2004 HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Ms. Patricia Shelley from Williamston High School has been named the 2004 MSU Local Section High School Chemistry Teacher of the Year.Ms. Shelley will be presented with the award at Williamston High School at the start of the school year.Ms. Shelley was nominated for the award by Williamston High School Principal Christopher Rugh.

LOCAL SECTION ELECTIONS

Three offices were open for election this year: Chair-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer.The election winners are listed below, along with a short biography for each of the successful candidates.

Chair-Elect: Gary Blanchard (MSU, Chemistry), Professor

B.S. 1981 Bates College; Ph.D. 1985 University of Wisconsin-Madison.His research involves ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopies of materials and interfaces.

Secretary: Kris Chan (MSU, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science), Associate Professor

B.S. 1984 Columbia University; M.S. 1986 University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D. 1990 University of Pennsylvania.Her research interests are in metabolism and diabetes, Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease, metabolic engineering, tissue engineering, bioinformatics and multi-variate analysis.

Treasurer: Rob Maleczka (MSU, Chemistry), Associate Professor

B.S. 1984 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Ph.D. 1992 The Ohio State University.His research program is directed towards the synthesis of biologically important natural compounds and invention of new reactions and strategies in organic synthesis.

ACS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS

The following students were recognized for their outstanding performance in undergraduate chemistry.Awards were presented to the students at their colleges.A reception was held in the Department of Chemistry during the Spring Local Section meeting on April 29, 2004 for the award-winning MSU students.Congratulations!

2003-2004 Outstanding Graduating Students in Chemistry:

·Leo Trumble – Lansing Community College

·Andrew Goetz & Pat Medland – Michigan State University

·Nathan Adams – Spring Arbor College

2003-2004 ACS Awards for Outstanding Performance in Undergraduate Chemistry at Michigan State University:

·Taylor Thelen – Freshman Chemistry

·Kevin Ogden – Freshman Honors Chemistry

·Kathryn Ambrose – Organic Chemistry

·Jeffrey Gour – Physical Chemistry

·Andrew Goetz – Analytical Chemistry

·Jonathan Brudnak – Inorganic Chemistry

CHEMISTRY DAY AT IMPRESSION 5 – Kathy Severin

BYLAWS UPDATE – Greg Baker

As noted in the last newsletter, an updated set of Local Section bylaws have been submitted to the ACS for review by the ACS Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. It is expected that the review will be completed in early August 2004. As soon as the committee's report is available, it will be returned to the Local Section Executive Board for further consideration and possible action by the Section.

LOCAL SECTION ANNUAL REPORTS

The MSU Local Section is required by ACS bylaws to submit an annual report. The report details the activities of the local section, as well as goals for the coming year. The MSU Local Section annual reports, dating back to 2000, are now posted on the local section website: http://www.cem.msu.edu/~msuacs/annrept.html.

ACS WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY (WiC) – Elizabeth McGaw and Melissa Meaney

The ACS Women in Chemistry (ACSWiC) program at Michigan State University has now concluded its seventh year with an eventful spring including a variety of outreach activities.The focus of our organization during the 2003-2004 academic year was the promotion of science in the community. At the Girls’ Math and Science Conference held in February, sixth-grade girls determined “How Hard is Water” with the help of WiC volunteers in addition to “Solving Murder with Make-Up” using thin-layer chromatography on lipsticks.Also in February, in collaboration with the Alpha Chi Sigma chemistry fraternity, we organized and hosted the first annual Scout Chemistry Merit Badge Day.Fifty girl and boy scouts were able to complete the requirements for Interest Project Patches and Chemistry Merit Badges, respectively, through a variety of hands-on experiments, career discussions, and a poster session.We concluded the year with our annual potluck party.ACSWIC is again a finalist for the ACS ChemLuminary Award “Best Local Section Women Chemists’ Committee”.

Next year, we will begin our year with a luncheon to welcome the new female graduate students.In October we will be walking in Lansing’s Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk sponsored by the American Cancer Society.We will also have an analytical instrumentation workshop for Okemos High School students to expose them to state-of-the-art instrumentation in analytical chemistry laboratories at MSU.Our members will help coordinate and participate in presentations at Chemistry Day at Impression 5 Science Center during National Chemistry Week (NCW). In addition, we are also planning to apply for the ACS Local Section Innovative Projects Grant in order to sponsor a seminar series to incorporate the idea of “What you won’t be taught in Graduate School”, including resume and curriculum vitae writing, presentation skills, money management, and grant writing, among others.We will also invite a number of female faculty to share their past experiences and advice with us during a monthly brown bag lunch.

Anne Fischer and Prerna Sonthalia were the 2003-2004 WiC co-chairs.Elizabeth McGaw and Melissa Meaney will be the WiC co-chairs for the 2004-2005 academic year.Other members of the steering committee are Soheila Vaezeslami, Audrey Martin, Amber Terry, and Sarah Stevenson.Our advisor is Dr. Kathy Severin.

For more information about ACSWiC or upcoming events, visit us on the web at http://www.cem.msu.edu/~acswic/acswic.html.

YOUNGER CHEMISTS COMMITTEE (YCC) – Emily McKimmy

The annual student faculty mixer will be held the week before the semester begins to allow new graduate students to meet other graduate students and faculty in a relaxed, informal atmosphere.The YCC will provide appetizers and make all the arrangements and advertisement for the event.

The MSU YCC is also planning on hosting a panel discussion for how to apply and what it is like to work for the government.In the past we hosted panel discussions on what it is like to work at a small university versus a large university.Other groups have had panels on working in academia versus industry and we feel that the prospect of governmental jobs has been overlooked.

GREAT LAKES REGIONAL MEETING

The Illinois Heartland (Peoria) Local Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) will host the 36th Great Lakes Regional Meeting from Sunday October 17^th through Wednesday October 20th at the Hotel Père Marquette in Peoria, IL.Researchers from a ten state region with backgrounds in industry, academia, and government will attend, as well as professionals in the fields of new technology.General papers are still being accepted for oral or poster presentations in all fields of chemistry. The abstract submission deadline is August 27, 2004. Early Registration for the meeting ends September 19, 2004.For more information, see the meeting website:

http://membership.acs.org/g/glrm04

LOCAL SECTION NEWSLETTER CHANGES

To help defray printing and distributing costs, we are now distributing the local section newsletter via electronic means to all local section members with e-mail addresses.If you are receiving a paper copy and would like to receive your newsletter in electronic format, please send your email to Kris Chan, MSU Local Section Secretary, (krischan@egr.msu.edu) who will update the newsletter distribution list.

LOCAL SECTION TRAVEL GRANTS

The MSU Local Section has limited funds available to provide travel support to chemical research/educational conferences. Travel grants up to $250.00 may be awarded to individuals who are members of the MSU Local Section or the local K-12 science education community and have a paper accepted at a conference sanctioned by the American Chemical Society.The application form for travel support is available at http://www.cem.msu.edu/~msuacs/tgrants.html.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The MSU Local Section is always looking for people to share a little time. Additional information regarding Local Section activities may be accessed through our website: http://www.cem.msu.edu/~msuacs. We encourage you to take part in the variety of educational and outreach activities sponsored by the MSU Local Section. 

 MSU ACS LOCAL SECTION OFFICERS 2004-2005.