AIChE Minutes
ChE 015
September 20, 2012
An AIChE meeting was held for assembly credit in DU 1107 at 1:30 p.m. announcements were:
 Students are encouraged to sign up for AICHE national registration/renewals and also sign up
for local membership for $10 which can be paid to Florence
Nicholas Burk from Dow Agrosciences gave a talk “Turning Science into Solutions”
Some main points were:
 The world population now is 7 billion people and in 2050 it is expected to be 9.3 billion people
 This increase in population will cause a large demand for food
 Now corn production is 160 bushels per acre and in 2050 it is expected to be increased to 300
bushels per acre
 Climate change, water scarcity, and diminishing lad are some global constraints for food
production
 Herbert H. Dow started Dow Chemical in 1897 and it is now over a $54 Billion per year company
 Dow chemical is based out of Midland, Michigan and Dow Agrosciences is based out of
Indianapolis, Indiana
 Dow has a broad geographic reach that spans over North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and
Latin America
 Dow has a very large diversity of markets
 Dow Agrosciences’ sales have expanded from $2.5 billion in 2001 to $5.5 billion in 2011
 Dow Agrosciences is expanding R&D and is building a future expansion to house 550 new
scientists
 From discovery to launch of a product it costs an average of $2.5 million
 Dow is a Winner of multiple International Agrow awards, and was ranked number one of the
best places to work for science in industry
 Dow Agrosciences is the biggest ag, chemical and crop company in the industry
 Positions held by chemical engineers in Dow Agrosciences include
o Sales representatives
o Human resources manager
o Chemist
o EH&S delivery specialist
o Global supply team leader
o Production leader
o District sales leader
o Sr engineer leader
o Sr technologist R&D
Sam Navarro from Dow chemical gave a talk about his career path and how mechanical engineers
interact with chemical engineers, some main points were:
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Sam started in the Dow Coop program where he alternated working with Dow and going to
school for 6 semesters
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He has worked as a design engineer, production engineer, and associate mechanical engineering
manager
He worked on improving efficiency in one of Dow chemical’s plants including working on heat
exchangers and distillation columns
He has a very hands on job that requires him to be in the field every day
Key values of Dow include
o Integrity
o Respect for people
o Protecting our planet
Megatrends that Dow is focusing on are
Agriculture
Lifestyle
Energy
Transportation
Dow employs 52000 people worldwide
Dow has 197 sites in 36 countries
Dow has a coop program where you agree to work for Dow for 3 semesters alternating with
going to school
They also have an internship program where you will work for Dow over a summer