Sorensen and Pelzel among IChemE members elected to Royal Academy of Engineering

EVA SORENSEN and Rodney Pelzel are among five IChemE members elected fellows of the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng).

They are joined by Vania De Stefani, CEO of Oil Spill Response; Markus Kraft, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge; and Paul Shearing, chair in sustainable energy engineering at the University of Oxford.

The five are among 71 new fellows selected for having made exceptional contributions to their sector, pioneering new innovations, leading progress in business or academia, providing high level advice to government, or promoting the wider understanding of engineering and technology.

Reacting to the news, Sorensen, head of the chemical engineering department at University College London, said: “I have always been very proud of being a chemical engineer, and a fellow of the IChemE, and I am looking forward to interacting more closely also with engineers from different backgrounds in supporting the work of the academy. Only by working together with engineers, scientists, and others will we be able to solve the many global challenges that we are currently facing, particularly with regards to climate change and healthcare, which are key priority areas for IChemE.”

The new fellows will formally join the academy at a signing-in ceremony on 27 November. They will then work to help RAEng achieve its goal of harnessing engineering to create a sustainable society and an inclusive economy.

Pelzel, who is CTO of the semiconductor materials firm, IQE, said: “I am keen to collaborate with other fellows to positively impact the area of engineering education, something that I am very passionate about. I believe that there is an urgent need for non-traditional education and training programmes that develop the next generation of engineers and provide the lateral thinking skills required to tackle the extremely challenging engineering problems faced by society, for example net zero. It is a privilege to have been given a platform where I can have a hand in shaping future generations of engineers.”

The new fellows were announced at RAEng’s AGM on 17 September alongside the appointment of its new president, John Lazar, a software engineer and chair of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Lazar said: “We are proud to say that many of our newly elected fellows have come from underrepresented groups in engineering and related sectors, and we hope this helps to tackle some of the issues around a lack of diversity within the profession. There is ample evidence that a wider pool of ideas and experiences helps to improve decision-making and develop novel solutions to global challenges.”

This echoes recent calls made by RAEng CEO Hayaatun Sillem. Speaking at the opening of Lancaster University’s new engineering building earlier this month, Sillem called on engineers to get out of their silos and work together to accelerate change.

Also, during the AGM, IChemE fellows Luisa Freitas Dos Santos and Dame Judith Hackitt were elected trustees of the academy’s board.