AIChE currently is in the middle of a new corporate campaign to raise support for the Institute from industries that employ our chemical engineers. In the course of this campaign, a number of us have been surveying and meeting with upper management to not only acquaint them with the campaign, but also to get feedback from them on what the Institute can do to help industry.
The majority of our membersabout 75 percent-work in industry. Clearly this group is vital to the Institute, and it's important that the Institute do all it can to help these industrial chemical engineers in their careers. However, we have been quite surprised to find that many CEOs and top executives of companies that hire our members aren't aware of the many AIChE programs available to their companies and employees. While we try to publicize our various activities, it's essential that individual members also do all they can to pass on to their upper management information on Institute activities in which they are involved and how these activities are valuable to them and their companies.
Working with our academic members, AIChE tries to ensure that the highest quality students enter the profession and benefit from chemical engineering's historically strong core curriculum. Our many continuing education and training courses are of great value to industry in keeping employees up to speed in this rapidly changing technological world. Equally important are the many national and international meetings we sponsor that provide forums for disseminating the latest technology, safety, and environmental information. Our industrially sponsored research efforts, such as the Center for Chemical Process Safety and Center for Waste Reduction Technologies, can be valuable not only to our members, but to the companies that employ them. Our many divisions and forums typically sponsor focused programs of use to industry in the areas of their interest.
You, as individual members, are our most effective tool for informing corporate management of the vital role AIChE plays in helping provide industry with the highest quality chemical engineers who have access to the latest technology. Keeping your boss and his/her boss informed of your involvement in AIChE will go a long way towards getting the message up the line. Clearly it is a win-win-win-win situation, with employees getting more recognition for their AIChE involvement (with more access to Institute activities), companies taking more advantage of the Institute's programs, and AIChE benefiting in turn from more industrial support.
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