President's Message

As AIChE's President for 2009, one of the initiatives that excites me most is the Institute's ongoing expansion of member services via the Internet. As part of this initiative, I am pleased to announce the introduction of new career resources and technical information for practicing engineers in an online resource center that we are referring to as "ChemE on Demand" -- a combination of Netflix^© and YouTube^© for Chemical Engineers!

I am also pleased to announce that professional members of AIChE are entitled to 6 FREE ChemE on Demand credits each year, good for all webinars (live and archived) as well as other content. And student members are entitled to unlimited free archives. That makes membership even more valuable. (Non-members pay $179 for each webinar.)

ChemE on Demand functions as a multimedia library and training center, containing archived materials, recorded sessions, and information exchange opportunities for engineers at all stages of their careers. Currently ChemE on Demand resources include lectures from AIChE's Annual meeting, and live web sessions (webinars). Over the course of 2009, 50 hours of meeting content, 30 new webinars, and shared content from other sites will debut on the site. In addition AIChE will archive searchable "How to..." articles from CEP and other publications.

By developing over time a full library of materials relevant to engineers, AIChE hopes that ChemE on Demand will become a primary resource for AIChE members and all chemical engineers.

A key to this initiative's success will be increasing the variety of content, including webinars. A Webinar Advisory Committee has been formed to identify worthwhile topics and establish standards for presentation. The committee will be surveying Institute members and company leaders to gather suggestions. You will hear more about how you can help guide us through the rest of 2009.

As AIChE looks to the future, we envision licensed sites for live webcast presentations, training courses with online testing for content delivery, streaming content from AIChE presentations, virtual meetings, interest group discussions and blogs. I hope that you will help set the stage for the growth and development of these new venues by clicking here to enter ChemE on Demand.

H. Scott Fogler
2009 AIChE President