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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Pluspetrol and reflects their views, opinions, and insights. Process safety depends on everyday decisions about investments, facility integrity, operational changes, and startup readiness. Making those decisions responsibly requires technical knowledge, committed leadership, and teams that feel confident raising concerns.

AIChE’s Center for Hydrogen Safety (CHS) brings together a global community dedicated to advancing hydrogen safety and best practices worldwide. A key part of that work is the Hydrogen Safety Panel, a group of experts who identify risks, share lessons learned, and provide guidance for safer hydrogen projects. In this interview, Hydrogen Safety Panel member Tom Witte shares lessons from more than four decades designing and installing industrial gas systems.

Quantum technology may sound like science fiction, but its potential applications in chemical modeling, pharmaceutical research, energy, and other areas are becoming increasingly relevant to chemical engineers.

Chemical engineers at every career stage are central to AIChE’s mission to advance the profession and serve society. In this series, we spotlight members whose leadership and service strengthen the AIChE community. This month, we’re excited to introduce Shannon Servoss, a Material Science Engineer at Roche and dedicated AIChE volunteer. Through her involvement, Shannon has expanded her skills, built meaningful professional connections, and helped foster a more inclusive community for AIChE members.

The rank of Fellow is AIChE’s highest grade of membership and is achieved only through election by the Board of Directors. Candidates for AIChE Fellow are nominated by their peers, and must have significant chemical engineering experience (generally 25 years), have demonstrated significant service to the profession, and have been a member of AIChE for at least 10 years. Here are some of the recently elected Fellows. More Fellows will be introduced in future issues of CEP. Jeffrey R.

AIChE’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition challenges graduate students to explain their research and its significance clearly, concisely, and compellingly to an audience beyond their field of specialization. Now entering its fifth year, the competition returns to the 2026 AIChE Annual Meeting, taking place November 8–12 in Minneapolis, MN. Graduate students who are members of AIChE's Early Career Community and wish to compete must submit their entries by September 27.

Industrial biotechnology is becoming increasingly sophisticated, but technical capability is only one part of building a successful product. As the field matures, decisions about scale, cost, manufacturing, infrastructure, and markets are playing an increasingly important role in commercialization.

Gene editing and RNA technologies are opening new possibilities for treating disease. Recent advances, including the first personalized CRISPR gene therapy and increasingly sophisticated RNA-based medicines, demonstrate how quickly the field is progressing. But as these technologies move closer to patients, another challenge is becoming more pressing: turning promising science into medicines that can be delivered, manufactured, and used safely.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Artis BioSolutions Ahead of the Gene Editing and RNA Technologies (GEAR) Conference, September 15–17, 2026, in Boston, we spoke with Dr. Kate E. Broderick, PhD, Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer at Artis BioSolutions, about what it takes to get new medicines to patients faster. Historically, if you worked in drug development, you'd be fortunate to see a single product move all the way through to approval during your entire career.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offers the aviation industry a pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening energy independence. This issue's free article compares major SAF production pathways and examines how plant design, decarbonization strategies, and federal and state incentives influence their economic competitiveness. It also explores how shifting energy markets and policy uncertainty are reshaping the business case for SAF production.