The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Student Chapter (AIChE-NDU) continues to secure more seats in the AIChE Executive Student Committee (ESC), marking the success and hard work of its members. For the 2023–2024 Academic Year, the dedicated Chemical Engineering students of the AIChE-NDU Student Chapter have managed to acquire eight seats in diverse subcommittees, including the Global Chair and four other committee chairs. This has thus far been the highest number of seats the Student Chapter has secured as well as the most positions acquired by students from the region, highlighting the continuous effort of its devoted members.
The ESC members are chosen from a list of candidates who are required to state their objectives for the role, capacity to collaborate within a team, problem-solving approaches, and details about their personal background and accomplishments. Regarding the Chair positions, applicants need to receive a direct endorsement from the current Chairs and gain approval from the Executive Board.
The Executive Committee itself comprises the ESC Chair, Vice Chair, National Director, Global Director, and Programming Director. Aside from those positions, the ESC is divided into five major subcommittees: Regional, Sister Chapter, K-12, Conference Experience, and Publications.
After being elected Regional Chair, student Rebecca Wakim has acquired the prestigious title of Global Chair, marking a milestone in her leadership journey and in that of AIChE-NDU. Wakim is the first Middle Eastern student to acquire this position. Her responsibilities encompass supervising the activities of the aforementioned committees on both the regional and international levels, spearheading the annual recruitment of ESC members, and playing a pivotal role in organizing the national annual student conference alongside several regional conferences.
As part of the Regional Subcommittee, Jane Aghjayan will assume the role of Middle East Regional Chair alongside Luna Tahan, who was elected for the role of Africa and Europe Regional Liaison. Their main responsibilities involve overseeing and assisting other AIChE Student Chapters in the region to establish and improve a collaborative platform for students throughout the area.
As for the Sister Chapter, Rozan Zeineddine will be filling the role of subcommittee Chair, alongside Maria Nour Assi, who will take on the role of a member. Lastly, as part of the Publications subcommittee, Nora Aoun and Joey Abi Rizk were elected as Social Media and Graphics Chairs respectively, along with their colleague Emmanuel Rizk who will serve as a member of the subcommittee. The three students will have the duty of disseminating educational articles and events organized by Student Chapters across different social media channels.
The remarkable achievements and involvement of the Chemical Engineering students demonstrate not only their exceptional qualifications but also the capacity of the major to nurture academically motivated graduates who are committed to contributing their skills to the broader community. According to Dr. Elias Feghali, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at NDU and Advisor of AIChE-NDU: “The Chemical Engineering program at NDU has reached unprecedented heights in Lebanon and the region and has proven its excellence despite challenging social and economic circumstances since its establishment in 2017.”
The ESC program provides students with chances to engage with chemical engineering students from around the world, enabling them to gain valuable insights, diverse responsibilities and perspectives, and access to conferences and relevant information associated with these roles.