Austin Lin currently works as a technical program manager at Google. He also serves as chair of the AIChE's Management Division. We recently chatted with Austin to find more about what keeps him involved.
Generally, what industries are your members involved in?
Management as a practice and discipline has a broad scope, so AIChE's Management Division members come from a diverse set of industries, ranging from oil and gas, consulting, and bulk chemicals, to the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries and the tech industry.
Can you describe the biggest success that has come out of your division membership?
I am personally quite grateful for the continuity of leadership over the many, many years that the Management Division has been active.
The succession planning, continuity, and mentoring of the incoming board by the outgoing board has been key in helping ensure our main events each year occur so smoothly. Because management practices span multiple fields, we adapt well to both the Spring Meeting, where our focus is on industry professionals, and to the Annual Meeting, which focuses on academia. Both groups feel like parts of the same, supportive community.
What is your favorite community activity that the members of your division work on together?
We are quite active this year in focusing our talent pipeline both to the Management Division and to the management discipline as a whole. In pursuing this, we are ensuring that our panels represent diverse and inclusive points of view through their composition. Our division leaders also established a new Emerging/Young Professionals Award to foster up-and-coming management professionals. We have retained our commitment to students by again presenting a career panel on career development in management as well as to educate new engineers on the paths to EIT/Professional Engineering licensure.
What upcoming event are you most excited for?
As I'm sure is the sentiment with other Division leaders, the Annual Meeting is a bit of a family reunion for us all, so it is always great to see one another face to face and continue to support our community.
What has been the greatest benefit of joining this division for you personally?
Management practices encompass all industries, so hearing colleagues' stories on their management experiences has always been very inspiring and motivational to me personally. To have access to such a group of world-class management chemical engineers and to have discussions on the business side of the profession is always eye opening and so applicable to other aspects of my professional life. For that, I am ceaselessly grateful.
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Austin Lin
Austin serves as 2019 Vice-Chair of the AIChE Management Division. He previously served as the Chair of the AIChE Northern California Section (2019), Vice-Chair (2018), Secretary (2017), and the Section's Young Professionals Director (2015). Read more