Danckwerts Lecture (Oct. 28) will be presented by Linda Broadbelt, the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor and Associate Dean for Research in Engineering at Northwestern Univ. The lecture is co-sponsored by AIChE, Elsevier, the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), and the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE).
▲ Langer
The Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Society Founder’s Award Lecture (Oct. 29) is named for that society’s organizer, and will be given by Robert S. Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Langer will discuss his work in tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. (See the article, p. 60.)
▲ Alper
The Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering Lecture (Oct. 29) will be presented by the 2023 award recipient, Hal S. Alper, the Kenneth A. Kobe Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Univ. of Texas at Austin. Alper will discuss how advances in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology are presenting new routes for environmental stewardship and sustainable industrial bioproducts.
▲ Wittrup
The James E. Bailey Award Lecture (Oct. 29) honors the memory and influence of biotechnology pioneer Jay Bailey, and is sponsored by AIChE’s Society for Biological Engineering (SBE). The 2024 Bailey Award lecture will be delivered by K. Dane Wittrup, Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Wittrup’s lecture is entitled “Engineering Protein Biopharmaceuticals.” (See the article, p. 59).
▲ Brown
The William R. Schowalter Lecture (Oct. 30) focuses in alternating years on topics in fluid mechanics and topics of general interest to the profession. The 2024 Schowalter lecturer is Robert A. Brown, President Emeritus, Professor of Engineering, and Professor of Computing and Data Sciences at Boston Univ. Brown will discuss how societal needs and advancing technology call for and enable interdisciplinary collaborations in problem solving, and necessitate that research institutions restructure their traditional approaches in order to adapt to these opportunities.
Additional featured events will include lectures presented by this year’s recipient of The June Wispelwey Bio Leadership Fellowship and by the recipient of AIChE’s Langer Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence, among others. Another special event will mark the 20th anniversary of AIChE’s Society for Biological Engineering (see sidebar below).
Visit www.aiche.org/annual for the latest information about the Annual Meeting and its special events.
Society for Biological Engineering to Celebrate 20 Years
The Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) — a technical community of AIChE — will mark 20 years as a unifying entity within the ever-diversifying bioengineering space with activities slated for the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting. In addition to technical sessions, SBE will host an awards ceremony and reception on Oct. 29 featuring retrospective commentary from some of the SBE’s leaders, past and current.
AIChE established the Society for Biological Engineering in 2004 to build a bridge between chemical engineering and the biological sciences. Prior to SBE, the interests of AIChE members in the then-emerging field were served by the programming activities of AIChE’s Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Div. However, that programming was limited to sessions conducted at the AIChE Annual Meeting.
In a written history of SBE (www.aiche.org/SBE/history), MIT’s Gregory Stephanopoulos — a founder of SBE — noted that, at the time, “many chemical engineers active in biotechnology and biomedical engineering sought a more structured and dedicated collaboration space within AIChE.” The creation of SBE, he added, “would provide a home for chemical engineers in the bio arena and the vehicle for strengthening the presence of biological sciences in the curriculum and the research portfolio of chemical engineering.”
The SBE has responded to the diversifying interests of chemical engineers, bioengineers, and applied scientists by establishing new conferences. Today, SBE’s subject-matter experts help AIChE to organize more than 15 annual or biennial specialty conferences — serving stakeholders’ evolving needs.
SBE’s members represent a spectrum of industries and disciplines, with specializations in bioprocessing, biomedicine, biomolecular applications, and more. For information, visit www.aiche.org/sbe.
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