*Check out more photos of the event here

Procesa Organizing Committee 2019

Generally, regional conferences take place in the United States, but this year was the second time this type of event was done outside of this country. In 2018, it was held for the first time in China and in 2019 Colombia and India joined the 12 AIChE regional conferences (see image).

12 AIChE regional student conferences held in 2019

Procesa 2019, the first AIChE Colombia Student Regional Conference, was attended by 212 students from the universities: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá (UNAL Bogotá), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín (UNAL Medellín), Universidad de los Andes, Universidad EAN, Fundación Universidad América, Universidad de Pamplona, Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), Universidad del Atlántico, Universidad EAFIT, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Universidad ICESI y Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano. There were also 13 international students from the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología of Peru (UTEC) and the University of Michigan in the United States.

Among the topics of this version were: Process security, Project management, Design of productive processes, Sustainability and Environment, Process control, Bioprocesses, Process simulation.

The event featured three keynote lectures, given by two international professors and one national. William Ristenpart of the University of California, USA, with his lecture "Physical and Sensory Measures of Coffe Brewing". Adriana Amicarelli of the Universidad de San Juan, Argentina, with her lecture "Evolution of a dynamic model for Bacillus thuringiensis towards a generalized model for spore-forming bacteria (EFB)". Felipe Muñoz of the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, with his conference on process safety (see photos).

Professors William Ristenpart, Adriana Amicarelli and Felipe Muñoz during their lectures at Procesa 2019

The regional Jeopardy competition was held officially for the first time, with the participation of 9 teams: 4 from UNAL Medellín, 2 from UTEC, 2 from UIS and 1 from UNAL Bogotá. The AIChE UTEC student chapter of Peru became the winner of the Jeopardy Competiton.

For the fourth time in Colombia, the Chem-E-Car regional competition was held. This competition took place for the first time, officially, in 2016, during the XXII version of the COLAEIQ, celebrated in the city of Medellín. Among the participating teams: UNAL Bogotá (1st place), Universidad de los Andes (2nd place), EAN University (3rd place), UNAL Medellín (4th place), Universidad de Pamplona (disqualified).

The winning chapters: The AIChE UTEC of Peru of the Jeopardy Competiton, and the AIChE UNAL Bogotá of the Chem-E-Car Competition (see photos), will have the opportunity to participate in the final competitions that will be held at the Annual Student Conference in Orlado, Florida from November 8 to 11.

AIChE UTEC student chapters from Peru, winner of the Jeopardy Competiton, and the AIChE UNAL Bogotá, winner of the Chem-E-Car Competition.

Meanwhile, the regional Paper & Poster competitions were also held for the first time, for which 16 abstracts of research papers were received, of which 4 were selected to participate in the Paper category and 11 in the Posters category. Result as winners, in the Paper category, the works presented by (see photos): Daniel Montes Pinzón of the UNAL Medellín and Daniela Rosas Ardila of the UIS (1st place), Leonor Sofia Riascos Uribe of the Universidad de los Andes ( 2nd place) and Nevis Alejandra Ruiz Márquez of the UNAL Medellín (3rd place).

Winning works of the Paper Competition: Daniel Montes Pinzón, Daniela Rosas Ardila, Leonor Sofia Riascos Uribe and Nevis Alejandra Ruiz Márquez.

While, in the Posters category, the works presented by the students (see photos): Oscar Rojas Moscote of the UNAL Medellín (1st place), Luisa Torres Tellez of the UIS (2nd place) and María Lopez Carvajal de la UNAL Medellín (3rd place).

Winning works of the Poster Competition: Oscar Rojas Moscote, Luisa Torres Tellez and María Lopez Carvajal.

Among the activities carried out, there was a panel with the theme sustainability, in which the invited international professors, PhD Adriana Amicarelli and PhD William Ristenpart, in addition to the national professors PhD Adriana Aristizabal of Eafit and PhD Alejandro Molina of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, shared their views (see photo).

Panel with Adriana Amicarelli, Adriana Aristizabal, Alejandro Molina and William Ristenpart.

There were also 12 workshops divided into 2 sessions, with topics such as software management, soft skills development, process safety and food preparation.

The sister chapter of the Universidad de Michigan made a talk in which they shared aspects about their chapter, the University and postgraduate options there.

Talk of the AIChE chapter of the University of Michigan during Procesa 2019.

On Friday afternoon, an opportunity fair was held in order to bring attendees to industries and academies for those seeking options after graduation. We had the assistance of the companies: Moksa Ingeniería Verde and PREBEL, in addition to several research groups from local universities.

Finally, 2 social meetings were held with all those attending to the event: Social Meeting (Cocktail) and the Closing and Awards, and an additional activity on Saturday, between student chapters, to celebrate the 2nd meeting of AIChE Colombia.

Procesa 2020 - 2nd AIChE Colombia Student Regional Conference will be held at the Universidad Industrial de Santander located in the city of Bucaramanga, Santander, and will be organized by the AIChE Student Chapter UIS.