Cristina鈥檚 Continuous Column
February 2021
Hello to all my fellow members of the AIChE Management Division better known as MGMT. This is my first communication or continuous column as I will affectionately refer to. I am proud to be at your service as a Chair to this outstanding AIChE division.
As a scientist and as an engineer, I have always been grateful that we were surrounded with relevant and enriching professional societies that aspire to support, to share and to raise the corresponding scientific or engineering occupations. I cannot tell you how proud I am to be a chemical engineer. I must confess that, in many of my day-to-day meetings at work and during introductions, as participants indicate their degree as ChemE, I clap or say Hooray! gathering smiles and some laughs in the room.
AIChE MGMT Division facilitates networking, training and opportunities to present topics pertinent to Technical Management, Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Leadership and other management roles and responsibilities that chemical engineers typically need as they advance in their careers.
My role as a Chair is guided by our Bylaws, which indicate my role is the chief officer of the Division and is Chair of the Board and the Executive Committee. The Board directs the activities of the Division. The Executive Committee of the Board acts for the Board on items of business delegated to it by the Board; and when the Board is not in session.
I plan to highlight in all my Continuous Columns an outstanding chemical engineer peer. Today, I start with our first recipient of the Management Division Service Award. Dr Joseph V Porcelli was recognized for his outstanding service to the AIChE Management Division in 2017. Dr. Porcelli experienced successes and failures during his career focusing on all aspects of management including R&D planning, process and catalyst technology evaluation, technology licensing in and out, patent analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and market studies and strategic planning. He successfully led the development and commercialization of Scientific Design鈥檚 oxygen-based ethylene oxide technology in the late 1960s. While Joe Porcelli accomplished so much in his technical and business career, he also managed to be a lifetime active supporter and participant with AIChE. I am grateful that he has shared many lessons that were learned not only with clients but also with members of the MGMT Division. I would encourage you to go and visit AIChE Engage to learn more about him.
Last January, during our first monthly meeting, I shared with MGMT volunteers and the Board that we will continue with the three themes established during the 2020 tenure of Austin Lin, today our Past Chair. Austin and the 2020 Officers of the Board set us into an enriching and relevant path based on three themes that I together with the 2021 Board pledge to continue.
The three themes follow:
Career Development in Management: Creating career guidance one-pagers and launching training webinars on management-specific career development for chemical engineers.
Modern Management Practices Members: Creating guidance to managers and leaders beyond the MBA textbooks, this team鈥檚 content for 2020 was focused on starting your own engineering consulting business.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Management Members: Establishing best practices for engineering managers to use diversity, equity, and inclusion to raise standards and attract and retain the best possible engineers in your organization.
If any of you have a passion to serve, a passion to advance, a passion to deliver MGMT themes and together enhance the impact and reputation of managers and leaders in the chemical engineering profession, please join us.
Let us all unite and make this Division stronger and more impactful in 2021.
With immense desire to serve,
Cristina U Thomas, 2021 AIChE MGMT Chair
- Log in to post comments