| 2009 Outstanding Undergraduates in Chemistry Awards |
| New YCC Student Outreach: Chemistry Caravan and Applications in Chemistry |
| Local Section Travel Grants |
Upcoming Events & Activities:
| Fall 2009 ACS National Meeting, Washington, DC, August 16 - 20, 2009 |
| YCC MSU Chemistry Welcome Week Events |
| High School Chemistry Teachers Meetings |
| Chemistry
Day at Impression 5
The MSU local section's 23rd National Chemistry Week celebration. Theme: "Chemistry - It's Elemental!" |
| Women in Chemistry Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Ice Cream Social and Walk |
| Scout Merit Badge Day |
| Holiday Food Drive |
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The following undergraduate students were recognized for their outstanding acheivement in chemistry programs/courses by the MSU local section of the ACS. These students received certificates and monetary awards.
Outstanding Graduating Chemistry Major Awards
Michigan State University: Mr. Eric Wolf (BS major) & Mr. Matthew Singh (BA major)Michigan State University Outstanding Undergraduate Awards:Olivet College: Ms. Katelyn Misko
Freshman Chemistry: Mr. Joshua Schackmann and Mr. John Matthew FranklinFreshman Honors Chemistry: Mr. Nolan Shepherd
Organic Chemistry: Mr. Robert Hasselbeck and Mr. Joseph Nettleman
Physical Chemistry: Mr. Jason Weerawat and Mr. Ryan Reynolds
Analytical Chemistry: Ms. Hazel Atienza and Ms. Laura Pressprich
Inorganic Chemistry: Mr. Matthew Mangliers
New YCC Student Outreach Activities
YCC is looking forward to promoting a new activity "Chemistry Caravan" in which they take chemistry demonstrations into local elementary schools to increase interest in science among kids. In addition, they are planning to take a bigger role in promoting and running visits of area high school classes to the undergraduate instrumentation laboratories in the Chemistry Department at MSU ("Applications in Chemistry"). Their members were among the volunteers that guided the students from Sexton High School and Williamston High School earlier this year. If you would like to know more about these activities, contact YCC chairs Matt Fhaner or John McIlroy.
MSU Department of Chemistry graduate students Mr. Paul Wrzesinski, Ms. Parul Jain, Ms. Amber Hupp, Mr. Chris Hupp, Ms. Thu Nguyen, and Ms. Karrie Manes received travel grants from the MSU local section to present their research at spring 2009 meetings.
The YCC will be participating in two events on Wednesday, August 26 to welcome the new graduate students to the Department of Chemistry. They will be holding a breakfast for the new students at 9:30 AM and they are also providing part of the support for a Social Night at 7:30 PM that evening. For more information contact Mr. Matt Fhaner.
Chemistry Teachers Monthly Meeting
These meetings will resume in September. They are tentatively planned for 7:00 PM on the 2nd Monday of each month during the academic year in the Chemistry Building, MSU Campus. Visit our website to find out more about the group and the 2008-09 meetings. If you are interested in attending and not on our e-mail list, contact Dr. Kathy Severin to be added to the list.
The MSU Local Section will once again celebrate National Chemistry Week (NCW) with "Chemistry Day at Impression 5" on Saturday, October 10, 2009, 10am - 3:30 pm at the Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing. This year's theme: "Chemistry - It's Elemental!" is focused on the periodic table. This will be the MSU local section's 23rd National Chemistry Week celebration.
Scouts in pre-registered troops earn a patch by attending and participating in the activites. Registration will be open to scout leaders soon at the Chemistry Day website. Dr. Amy Pollock is coordinating the event.
If you would like to volunteer at Chemistry Day, please contact Amy Pollock.
Women in Chemistry: Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
The Women in Chemistry (WiC) will have a team participating in the Lansing area Making Strides to Fight Breast Cancer Walk on Saturday, October 10, 2009. They will also hold a fundraising ice cream social in the lobby of the MSU Chemistry Building the preceding week (date TBA). If you are interested in joining the team or would like to make a donation to the team visit their webpage or contact coordinator Ms. Samantha Frawley for more information.
Scout Chemistry Merit Badge Day
Boy scouts and girl scouts can earn their Chemistry Merit Badge (boys) or Chemistry Interest Project Patch (girls) at this day long, hands-on activity event. The YCC will be taking over coordination of this event from Women in Chemistry this year. The date has yet to be decided but should occur on a Saturday in December 2009. Registration will be on-line and limited.
The YCC (Younger Chemist Committee) will host a holiday food drive in the MSU Chemistry Building in December. Last year they collected 15 boxes of donated food and supplies for an estimated total donation of $1100. All donations went to Second Harvest which supplies the Mid-Michigan Food Bank. The Mid-Michigan Food Bank coordinates support for many shelters accross mid-michigan including several here in Lansing and East Lansing. Five groups in the Chemistry Department at Michigan State University competed (organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, and chemistry staff) to see who could gather the most. The physical chemists won! A trophy and award certificate are on display in the case next to the first floor stockroom in the Chemistry Building on the MSU campus. YCC thanks everyone for the amazing response and generosity that was provided for this event.
The MSU Local Section competition was held on Friday, March 13th in the Department of Chemistry at MSU. A total of 39 students from the following high schools participated: East Lansing, Grand Ledge, Holt, Okemos, Owasso, and Perry. The event was coordinated by MSU Professor Merlin Bruening.
The day began with a two hour written examination. This was followed by a Chemical Demonstration Show and an awards ceremony. The student with the highest score on the exam was John Norwood from East Lansing High School. He received a cash award of $50 from the local section. Franklin Lui from Okemos High School finished in second place and Eleanor Melfi from East Lansing High School came in third. They each received a cash award of $25.
The top 10 students (maximum of 2 per high school) moved on to the national competitition which was held on Saturday, April 25th. The National exam consisted of three sections, a multiple choice exam, followed by a problem solving/short answer section, and a laboratory practical exam. Winners were eligible to be selected as members of the United States team for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO). For the past twenty years, the United States has sent a team of four students to compete with teams from around the world at the IChO. Students participate in both theoretical and laboratory examinations over several days. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded to the best performers, and the IChO provides students with the opportunity to interact with their peers from other countries. The 2009 event will be held in Cambridge, England on July 18-27, 2009.
The YCC (Younger Chemist Committee) participated in the Michigan Science Olympiad on Saturday, May 2, 2009. Graduate student Mr. Matt Nethercott was the Supervisor for the Chemistry Lab event and coordinated the activities of the eight YCC member volunteers. The event theme was Acids and Bases and was in two parts. In the first, high school student participants were asked general knowledge questions on the topic (for example: asked to write and balance equations and perform calculations to determine pH, pOH, and molarity). The second part of the event was a titration race where the teams performed two titrations to detemine the concentration of an unknown weak acid. There were approximately 48 teams that participated in the event.
In February, the YCC (Younger Chemist Committee) held a bake sale in the lobby of the Chemistry Building. They raised over $300 to support future activities. They also hosted a game night on Friday, June 19, 2009 for fellow graduate students in a conference room in the Chemistry Building. Refreshments were provided by the YCC and individuals were encouraged to bring their favorite board or card game to share with others. The evening was a success with an estimated 20-30 graduate members taking part in it. The event was coordinated by YCC Chair, Mr. Matt Fahner.
Members of Women in Chemistry (WiC) presented three hands-on activities: "Invisible Ink", "Colorful Milk", and "Things that Glow" at the Okemos Schools Supports of Science (SOS) event "Science Fun Day" on Saturday, February 21, 2009. Ms. Ruth Udey organized and coordinated WiC participation in the event.
Williamston High School chemistry teacher Bill Struck brought 12 Advanced Placement Chemistry students from Williamston High School to visit the undergraduate instrumentation labs (Analytical/Physical Labs or A/P labs) in the Chemistry Department at MSU on Saturday, March 25, 2009. Before their visit the students were assigned to an analytical instrument (ICP-OES, UV-Vis, FTIR, GC/MS, NMR, or HPLC) and asked to research it. Questions they needed to answer were: what does the acronym stand for? When/where/how/by whom was it developed? What information does the instrument give us - including units? What does it tell us? What are its applications? How are samples prepared? What sample sizes are appropriate?
During their visit the students worked on their assigned instrument under the supervision of a graduate student (most of whom are members of YCC). They spent over two hours preparing samples, running analyses, and interpreting results. This was followed by a tour of all six instruments by the whole group. As each instrument was visited, the students who had been using it, explained the instrument to their classmates. Graduate student volunteers were Mr. David Dotzauer (ICP-OES), Ms. Erica Schwander (UV-Vis), Mr. Ben Oberts (FTIR), Mr. John McIlroy (GC/MS), Mr. Matt Nethercott (NMR), and Ms. Melissa Bodnar (HPLC) and the event was coordinated by Dr. Kathy Severin, A/P Lab Coordinator. In the future, YCC is interested in taking over coordination of these visits - they hope to host a couple of classes each semester.