A STEM Gay Goes to Boston
On my first AIChE National Conference!
This week, another entry in my long-running travel series, along with some stuff I’ve read/watched/listened to.
Despite being an American chemical engineer, I have never attended an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) conference. During graduate school, my lab was a mix of chemists, material scientists, polymer people, and ChemEs (pronunciation: kem-ease), so we always went to ACS or polymer-specific conferences (actually, most of my conference attendance during grad school was in the great year 2020, so the only place I “went” was the desk in my bedroom). Since becoming a faculty, I’ve only been to ASEE or other teaching- or diversity-related conferences.
I drove up to Boston early Saturday morning for just one session, an LGBTQ+ and Allies panel featuring illustrious guests such as myself and my Queer Science co-conspirator Julie Johnston. After this, my fellow panelists went to Dani’s Queer Bar before heading home for the weekend (if I had all the money in the world, I would have simply gotten a hotel room through Thursday, but I have a meager Lecturer’s salary and almost no grant money!) I did my best to support local businesses, although I did buy Dunkin at least once…forgive me, Marx.
Indeed, the conference is sponsored by the biggest names in the oil and gas industry; appropriate to the origins of Chemical Engineering as a field, planet-destroying Chevron blasts you with its pathetic new slogan “the human energy company” every time you open the conference app and the logo of genocidal ExxonMobil is splayed on every conference lanyard. Fortunately, I was able to rectify my own complicity in the event, if only slightly, by swapping out the default lanyard for a few of my own, one with the Queer Science name on it and a black one with space stuff on it.
After I came back to the Hynes Convention Center on Monday morning, I spent my week doing typical conference stuff…
- I reconnected with old friends, including my PhD advisor and some former mentees (who are, of course, off doing amazing things)
- I met new colleagues in the engineering education space
- I got some great ideas for how to improve my Process Control course, especially with regards to adding modern, IRL control problems and integrating machine learning (useful, ethical reinforcement learning, not ChatGPT)
- I got involved with various AIChE IDEAL subgroups, including Women in ChemE (WIC), LGBTQ+ & Allies, and the Alliance for Disability Advocacy (ADA)
As I’ve written about before, conferencing while disabled is rough. I had to walk back and forth across a massive convention center numerous times with limited time in the schedule to eat or rest. I’m grateful that I was able to get an accessible room at my hotel which included a low bed and a bathtub, and I’m extra grateful that I have learned to be gentle with myself, choosing a hot soak and a nap over a sixth consecutive session most days.
Conferencing can be exhausting, but it can also be a nice break from work. Even though the conference ended Thursday, I decided to cancel class for the whole week so I could spend Friday resting (and trying acupuncture for the first time…turns out it’s nice!) Conferences are also a good chance to reset myself in the middle of a chaotic semester, to refresh myself on what my purpose is. From Elise Morgan, a speaker during the Women in Materials Leadership session, I was reminded of the Japanese concept of Ikigai; it grounded me in the knowledge that I am doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing: teaching and inspiring the next generation of diverse engineers.
I have many people to thank for making my first AIChE a fun one (these people will be receiving gracious follow-up emails from me in the coming days). For now, I’ll just say how great it is when your community puts in the extra effort to make you feel included. I continue to be grounded by a sense of purpose and a group of amazing colleagues who support my professional development. I’m truly finding the people I’d like to build a better, more human-centered STEM world with.
Fuck Exxon and Chevron for real, though.
Currently Reading
- My sister, an AI ethicist and engineer at Sony, just published her Nature paper on an ethically-made human image dataset. Take notes, AI industry!
- My friend Stephen Feldman, who ran the LGBTQ+ grad student group while I was at UConn (and is thus responsible for me having friends in grad school) just published a new article on how trans and queer diversity workers are doing in 2025. Spoiler alert: not well.
- For an opinion piece, a rebuke of the now-popular feminist idea of witches-as-female knowledge holders.
Watch History
- A four-part series on cassette tapes on par with the best Netflix documentaries.
- An opinion piece about how Pokémon has become less Japanese over time.
- A fun math video about rock, paper, scissors and its few outcomes.
Bops, Vibes, & Jams
- I cannot stop listening to Lily Allen’s “West End Girl”. Its storytelling is captivating and its production makes this worth listening to over and over. Fav tracks: all of them.
- PARTYOF2 just dropped their “debut” album (their first as a duo rather than a trio), which has earned them their place as one of the best rap groups of the 2020s. Fav tracks: “POSER”, “FRIENDLY FIRE”.
- In other news, Reneé Rapp is really good at singing R&B.
And now, your weekly Koko.
That’s all for now! See you next week with more sweet, sweet content.
In solidarity,
-Anna
