Coming into its fourth year, the student-led conference prioritizes BYU values in addition to traditional engineering standards.
The BYU Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) partners with the Sorenson Center each year to host the entirely student-led conference. This year's conference took place January 31 and February 1, 2025.
The conference featured lab tours, safety minigames, safety Jeopardy, professional mentoring, ethics classes, and a keynote presentation by King Husein, CEO of Span Construction & Engineering.
Brigham Young University is the only university in the world to host such a conference. Nick Christensen, co-director of the conference and AIChE's junior representative, cited BYU's status as a religious school for the unique nature of the conference.
He claimed that BYU is the safest school to do engineering at because of the school's religious roots. He explained that the student body's "intrinsic belief in Jesus Christ" pairs with "inherent adherence" to the honor code—this makes ethics and safety the highest priority in engineering for Brigham Young University.
Chemical engineering involves dangerous materials and equipment, requiring strict safety regulations to create a safe work environment. However, you can never be too careful, and one must always factor in human error.
Companies looking to hire engineers want employees that understand this and take their roles seriously, explained Dr. David Lignell, Chemical Engineering faculty.
“A lot of what we’re doing has inherent risks, and it’s important that we learn to appreciate those risks—to understand them and to mitigate against them,” Lignell said.
Students attending the conference were similarly career-minded. Chemical Engineering student James Burke added that companies will save money by hiring engineers that perform morally and ethically from the get-go because they avoid the expensive problems that come from not adhering to proper guidelines and standards.
In true BYU fashion, another student likened the situation to the scriptures. Chemical Engineering student Bailey Duncan added:
“I think about how the worth of souls is great in the eyes of God, and how if we remember people come first, then that changes the way that we do our math, what the correct answer is.”
This is a reference to Doctrine & Covenants 18:10, a frequently memorized scripture for youth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This adds weight to the secular sentiment for BYU students.
Christensen similarly said, "Jesus, he is an engineer. He created the world. And he did so safely and ethically."
Students and employers alike benefitted from the conference through the mentoring activity, which became a mini job fair as companies got to know the safety-inclined students at Brigham Young University. Christensen expressed pride in his peers, saying:
"You hire a BYU engineer, you will be guaranteed a trustworthy, reliable engineer who follows written protocol and who will not cut corners with any project.”