CEMS Students Attend AIChE North Central Regional Conference

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/27/2026) — Last month, CEMS students involved in the AIChE at UMN student organization attended the 2026 AIChE North Central Regional Student Conference at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The conference brought together undergraduate chemical engineering programs from across the region, offering students the opportunity to connect with peers and engage in a range of technical and team-based competitions.

Events included ChemE Car, where teams design and construct a chemically powered vehicle that travels a set distance and stops safely, ChemE-Sports, an optimization and safety competition centered on a distillation unit that combines virtual reality with a distributed control system, ChemE Jeopardy, technical workshops, and a research symposium, among others.

The conference provides a valuable opportunity for CEMS undergraduates to build connections with students from other institutions while applying their skills in hands-on, collaborative settings.

When asked about the impact of departmental support, student organization president Jerome Kappuzha shared, “The department funding to attend this conference has relieved a significant bottleneck for AIChE at UMN as we continue to rebuild and grow our chapter, allowing our members to take advantage of an opportunity for the first time since before COVID.”

Learn more about AIChE at UMN on their website.