FOSSI Founding Partners and Industry Leaders Build Corporate Engagement

Chris Jahn, President & CEO of the American Chemistry Council hosted fellow Future of STEM Scholar Initiative (FOSSI) Founding Partners Mark Vergnano, President & CEO, Chemours; Ashley Christopher, CEO, HBCU Week Foundation; and June Wispelwey, to brief executives from 13 ACC member companies on the recently launched program, FOSSI. 

Guests were provided with an overview and the development of FOSSI, given a brief history of HBCUs and the importance of an HBCU education, and provided with an outline of how FOSSI can create value for both industry and underrepresented students by making STEM fields more accessible to people of diverse racial backgrounds.

Current FOSSI Corporate Partners, Daryl Roberts, Chief Operations & Engineering Officer, DuPont, and Sandeep Ladha, Vice President, Acetic Acids & Derivatives, Celanese, joined the discussion to highlight the value of the FOSSI program and the importance of participation by industry and benefits of engagement.

Following a robust question and answer period, the speakers encouraged ACC companies on the sidelines to be part of this important and transformative initiative.

Bruce Chinn, AIChE Foundation Vice Chair, and recently named CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical, took the opportunity to announce that his company will underwrite 10 FOSSI Scholars.

We are grateful to CPChemical for their generosity and hope many more will be inspired to follow their lead!

Mark Vergnano noted that according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the next ten years, there will be 800,000 STEM jobs created. We need to attract more talent and expand recruiting efforts to previously underrepresented populations in order to build the next generation of innovators and engineering changemakers to fill those positions.

The initial goal is to fund 150 scholars in 2021.

By 2025, we hope to raise funding for 1000 scholars. Will you help open the doors of opportunity with a gift to FOSSI today?

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