On a non-religious note, I’d like to encourage any of you chemical engineers or others with an engineering or chemistry orientation to come out of the closet and join me in Salt Lake City for the Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The quality of this meeting has improved dramatically in recent years. We expect 4,000 attendees and over 700 technical sessions. Lots of great networking and learning opportunities. Hope you join me!

I’ll be chairing a session on intellectual property strategy and one on “smart forest products” (RFID, smart packaging, etc.). The Forest Products Division of AIChE will also be having a gathering of some kind and would welcome prospective new members (I’m acting chair – it’s a good but small group). The Forest Products Division was advancing biorefineries and fuels from cellulose long before those topics became hot. And there are other fascinating areas we are promoting.

There will also be a Christian fellowship breakfast that will be scheduled one morning – still waiting for details. Great chance to learn from some terrific and committed Christians in academia and industry. The discussion last year covered science and religion, offering some great insights from thought leaders in the field.

Not sure if there will be a ChemE Pride march through downtown Salt Lake or not, but who knows? We may be geeks, but most of us are not too ashamed of our identity.