Chemical Engineering Students Compete in National AIChE K-12 STEM Showcase
At the national American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) virtual conference this month, chemical engineering students from the Northeastern student chapter of AIChE competed in a STEM module competition, highlighting their outreach efforts to K-12 students from across the country.
The AIChE K-12 STEM Showcase included 20 teams of undergraduates and professionals presenting interactive K-12 STEM modules and experiments highlighting chemical engineering concepts to K-12 students and educators. This was the first year that Northeastern AIChE were finalists in the competition, in which they helped guide K-2 students in an experiment testing the viscosity of household fluids. While the modules were presented to 150 students and families, judges evaluated the individual modules on their interactivity, technical content, and safety.
The K-12 STEM Showcase, created by ChE teaching professor Lucas Landherr for AIChE in 2019, was held virtually for the first time, but this allowed students and families to take part from locations throughout the country, logging into Zoom and interacting with the presenters.
While the Northeastern module was not named the winner of the event, they received high marks from the judging, and the students look forward to working their way back to being finalists again next year, when the national conference will be held in-person in Boston.