We strive to fulfill our mission of assisting our fellow Chemi- cal Engineering students. Next semester the chapter aims to host more guest speakers from more diverse backgrounds to help educate students of the multitude of opportunities a Chemical Engineering degree can bring. -Kenneth Mucalo A lot of exciting things hap- pened in the Chemical and Bio- chemical Engineering depart- ment and in the Missouri S&T AIChE chapter during this school year. Last semester (Fall 2014) we moved into a brand new building, the James E. Bertelsmeyer Hall, and now that we have a new building we are striving to improve services to students as an organization. A new committee, the Stu- dent Advisory Council (SAC), was formed to help the depart- ment hear the concerns of the students. AIChE and the SAC had members from the Acade- my of Chemical Engineers host a variety of seminars and men- toring sessions during the month of April. These provid- ed students with information on how they can tailor their career in Chemical Engineering. In addition to helping to es- tablish the SAC, the student AIChE chapter hosted presen- tations for representatives from Mississippi Lime, Mustang Engineering, Cargill, and Hon- eywell. On top of that, we also stepped up and began partici- pating in PRO Days to adver- tise our organization and the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering major to the in- coming freshmen. This semes- ter we also offered members a volunteering opportunity at Rolla Presbyterian Manor. Our Chapter went to the Mid -America regional Student con- ference in Lawrence, KS. Our Chem-E-Car team lead by Gregg McDaniels Jr. and Aa- ron Latal placed third, qualify- ing for the national competition in November. Shayan Sazdar also placed third in the poster competition. This Regional conference was a success. The changes and successes this year are exciting for both the department and the Mis- souri S&T AIChE Chapter. Another Step Forward Missouri University of Science and Technology May 2015 AIChE Semester Newsletter May 2015 Newsletter Inside this issue: All About the SAC 2 A Plethora of Presenta- tions 3 Chem-E-Car Takes Third Place 4 AIChE Expands Re- cruitment Efforts 5 Corporate Mixer 5 We’ve Got a New Web- site! 6 Thanks to All of Our Donors 6 President Kenneth Mucalo stands near our sign during a highway cleanup. Member Spotlight 7 Changes to the Consti- tution 8 Research in Bertels- meyer Hall 8 Regional Conference Summary 9 AIChE Volunteers Benefit Rolla Commu- nity 9 The Future Leaders of our Organization 10
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We strive to fulfill our mission
of assisting our fellow Chemi-
cal Engineering students. Next
semester the chapter aims to
host more guest speakers from
more diverse backgrounds to
help educate students of the
multitude of opportunities a
Chemical Engineering degree
can bring.
-Kenneth Mucalo
A lot of exciting things hap-
pened in the Chemical and Bio-
chemical Engineering depart-
ment and in the Missouri S&T
AIChE chapter during this
school year. Last semester (Fall
2014) we moved into a brand
new building, the James E.
Bertelsmeyer Hall, and now
that we have a new building we
are striving to improve services
to students as an organization.
A new committee, the Stu-
dent Advisory Council (SAC),
was formed to help the depart-
ment hear the concerns of the
students. AIChE and the SAC
had members from the Acade-
my of Chemical Engineers host
a variety of seminars and men-
toring sessions during the
month of April. These provid-
ed students with information on
how they can tailor their career
in Chemical Engineering.
In addition to helping to es-
tablish the SAC, the student
AIChE chapter hosted presen-
tations for representatives from
Mississippi Lime, Mustang
Engineering, Cargill, and Hon-
eywell. On top of that, we also
stepped up and began partici-
pating in PRO Days to adver-
tise our organization and the
Chemical and Biochemical
Engineering major to the in-
coming freshmen. This semes-
ter we also offered members a
volunteering opportunity at
Rolla Presbyterian Manor.
Our Chapter went to the Mid
-America regional Student con-
ference in Lawrence, KS. Our
Chem-E-Car team lead by
Gregg McDaniels Jr. and Aa-
ron Latal placed third, qualify-
ing for the national competition
in November. Shayan Sazdar
also placed third in the poster
competition. This Regional
conference was a success.
The changes and successes
this year are exciting for both
the department and the Mis-
souri S&T AIChE Chapter.
Another Step Forward
Missouri University of Science and Technology
May 2015
AIChE Semester Newsletter May 2015
Newsletter
Inside this issue:
All About the SAC 2
A Plethora of Presenta-
tions
3
Chem-E-Car Takes
Third Place
4
AIChE Expands Re-
cruitment Efforts
5
Corporate Mixer 5
We’ve Got a New Web-
site!
6
Thanks to All of Our
Donors
6
President Kenneth Mucalo
stands near our sign during a
highway cleanup.
Member Spotlight 7
Changes to the Consti-
tution
8
Research in Bertels-
meyer Hall
8
Regional Conference
Summary
9
AIChE Volunteers
Benefit Rolla Commu-
nity
9
The Future Leaders of
our Organization
10
The SAC was created to
give the departmental student
body a direct and constant
line of communication to the
department chair, Dr. Al-
Dahhan, in order to make
changes to improve the stu-
dents’ experience. The SAC
is a group of 12 Chemical/
Biochemical Engineering
students: 2 sophomores, 2
juniors, 2 seniors, 2 officers
from AIChE, 2 from OXE,
and 2 from AXE.
So far the SAC has met
with Dr. Al-Dahhan every
two weeks. During these
meetings SAC members
voice any concerns the stu-
dents have or changes they
would like to see made.
Though the SAC was just
created this semester, it has
been productive. Some of the
SAC’s accomplishments in-
clude getting a clock in the
student lounge, getting stu-
dents 24/7 access to the
building, and putting a timer
on the printing computer to
manage sharing of this equip-
ment. Works-in-progress
include adding sound-
dampening in the student
lounge and stools in the
Chem-E-Car lab. The SAC’s
most important current pro-
ject is obtaining 24/7 access
to a computer lab; several
options are being explored at
this point and even more
have been ruled out.
Another task the SAC has
undertaken this semester is
setting up mentoring sessions
in which alumni answer ques-
tions from students in a two
hour Q&A session. So far the
SAC has only had a few
academy members host ses-
sions but they have all been a
big success. The main objec-
tive of the mentoring is giv-
ing students a better idea of
how to achieve their career
goals. These sessions help
answer big questions such as
should I go to grad school?
Should I go into industry,
design, or research? Students
really appreciate getting
opinions from successful
alums, so if you are reading
about these mentoring ses-
sions for the first time, please
consider participating. These
sessions are not restricted to
academy members only and
they can even be over the
internet. The SAC would
love to have younger alumni
involved. If interested, please
call the office and tell the
secretary you are interested in
hosting a session.
Being officially appointed,
the SAC has empowered our
members to enact change.
The SAC has made quick
work of issues that may have
otherwise taken a whole se-
mester to remedy. The SAC
has been a catalyst for change
for the students by the stu-
dents. If there is anything
you would like to see
changed, leave a comment in
the SAC comment box in the
lounge.
-William Cowley
All about the SAC (Student Advisory Committee)
Page 2
AIChE Semester Newsletter May 2015
This computer has a 15 mi-
nute time limit to give stu-
dents quick access to print-
ing.
“Being officially
appointed, SAC has
empowered our
members to enact
change.”
The new clock in the student
lounge.
Members of the Missouri University of Science and Technology chapter of AIChE had the
opportunity to hear from many inspiring guest speakers this semester. Topics such as the
production and application of industrial/food grade lime, project management/operations
administration, and broad solutions to worldwide agricultural and energy issues provided
students quite the variety of presentations to listen to and opportunities to grow.
The Missouri S&T student chapter of AIChE would like to thank all of our speakers this
semester for the time they took to come and share their knowledge, experiences, and advice
with all of us. AIChE wishes you well and hopes to have you visit again!
-Jacob Tuia
A Plethora of Presentations
Mississippi Lime—AIChE welcomed Tom McCoy and Spencer Gillespie from Mississip-
pi Lime. These Missouri S&T alums shared exciting stories from the perspective of a long
time worker at Mississippi Lime (Tom), and of a “fairly new” employee (Spencer). They
told stories of climbing into massive grinding machines and blasting new quarry sections
in this engaging presentation. Good conversations between students and Mississippi
Lime’s representatives took place after the meeting.
Wood Group Mustang—Ed Palmer from Mustang Engineering visited the chapter and
spoke about his many different experiences at multiple different companies culminating
with his current position as the Downstream Process Design Manager at Wood Group Mus-
tang. It was great to hear his story about how he got to Rolla and decided on Chemical En-
gineering. He was able to offer the students a perspective that is quite different than that
of many other speakers.
Cargill—Brandi Andersen and Katie McCasey from Cargill gave a wonderful presentation
about their responsibilities at Cargill and various positions they have held. Their presenta-
tion gave members a look at what it would be like to work in the agriculture industry by
including some very intriguing real world example problems .
Honeywell—Ellen Kirk and Tricia Wilson drove to Missouri S&T from Honeywell to
speak to the members of the chapter about their different roles in the company and how
they interact with each other and other teams at their plant. It was very neat to see the pic-
tures of their new facilities to bring what students learn in the classroom to life. They not
only showed our members what they did on the job, but also gave advice on how to ad-
vance throughout our careers.
Page 3
AIChE Semester News Letter May 2015
Tom and Spencer from
Mississippi Lime give a
presentation during a meet-
ing.
“Good conversations
between students and
Mississippi Lime’s
representatives took
place after the
meeting.”
Representatives from Honey-
well pose with the chapter
officers after a meeting.
The first run resulted in a disqualification because the team had to stop the car from run-
ning into a wall immediately beyond the stopping line to prevent damage to components of
the car. Despite this, the team tracked how long the reaction ran and calculated the difference
needed to improve for the second run. By factoring in additional delay time, the car was able
to travel within ten feet of the line on the second run, close enough to win 3rd place! This
means that the team qualified to compete at the 2015 Annual Student Conference. The con-
ference will be held at Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
-Gregg McDaniels Jr.
Chem-E-Car Takes Third Place at Regionals
Page 4
AIChE Semester Newsletter May 2015
The Spring 2015 Chem-E-Car
Team .
“(Box)7 is powered by
a six cell lead acid
battery, created by
alternating plates of
lead and lead oxide in
a sulfuric acid
electrolyte.”
The Missouri S&T Chem-E-Car Team traveled to the University of Kansas in Lawrence,
Kansas for the 2015 AIChE Mid-America Student Regional Conference which took place
April 3-4. The day began with the poster competition and safety review, with the performance
competition taking place later that afternoon. For the performance competition, the car must
be prepared to travel a distance between 15 and 30 meters while carrying a load between 0 and
500 mL of water. The car must be both powered and stopped by chemical reactions. The
teams receive the distance and load an hour prior to the competition’s start. The requirements
for this specific competition consisted of the car traveling a distance of 15.076 meters while
carrying a load of 400 mL of water.
Leading up to the conference, the team put a lot of time and effort into trying to implement
a thermo-electric generator. A few weeks prior to the conference, a lead-acid battery was used
in place of the generator when the generator failed to produce the amperage necessary for the
motor to run. From previous experience with the lead-acid battery, the team was confident in
its ability to run the car. The car received the name “(Box)7” because if the thermo-electric
generator had been used, there would have been a total of seven boxes all with a different
function on the car. The research team is currently working to find new stopping and power
mechanisms to implement into the next car.
(Box)7 is powered by a six-cell lead-acid battery, created by alternating plates of lead and
lead oxide in a sulfuric acid electrolyte. These plates are connected in series to provide a volt-
age of approximately 12.5 volts. A hydrogen peroxide reaction with potassium iodide was
used for the stopping mechanism. The concentrations are varied to control the amount of pres-
sure produced which pushes colored water to a photosensor, which then sends a signal to
switch a mechanical relay that cuts the power to the motor and stops the car.
It has been a long and exciting semester for the Missouri S&T AIChE student chapter, but
instead of reading another article, perhaps you may just want to learn about what some of
our fantastic members have to say about this semester. Whether it be through participating
in general meetings, recruitment events, Chem-E-Car, or showing leadership, Valerie
Teson, Aaron Latal, Joseph Myers, and Cody Spratt help make our events and organization
great. When asked why they enjoy participating in AIChE and what their favorite memory
from AIChE this semester was, this is what they had to say!
Member Spotlight
Page 7
AIChE Semester News Letter May 2015
Members hang out under the
pavilion at the End of Semester
outing.
“AIChE has helped
facilitate my growth as
a person, as a student,
and as a
professional.”
Valerie Teson, Freshman Why I enjoy AIChE: “It helps me to learn about more companies that attend the career fair as well as the jobs of chemical engineers within them.” Favorite memory: “The end of the year outing.”
Aaron Latal, Sophomore Why I enjoy AIChE: “I enjoy getting to hang out with all of the other mem-bers of AIChE and all of the (career and networking) opportunities that AIChE offers.” Favorite memory: “The Regional Conference at the University of Kan-sas. It was great to get to compete and take third place at the Chem-E-Car competition.”
Joseph Myers, Junior Why I enjoy AIChE: “I enjoy participating in AIChE because it allows me to get to know both students and teachers in the department and gives me contact with people in industry.” Favorite memory: “I really enjoyed the Corporate Mixer. It allowed me to
talk to reps in a relaxed environment and gave me a better idea of what companies are looking for in a new hire and what some jobs entail.”
Cody Spratt, Senior Why I enjoy AIChE: “AIChE greatly enhances student professional de-velopment. AIChE has helped facilitate my growth as a person, as a stu-dent, and as a professional.” Favorite memory: “I particularly enjoyed the discussion with Mississippi Lime in which the company guest speakers provided a comedic anec-dote regarding the hiring of Mizzou engineering students for their co-op positions.”