UA Set to Host Chemical Engineering Conference, Car Contest

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama will host the regional conference for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers on campus from March 31 to April 2. It will include a contest of small-scale cars fueled by chemical reactions.

About 375 students and professors from 20 institutions will be on campus for the AIChE Southern Regional Conference. The University’s chapter won the bid to host at the national AIChE conference in 2014.

“The University of Alabama College of Engineering is one to be on the lookout for because we’re growing exponentially, and so is the quality of our students,” said Elizabeth Cook, a senior in chemical engineering from Houston, Texas, who serves as conference chair.

At the conference, there will be a research paper and poster competitions, professional development, tours of nearby industry and the Chem E Car Competition, in which students design and construct a miniature car that will start and stop solely on chemical reactions.

The Chem E Car contest will take place April 2 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bryant Conference Center, after the student poster competitions, and it is expected to be the largest event of the conference, with 17 cars competing this year from 13 different universities.

The vehicles are judged on the completion of a defined task and creativity of design. Students use knowledge on chemical reactions and chemical engineering gained in the classroom and apply them to the car.

For the contest, the teams will participate in a race, traversing a distance between 15 and 30 meters and carrying a load of up to 500 milliliters of water.

In addition to the ChemE car competition, the conference will also host a “Future’s Fair” featuring academic and industry representatives, a Chem E jeopardy competition and a barbecue at the Tuscaloosa River Market. The conference will conclude with a banquet at Bryant Conference Center, sponsored by Eastman Chemical Company.

“I think UA is the perfect place to host this conference,” Cook said. “Our chemical and biological engineering department is booming. We’ve just gotten brand-new buildings, and they’re all finished, so we’ve got a beautiful engineering campus.”