The University’s chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers was named an outstanding student chapter for 2008 by the nationwide organization.
“Every year our student chapters committee awards recognition to a handful of student chapters based on their level of participation,” explained Gordon Ellis, head of student awards at AIChE, an organization that aims to advance the practice and theory of chemical engineering. Recognition is based on “the percentage of chemical engineering students who are members of the chapter.”
Jim Rome, the University AIChE student chapter president, said the University’s chapter has 81 members out of about 140 total chemical engineering students.
“We’re mainly a professional organization helping chemical engineers get jobs and prepare for the real world after college,” he said.
Ellis said only 15 chapters were honored as outstanding student chapters this year. Rome said he believes the diverse options that the University’s chapter provides for its members sets it apart from the rest. For example, the University’s chapter hosts speakers from various fields to show current students the breadth of opportunities available to them after graduation, Rome said. Recent topics have included genetically modified crops and cancer research.
“Just the fact that we invite a lot of different industries into our chapter to give presentations really helps the students understand that they can go into many different backgrounds when they graduate,” Rome said, adding that speakers often come to these events to recruit students for company positions.
“We usually do a couple of plant tours per semester,” Rome added, calling these trips a fun way to look at places where engineers might work and also to get ideas about future career possibilities. This semester, Rome said, chapter members visited the Anheuser-Busch plant in Williamsburg, Va.
Rome also noted that the University’s chapter strives to give back to the community through a program called Wahoo Wizards, in which chapter members go into local elementary school classrooms to “get kids excited about science.”
Rome said the organization coordinates with teachers two or three times a semester to set up Friday afternoon science experiments.
“We do cool experiments like using liquid nitrogen to freeze objects and showing differences in temperatures,” he said.
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