Dr. Joseph Smith, the Wayne and Gayle Laufer Chair of Energy at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been elected treasurer of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

As an officer, Smith will help guide the national organization that has over 50,000 worldwide members. In December, he finished a three-year term as a member of AIChE’s board of directors before being picked to be treasurer, where he will serve as chair of the finance committee and as a member of the executive committee.

“I’m familiar with the ongoing operations of the institute and the current members of the executive committee and have worked well with them,” Smith says. “This position will bring attention to the university on a national and international level, and I’m excited to serve.”

Smith has over 30 years of experience working with AIChE, beginning as the student chapter president at Brigham Young University, then as the student chapter advisor at Tennessee Technological University as a new professor. He also served as chair of the Mid-Michigan local section and the Tulsa local section. Smith served for 20 years as chair and co-chair of the national student paper competition and as chair of the national student chapters committee. He was elected as a Fellow in 2014 and currently serves as a member of the Equipment Testing Procedures Committee.

“This experience helps me understand and better serve the needs of this national organization,” Smith says. “As a member of the board of directors, I served for two years on the audit committee, most recently as chair of this committee, so I am familiar with the financial issues facing the institute.”

Smith was picked after the recently elected treasurer resigned , and he has been asked to run in the fall general election to fill the remaining two years of the three-year term..

###