AIChE - WMU

The American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE) chapter at Western Michigan University provides students desiring to be a part of the chemical engineering profession with the opportunities to obtain the professional skills, networking, leadership, and engineering experience necessary to supplement each and every student’s engineering education. Activities of the chapter provide a foundation for successful development for our students throughout their professional career. Every year, the student chapter attends the National AIChE Student Conference so our students can benefit from the skills provided in the different chapter workshops, network with numerous industry employers, and attend the safety workshop necessary to compete in the ChemE Car competition. Students will also explore opportunities for internships/co-ops with big name chemical firms, and develop working relationships with student chapters from other universities in this organization. This year, the chapter is hoping to bring back the design and construction of a ChemE Car. The ChemE car program is a competitive event within AIChE against all the universities that features the design of a small RC-size car that is powered solely by a chemical reaction such as hydrogen fuel cells, thermoelectric energy, electrolysis reactions, and enzyme catalytic reactions. However, the concept and safety constraints are very strict, which makes the ChemE car more of an engineering design problem for students to learn from. The safety restrictions require that pressure elements have a safety factor of 10 and be adequately tested, the car cannot produce any emissions, and the budget for the car is only $2000. Universities from across the country compete for awards in best design, best paper, and closest to the finish line in the race (requiring calculations for quantities of raw materials needed to complete the chemical reaction such that the car travels the required distance and lands on the finish line).