American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Young Professionals Advisory Board

Chicago Section

YPAB Quarterly

Fall 2005
Volume 3

Fall 2005 Newsletter in pdf Format

Notes from the National YPAB Corner

The 2005 National Student Conferences will be held in Cincinnati, OH in October 29-31, 2005. Look for Robin Meckling (CA), YPAB National representative, and other national YPAB leaders there!

Upcoming Events

September 17th Plant Tour Sponsored by Stepan Company.
Winter 05’ Holiday Social
Winter ’06 AIChE/ACS Joint meeting at Abbott Laboratories

YPAB Social at Goose Island - Was a huge success

Our July social held on July 9, 2005 at the Goose Island Brewing Co. was a great success. It was attended by more than 30 chemical engineers from the Chicago area. This is the largest attendance we have had thus far for an AIChE event. The guest speaker was Tina Tullberg from CPS who is a recruiter for Chemical Engineers in the Chicagoland area. Tina touched on topics such as trends in the chemical engineering work force, forecast for employment in the field of chemical engineers over the next few years. At least half of the attendees were graduate students who were either graduating in the near future or who had recently graduated and were looking for jobs in the Chicago area. The event provided a good networking opportunity for these graduate students and they were encouraged to attend the future events of the AIChE YPAB.

Plant Tour:

“Stepan Company and Introduction to the manufacturing of specialty chemicals”
Hosted by: Stepan Company

Be sure to mark your calendars for September 17th when the Chicago Section YPAB will host its second technical session of the year.

The technical session will be hosted by Stepan Company in Elwood, IL and will include an overview of the chemicals that Stepan produces followed by a plant tour to show the different roles of chemical engineers at this production facility.

Stepan Company is a global manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in consumer products and industrial application. Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning compounds. Manufacturers of detergents, shampoos, lotions, toothpastes and cosmetics depend on surfactants to achieve the foaming and cleaning qualities of their products. Other applications include lubricating ingredients and emulsifiers for spreading of agricultural products. Stepan also produces germicidal quaternary compounds. Stepan produces other specialty products which are often custom-made to meet individual needs. These include flavors, emulsifiers and solubilizers used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The company is also a principal supplier of phthalic anhydride, a commodity chemical intermediate which is used in polyester resins, alkyd resins and plasticizers. Polyurethane polyols and foam systems produced and sold by the company are used in the expanding thermal insulation market primarily by the construction and refrigeration industries. Headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, Stepan utilizes a network of modern production facilities located in North and South America, Europe, China and the Philippines.

It DOES Pay to be an involved in AIChE

How many opportunities can you find to learn project management, delegation and leadership skills for under $200? Becoming an officer in the Chicago Section of AIChE is such an opportunity. While you’re learning new skills, your local network grows. Volunteering with AIChE is a way to add skills and accomplishments to your resume’.
Start slowly by working on a committee. Volunteer to work on one event, or to help the committee plan for the year.

Meet the Chicago YPAB Planning Committee

Mike Behr: Graduated in 1999 from Iowa State University with a BS in Chemical Engineering. Mike works at Lyondell Chemical Company in Morris, IL as a Reliability Engineer supporting plant projects. He has spent most of his time with Lyondell in varying positions ranging from engineering to front line supervision in supporting the Olefins production process. With what free time Mike has, he enjoys traveling and continues to log the miles running.

Orok Duke: Graduated in 2001 with an MEng. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. Orok works at BP Pipelines (NA) Inc. in Warrenville, IL as a business development analyst. Orok has worked in BP petrochemicals manufacturing in the UK and petrochemicals R&D (for a global business). Orok’s immediate past role was in long term technology development at BP petrochemicals. Orok volunteers during his free time and is an avid follower (and player) of soccer. He also enjoys traveling within the US and around the world.

Tom King: Graduated in 2001 from The University of Wisconsin – Madison with a BS in Chemical Engineering, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry and graduated in 2005 with an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Tom is currently pursuing a PhD in Bioengineering at UIC and studying signal transduction mechanisms in prokaryotic systems. Tom is a Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) member and plans completing his first marathon this fall.

Nathan Pace: Graduated in December 2000 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BS and MS in Chemical Engineering, and is currently pursuing a MS in Management of Information Science from Northern Illinois University. Nathan works for General Mills in the West Chicago manufacturing facility as a Controls Engineer doing capital projects, support, and strategy for the controls systems.

D Sujan: Graduated in May 2002 from Purdue University with a BS in Chemical Engineering. D is employed at Stepan Company in Northfield, IL as product development engineer in the Polyurethanes R&D group. Recently, D has been involved with the startup of Stepan’s new polyol plant in Nanjing, China. His is currently working on providing technical service to Stepan’s new customers in the Asia-pacific region. He is also responsible for training Stepan’s new employees and setting up the polyurethanes lab in Shanghai, China.

Dave Wishnick: Graduated in 2002 from The University of Wisconsin – Madison with a BS in Chemical Engineering. Has coached High School and Youth wrestling at Niles West and is currently coaching the youth program at New Trier High School. Currently working on a project basis for local healthcare companies in the Chicagoland area. Has completed projects for Kraft Foods, Abbott Laboratories, and BASF.

April Technical Session Summary

Past Newsletters:

Summer 2005 Newsletter

Spring 2005 Newsletter