The Benefits of Attending a Student Conference
by Ayman Siraj ‘18
Last week the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) at USC and the USC Chem-E-Car Team attended the national AIChE conference in San Francisco. Every year AIChE takes about 10-15 students to the national conference so that students and can mingle and network with other students studying chemical engineering in the United States and around the globe. This year 26 students could attend due to it being near Los Angeles.
Image Credit: AIChE at USC
The first question one may ask is what is the benefit of going to the conference versus doing homework and studying for exams over the weekend? There are plenty of reasons why one should attend a student conference.
I study Chemical Engineering at USC and my views and opinions on chemical engineering are largely defined by what I see and learn here on campus. Going to a conference has given me such new perspectives on the academic and technical aspects of my discipline. Chemical Engineering students have different experiences learning and always have great tips on the recruiting process as they look at it from a view I never had thought of. Whether it be how they go about looking for internships and co-ops or just how life is for a chemical engineer at another university. The teams that are international always have so much to say about what is different about America! One attendee remarked to me, “Why is everything so big here?”
The student conference spans four days – Friday to Monday. Most students come for the weekend and that is when the conference floor space is busy and buzzing. The Saturday begins off with a big breakfast where all students attending the conference and gather for a marquee speech.
This year the conference was held at the Hilton San Francisco. You can imagine how good the food was! The keynote speaker this year was Jim Fitterling, Chief Operating Officer at Dow Chemical. Jim talked about the importance of process safety and its paramount role in industry and emphasized the need for it in undergraduate chemical engineering education. Furthermore, Jim said that he believes that this is the most exciting time to be a chemical engineer as the easy discoveries have been made and now is the time for innovation.
The breakfast and speech is followed by breakout professional development sessions. Sessions include: How the Energy Industry Works, Home Brewing Beer with Chemical Engineers, Interviewing Tips, etc. Sessions such as these are a treasure trove of information and tips from industry veterans. The individuals who present are top of their field and it is an opportunity you would not get on campus. Campus professional development workshops are tailored to a general audience. Workshops at conferences are targeted towards the specific field so there is so much effective learning to be done.
The student conference also hosts a recruiting and graduate schools fair where many companies and graduate programs are available for students to come ask questions. This is a great option to network with schools one may be considering to going to graduate school to or even scout out graduate programs one may never have thought of.
The AIChE student conference also features a Jeopardy competition every year that features chemical engineering related questions. The USC team qualified for the finals this year after winning the Western Regionals. The team tried its best but did not make it past the first round in the finals.
The conference also features the Chem-E-Car competition. Teams from across the United States and the world build shoe box sized cars than run and are stopped by a chemical reaction. On the day of the competition teams are given a load that the car needs to carry and the distance the car needs to travel. The team that comes closest to the line wins! There are also awards for consistency and team spirit. This is the most exciting time of the conference for most – universities are cheered on, team videos are played and the competition gets intense as there are so many competent teams on the floor.
Personally, the best part of the conference is that I get to hang out with fellow Trojan chemical engineers in a setting where we don’t have to worry about what is due in the next 24 hours and how long we need to stay up late into the night finishing the project. That was a joke, we still bond but we still have to homework at conferences.
Madhav Gupta, a senior in the Chemical Engineering program at USC says:
“The conference is great for networking. I got contact information of many individuals working in the field. You would be surprised to see how supportive people in your profession of are. The best advice I can give to anyone is that volunteer as much as you can in events related to your field. That is how you meet people who can help you and provide you with advice.”
I leave you with advice along the lines of Madhav, attend conferences related to your major or the field you want to get into it. Volunteer at local chapter events and always grab an opportunity where you get to meet new people.
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