AIChE honors leaders making a difference through chemical engineering at the Engineering the Extraordinary Gala
Engineering the Extraordinary, the AIChE Gala, was an especially meaningful one. Aside from being the first blogger in 10 years to be allowed to cover the event, it was truly special to me because I had actually been an AIChE Scholar in high school. AIChE, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers is a professional organization for chemical engineers with over 60,000 members across more than 110 countries. The Gala honored companies and leaders for their sole in benefiting humanity through chemical engineering with integrity.
Darlene Schuster, CEO and Executive Director at AIChE, began the evening by recognizing the bright, young people who are working to solve our societies most complex problems, and the role that AIChE was playing to “find ways to not just open doors to our profession but to also gain attention of future generations who are not aware of the opportunities in STEM” amid a lack of mentorship, guidance, and resources. A key aspect of AIChE’s work is FOSSE, The Future of STEM Scholars Initiative, which is the first industry-wide program that seeks to increase professionals in the chemical engineering field. FOSSI offers students a $40,000 scholarship to help eliminate financial barriers for historically under-represented groups. FOSSE was developed in response to the lack of underrepresented professionals in STEM, and is rewarded to students who pursue STEM degrees at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
“When I chose chemical engineering at MIT, my friends didn’t get it, but I always loved chemical engineering. It opens doors. It alllows you to manipulate matter; to build something that hadn’t been imagined before - and the things you can make can be huge and expansive, like an entire chemical plant. Or they can be incredibly tiny, like the nanoparticles that we make in our lab, to address cancer. But most importantly, they can be amazingly impactful on some of the world’s biggest problems. ”
Paula Hammond, Institute Professor and department Head of Chemical Engineering at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT received the 20222 Doing a World of Gold Medal for her remarkable research in medicine and engineering, and for her fervent support in providing opportunities for underrepresented minorities in science and engineering. Dr. Hammond gave a touching speech which began with her sharing how her fascination with nature as a child, and how “the magic really began when I first took chemistry in high school.” She explained how she uses chemical engineering to solve our world’s most complex problems, and how chemical engineers use math, chemistry and physics to understand how chemical materials flow, how to control reactions, and how to generate molecules. She spoke of how honored she was to work with students to do new things, innovate and develop technologies to have a meaningful impact on peoples lives.
“Thank you to the ALICHE for being the backbone of chemical engineering in the world. Without you, we wouldn’t really exist - our companies wouldn’t really be here.”
Also honored during the evening was Christophe Beck, the Chairman and CEO of Ecolab, which employs over 10,000 chemists. While Mr. Beck joked that he was only 1 or 2 of the chemical engineers in the room but he believes that chemical engineering is changing the world and our lives, largely by making our world cleaner, safer, and healthier by protecting its people and natural resources - particularly given the energy crises that can be caused by political conflicts.
The last honoree of the evening was Michael Wirth, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Chevron, who accepted the award on behalf of Chevron for its commitment to diverse inclusive workforce and for developing clean energy solutions. Mr. Wirth humbly took the opportunity to commend many of his leaders who were in the audience for their contributions to Chevron, AIChE and society more broadly.
The evening was an incredible celebration of the impact chemical engineers have on our world, and the importance of investing in students and professionals to continue to reap the benefits of such an extraordinary practice. I personally learned a lot about how chemical engineering affects so many aspects of our lives and am humbled to have been a scholarship recipient, and now a supporter, of such an important organization.