McNeese Hosts Conference for Chemical Engineering Students 

McNeese State University’s student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) hosted the Southwest Regional Conference for the first time in April. 

More than 150 students from 12 universities enjoyed a crawfish boil, competitions and workshops. The highlight was the Chem-E-Car competition where each school builds a car that runs on a chemical reaction. Sixteen companies participated in the conference by offering mock interviews and networking opportunities for the students. 

Senior chemical engineering major Darcy Lavergne of Roanoke coordinated the AIChE conference. 

“Organizing this conference gave me the opportunity to lead a team and coordinate planning, funding and aligning all of the logistics,” she said. “I had a great team of students and faculty who have helped throughout the year.” 

She said this conference gave her the opportunity to learn more about how McNeese functions as a school and understand the business side of the university including policies, procedures and funding. 

After graduation this spring, Lavergne will begin her career at Phillips 66 as a refining and midstream engineer and will finish a Master of Business Administration at McNeese next year.  

During the conference, Carson Plaisance a sophomore from Lake Charles, placed first in the research presentations. He spoke on “Ionic Liquids as Surfactants.” The McNeese Chem-E-Car team placed second, and the team’s poster presentation placed third.

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