Winning the most awards out of more than 30 schools competing, The Johns Hopkins University student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) had a historic showing at the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. The delegation of 16 students, led by Nick Oh, vice president of professional development, and accompanied by Jimmy Hu, president, was the only school to win an award in every major competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the pandemic, this is the first appearance of Hopkins at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference since 2019, and I\u2019m so proud of our students for producing such a strong showing this year,\u201d said Sakul Ratanalert<\/a>, senior lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and faculty mentor for AIChE. \u201cJimmy and the AIChE executive board have done an amazing job this year rebuilding and strengthening our undergraduate community, working tirelessly not only to represent Hopkins superbly at the national and regional conferences but also to foster closer relationships among the students and with our faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chem-E-Car Competition<\/a>\u00a0team placed fourth\u00a0out of 17 teams\u2014the highest finish ever for a Johns Hopkins team in this event. The competition challenges teams to\u00a0<\/span>design and construct a car powered by a chemical energy source that will safely run a specific given distance and stop.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The current team, comprising undergraduate students Aidan Gee, Ishika Kaushik, Timothy Kwok, Kelly Mejia-Saba, Daniel Naiman, Patricia Nwoga, Andres Perez-Doval, Jarett Ren, Mary Shin, and Liwen Xia, accompanied by faculty advisor and department lecturer Nagma Zerin<\/a>, is expected to participate in the national competition in Orlando, Florida, later this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very proud of the students in our current Chem-E-Car team,\u201d Zerin said. \u201cThey have demonstrated independent design and problem-solving skills as well as the ability to successfully perform as part of a team.\u00a0They have certainly created a strong example for the future Chem-E-Car teams in our department.\u201d<\/p>\n