What is CACHE?

CACHE, which stands for Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to promote cooperation among universities, industry and government in the development and distribution of computer-related and/or technology-based educational aids for the chemical engineering profession.

Mission Statement

CACHE (Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering) promotes the development and distribution of technology-based materials and software in chemical engineering education through projects applying computational chemical engineering, sponsoring  conferences, recognizing outstanding contributions, and providing leadership in chemical engineering education.

Creation of the CACHE Corporation

During the 1960s the rapid growth of computer technology challenged educators to develop new methods of meshing the computer with the teaching of chemical engineering. In spite of many significant contributions to program development, the transferability of computer codes, even those written in FORTRAN, was minimal. Because of the disorganized state of university-developed codes for chemical engineering, fourteen chemical engineering educators met in 1969 to form the CACHE Committee. The CACHE Committee was initially sponsored by the Commission on Education of the National Academy of Engineering and funded by the National Science Foundation. In 1975, after several successful projects had been completed, CACHE was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation in Massachusetts to serve as the administrative umbrella for the consortium activities.

Who Is CACHE?

CACHE is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1969 as a facilitator of new initiatives in chemical engineering education. CACHE activities are directed by an elected Board of Trustees drawn from academia and industry. We assemble talent from across the community into “task forces” that are charged to grow and advance computation in chemical engineering education. Task forces develop, update, or review ChE tools for software, case studies, molecular modeling, systems biology, and energy. Always evolving, task forces are formed and disbanded according to trends in the field.

What does CACHE Do?

Awards. CACHE fosters advancements in ChE computing by recognizing significant contributors. CACHE sponsors three major awards: the ASEE Award for Excellence in Computing in Chemical Engineering Education; the AIChE CAST Division Himmelblau Award for Innovations in Computer-Based Chemical Engineering Education; and the AIChE Evans Award for Chemical Engineering Practice.  

Conferences. CACHE is a leading sponsor of chemical engineering conferences. Areas of interest include chemical process operations (FOCAPO, since 1987), design (FOCAPD, since 1983), and control (CPC, since 1986); molecular modeling (FOMMS, since 2000), systems biology and engineering (FOSBE, since 2005), and process analytics and machine learning (FOPAM, since 2019). Although primarily research-oriented, CACHE conferences ensure that some element of ChE education is addressed. CACHE strives for affordable registration fees enabling participation by graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty. These popular conferences have a strong international participation and some are now held in Europe and Asia. Proceedings from all of the conferences are distributed free of charge to each CACHE-supporting member.  

Teaching Resources. CACHE fosters the Development of Computational-Based Tools and Modules for Chemical Engineering Education through a seed grant program. In addition, CACHE offers short courses on new curriculum teaching aids, e.g., in product design, in systems biology, and in energy. We are working to better disseminate best practices for ABET student outcome assessment and implementation of continuous improvement practices.  

Products. In the past, CACHE has been instrumental in the development and dissemination of software such as POLYMATH for solving ChE homework problems and ChemSep for separations courses. More recently, CACHE has shifted its focus to supporting the development of computational tools and modules for chemical engineering education more generally.

Dissemination. CACHE provides reliable routes to communicate advances in chemical engineering education. We publish a semi-annual newsletter describing recent developments and we have established a comprehensive web site for chemical engineering education. The site hosts content solicited from a large number of chemical engineering faculty to share with their colleagues around the world, especially young faculty to help them disseminate new educational materials. CACHE also provides a low-cost, web-based method for advertising faculty openings and identifying faculty candidates called cachet.

Diversity and Inclusion

In all CACHE activities we will seek to significantly increase inclusion of under-represented groups. More info about the actions we are taking to improve diversity is available here: link.

Academic Affiliates Program

Some 140 academic institutions (in the U.S. and internationally) currently are supporters of CACHE. Representatives at each of the institutions form a major conduit for the distribution of newsletters, notes, monographs, proceedings, and evaluation copies of software. Faculty and students at affiliate departments may obtain discounts on CACHE products, and can take advantage of reduction of registration fees for CACHE-sponsored research meetings. Affiliates also are able to post faculty openings on the cachet academic-job board, and can view candidate profiles that are posted there. If you would like your department to become a supporter of CACHE, please fill out this form (How to join CACHE).

Industrial Affiliates Program

Over 20 companies are participants of the Industrial Affiliates Program, click here for a complete list. The Industrial Affiliates Program provides an opportunity for industry to provide input on such issues as the computational competency of newly graduated students, and on chemical engineering educational software for academia and industry. Participants may work with leading researchers and educators to develop and evaluate new educational materials, serve on CACHE Task Forces, organize conferences, and generally support the ongoing work of CACHE. Direct involvement with leading edge researchers is a major advantage for affiliates. If you would like more information on the Industrial Affiliates Program, email cache@cache.org.

CACHE Activities

All CACHE activities are staffed by volunteers including both educators and industrial members and coordinated by the Board of Trustees through various CACHE Task Forces. CACHE actively solicits the participation of interested individuals in the work of its ongoing projects. CACHE also awards for excellence in Computing in Chemical Engineering. Information on CACHE activities is disseminated through CACHE News.

CACHE News

The CACHE News is published twice a year and reports news of CACHE activities and other noteworthy developments of interest to chemical engineering educators. Persons who wish to be placed on the mailing list should notify CACHE at the above address. Contributions from CACHE representatives are welcome.