2011: A Chemical Odyssey

Elizabeth Guenther

Senior Industrial Engineer
Osram Sylvania

Elizabeth Guenther is a Senior Industrial Engineer at OSRAM Sylvania with responsibility for processes and projects at its Eastern Distribution Center. She is this year’s AIChE Young Professionals Committee (YPC) Chair and YPC liaison to the Career and Education Operating Council.

Prior to joining OSRAM Sylvania, Elizabeth worked in other non-chemical fields as a Lean Manufacturing Engineer at Mack Trucks, Inc and an Operations Engineer at Lutron Electronics Co., Inc.  Prior to holding the position of Chair in YPC, Elizabeth held the positions of Vice Chair and Publications Subcommittee Chair.  She has also written several articles in ChEnected. Elizabeth’s Young Professional Point of View article, “What is a Chemical Engineer Doing Here?” published in the September 2013 edition of CEP, explored how Chemical Engineers fit right in to atypical industries. 

Elizabeth holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Business Administration degree in Supply Chain Management from Lehigh University.  She is an active member of her local AIChE section, the American Association of University Women and is a past Chair of the Lehigh Valley Engineering Council.

Elizabeth lives in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania with her husband. When not working, Elizabeth enjoys swimming competitively, doing craft projects and baking. Elizabeth can be reached at elizabeth.guenther@sylvania.com

When the ball dropped in Times Square December 31 a few seconds before midnight, it marked the beginning of a new year--a year to "celebrate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind." That's right, 2011 was named the International Year of Chemistry by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), an honor five years in the making. The International Year of Chemistry's website is chock-full of information from an IYC network to help you get involved to events and news from all over the world. The American Chemical Society has a great day calendar of daily Chemistry events--365: Chemistry for Life. January 1 marks the date in 1907 that the first issue of the Chemical Abstracts Service was published. And despite your side in the Butter vs. Margarine debate, January 3 marks the date in 1871 when oleomargarine was patented. Check out these websites for a taste of IYC 2011!

Comments

Submitted by johnvasko (not verified) on Thu, 01/20/2011 - 16:42

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Elizabeth, what is your local section doing for the International Year of Chemistry? Or Lehigh?

Submitted by ehorahan (not verified) on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 12:11

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That is an excellent question, John! I will have to bring it up at our next Chapter Meeting!