With decades of active involvement and a strong, collaborative leadership team, AIChE鈥檚 St. Louis Local Section stands out for its consistent programming, close-knit community, and dedication to advancing chemical engineering in the region. Through events like its popular Engineering Trivia Night, local industry tours, student scholarships, science fair awards, and a growing mentorship program, the section fosters both professional growth and genuine connection.
To learn more about what makes this local section so successful, we spoke with Molly R. Myers, Chair of AIChE鈥檚 St. Louis Local Section. She shared how the team builds a lasting sense of community, engages young engineers, and continues to expand opportunities for connection and growth.
What makes your Local Section unique, and how do you engage chemical engineers in your area?
Having spent my entire career in the St. Louis area, I can鈥檛 say for sure how our section compares to others鈥攂ut I do feel lucky to have such an active and reliable group.
Over the years, I鈥檝e attended various meetings and events to learn and network with other chemical engineers in the area, and I鈥檝e only recently stepped into a leadership role. After serving as vice chair last year and now chair, I鈥檝e had the privilege of working with a dedicated group of people who鈥檝e kept the section going strong for many years. I think one thing that makes our section unique and sustainable is having a large leadership team to share the workload.
We try to engage chemical engineers in our area by offering a wide range of activities each year. Some events are such big hits that we bring them back annually鈥攍ike our Engineering Trivia Night. That helps lighten the planning load and gives members something to look forward to. We also include a few industry tours each year. Some are especially relevant to chemical engineers鈥攍ike our visit to Occidental 91成人短视频鈥檚 plant, which makes chlorine tablets for swimming pools鈥攚hile others are simply interesting manufacturing facilities, like our tour of Hussmann, which makes refrigerator cases for food. We try to include one or two technical presentations each year as well, like our recent meeting on PFAS challenges, to give members a chance to learn something new.
Above, AIChE St. Louis Local Section members at a 2024 curling event.
What are some of your most successful or well-attended events over the past year?
Our best-attended event has always been Engineering Trivia Night. This year, we had nearly 100 people in attendance! It took time to build up momentum, and we had to skip it once during COVID, but we brought it back as soon as we could. It鈥檚 a really fun event for our members as well as other engineering and science professionals in the region. It also serves as a fundraiser for our annual college scholarship program. We encourage students from the three local engineering colleges to attend, which gives them a chance to start building connections in the local community.
We award prizes for the top-performing student and professional teams, with prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. That means any college that fills a full table is guaranteed to walk away with something.
Above, the AIChE St. Louis Local Section鈥檚 anniversaries and awards event.
How do you involve students and young professionals in your local section?
In addition to Engineering Trivia Night, we encourage students to attend all our events, including our annual networking event with Washington University students. It鈥檚 well-attended by both students and professionals, with free pizza and Ted Drewes frozen custard to draw people in. We set up the room so students and professionals can rotate seats every 10鈥�15 minutes, ensuring they meet multiple people. We also provide some ideas for discussion topics and encouragement.
At our annual Awards Night, we offer scholarships, such as the Rising Star award for sophomores and juniors, and the Virtus Dynamica award for seniors, in partnership with Emerson Electric. Award winners and their plus-ones attend for free, and we make sure they feel welcome.
We also launched a mentorship program this year, pairing students and young professionals with mentors based on shared interests. Each pair is encouraged to meet three times during the year, including attending a local section event together. So far, we鈥檝e had three mentor pairs sign up for the program, which is a great start.
Lastly, we have our regional Science Fair awards, which we've been giving out for the past 10 to 20 years. We review high school science submissions, focusing on projects most related to chemical engineering. While the relevance of the projects varies from year to year, we see this as a great opportunity to encourage students to continue pursuing science. We typically have several members volunteer to judge, which also offers a way for people to get involved. Since COVID, the Science Fair has switched to electronic submissions, making team judging more challenging, but we鈥檙e hopeful that in-person submissions will return next year, allowing for in-person judging again.
Above, the AIChE St. Louis Local Section on a tour of the Earthbound Brewery, which included visiting cellars that date back to the 1800鈥檚.
How has your section built a sense of community among members?
At the start of each meeting, we set aside at least 30 minutes for check-ins and socializing. All section officers receive shirts with the section logo and their first name embroidered on them, which helps members easily identify the leadership team. Current officers and past officers are encouraged to wear these shirts at meetings, and we also provide name tags for all attendees. The officers make a point to personally welcome any new members and make them feel welcome.
Our slate of meetings also helps foster a sense of community. Our annual Trivia Night attracts many people who only attend that one event each year, giving them a chance to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. Additionally, we offer a variety of technical meetings, tours, and social events, so there鈥檚 usually something that appeals to everyone in our community.
We have a very dedicated group of volunteers on our executive committee. However, each year as we approach elections, we identify potential leaders by looking at who has attended recent events and reach out to them personally to invite them to run for an office. We offer various roles, allowing people to ease into leadership positions. For example, someone might start as the student chapter liaison or director before moving into the vice chair/chair/past chair roles.
Above, an AIChE St. Louis Local Section special summer meeting at the O'Fallon Hoots baseball game.
Learn more about the St. Louis Local Section
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