AIChE Student Western Regional Conference April 3-4, 2009 in Davis, CA

智力优势：西部地区学生会议有着悠久的传统，学生们可以参加网络交流、专业发展、设计竞赛和研究报告。该活动为学生提供了展示他们的工程才能、创新思维和沟通技巧的机会。参加本科研究的学生可以参加论文竞赛，这需要在来自工业界和学术界的评委面前展示他们的研究。学生也可以参加Chem-E汽车比赛，展示他们的工程技能。这项受欢迎的比赛允许学生们以团队为单位设计、制造和操作鞋盒大小的汽车，这些汽车使用替代燃料。比赛的主要目标是在比赛前一小时最准确地到达规定的距离。在比赛前几个月，学生们被要求使用工程基础来设计和建造他们的车辆，并通过测试和安全保证建立基线操作。除了驾驶汽车外，参赛队伍还需要在海报竞赛中向评委、学生和会议赞助商展示他们的设计和安全工程实践。除了有机会竞争和展示他们的研究，会议还提供了一个与行业代表在就业和研究生院博览会上建立联系的场所。学生与行业代表互动的另一个机会是通过专业发展研讨会。更广泛的影响：预计将有来自加州-内华达地区多达14所大学的100多名化学工程专业的学生参加此次活动。目前，已确认的学生将来自以下机构：加州大学戴维斯分校，加州大学伯克利分校。加州大学圣巴巴拉分校、加州大学圣地亚哥分校、加州大学洛杉矶分校、斯坦福大学、内华达大学里诺分校、加州州立大学长滩分校和加州保利大学圣路易斯奥比斯波分校。该活动也向公众开放，并提供了一个广泛的手段，以吸引不同光谱的化学工程学生。我们的主讲人Bryan Yeh将深入介绍未来的替代燃料来源和技术。布莱恩是湾区一家替代燃料科技公司SAIC的副总裁。NSF的资金将提供支持，以确保所有学生，无论经济能力如何，都能够参与这个超越正常课堂学习的机会，建立社区，并鼓励创造性行为。

CBET-0929263KuhlIntellectual Merit:The Western Regional Student Conference has been long standing tradition where students join in networking, professional development, design competitions, and make presentations on their research. The event provides students opportunities to showcase their engineering talent, innovative thought, and communication skills. Students who participate in undergrad research are able to compete in the Paper Competition, which entails presenting their research in front of judicators from industries and academia. Students may also demonstrate their engineering skills by partaking in the Chem-E Car Competition. This popular competition allows students to work in teams to design, build, and operate cars the size of shoe boxes which run on alternative fuel sources. The main goal of this competition is to be the most accurate in reaching the required distance specified one hour before the competition. Months prior to the competition students are required to use engineering fundamentals to design and construct their vehicles and establish baseline operation through testing and safety assurances. Along with running the car, the teams need to present their design and demonstrate safe engineering practice in the Poster Competition to judges as well as students and conference sponsors. Besides opportunities to compete and present their research, the conference offers a venue for networking with industry representatives at the career and graduate school fair. Another opportunity for students to interact with industry representatives is through professional development workshops.Broader Impact:It is expected that more than 100 chemical engineering students will attend this event from as many as 14 universities from the California-Nevada region. Currently, it is confirmed that students will be coming from the following institutions: UC Davis, UC Berkeley. UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UCLA, Stanford, University of Nevada Reno, California State University Long Beach, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The event is also open to the general public and presents a broad means to engage a diverse spectrum of chemical engineering students. Our key note speaker, Bryan Yeh, will give an in depth presentation on alternative fuel sources and technology of the future. Bryan is Vice President of SAIC, an alternative fuels science and technology company in the Bay Area. NSF funding will provide support to ensure that all students, regardless of financial ability, are able to participate in this opportunity that goes beyond normal classroom learning, builds community, and encourages creative behavior.