The University of Iowa AIChE team from the Chemical and Biochemical department attended the organization’s annual conference in Orlando, FL in November.

Professor David Murhammer led the trip of undergraduate students for a weekend of keynote speakers, competition and awards. The highlights included placing at the Jeopardy competition, student scholarship awards and research presentations.

The ChemE team won second place in a Jeopardy competition over other highly ranked schools. The team included Jeremy Wallace, Mike Leyden, Mike Lake and Esmeralda Orozco. They were expecting to do well after practicing and preparing for the competition.

Two students were awarded prestigious scholarships at the conference. Mike Leyden was nominated and awarded the Donald F. & Mildred Topp Othmer scholarship. Only 15 of these scholarships are given nationally. Esmeralda Orozco won the Minority Affairs Committee’s Minority Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to engineering undergraduate students of underrepresented communities.

The UI AIChE chapter won the Outstanding Student Chapter Award for its 15th year. This award is given to AIChE chapters of universities internationally recognized.

Five students presented research posters at the conference. These students included Collin Sindt, Elizabeth Occhi, Kenzie Curran and Mayra Narvaez.

Overall, the conference was a success and enjoyed by the students. The AIChE conference is typically held in a vibrant city for students to enjoy. Next year, the conference will be taking place in San Francisco, CA.