Women in Chemistry (WiC) were once again the recipients of the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Award "Outstanding Overall Women Chemists Committee".  This is a national award that was first given in 2000 and WiC was the first recipient.  Since that time, WiC has either been the award winner (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007) or a finalist (2001, 2002, 2006) every year.  Congratulations, WiC!!

On Monday, November 3, 2008 a new teachers support group was launched by local section Chair Gavin Reid.  In addition to Dr. Reid, the meeting was attended by ten chemistry teachers from area schools (Sexton, East Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Williamston, DeWitt, and Perry High Schools and Mount Hope Elementary School), and Drs. Kathy Severin and Paul Hunter.  The purpose of this first meeting was to determine how the local section could best serve the needs of the teachers.

As a result it was determined that a regular monthly meeting would provide a venue for teacher networking and promote idea and resource sharing.  In addition, MSU chemistry department resources could be made available to the teachers.  Example resources: Spec 20s  (since the meeting they've already been lent out to two of the high schools!), the undergraduate instrumentation laboratory (Sexton High School students have already visited - see below), and faculty members to answer technical questions that the teachers may have.

Anticipated activities at the meetings include: Topical Discussions, Practice Sharing, Demonstrations, Laboratory and Benchmark Assignment Development, Standards Based Curriculum, Assessment Tools, Use of Technology in Instruction, Guest Speakers, Workshops and Continuing Education opportunities.  Attendees are encouraged to bring copies of their favorite lab experiments, demonstrations, and lesson ideas to share among group members.

The second meeting occurred on Monday, December 8, 2008 and the teachers discussed aligning their Chemistry in the Community courses with the new Michigan Chemistry High School Content Expectations.  Teachers felt that it would be extremely valuable to share their curriculum development ideas with each other rather than have each school go through this process independently.  It was decided that that would be the focus of the January 12th meeting.  Also discussed was the use of LON-CAPA for chemistry homework assignments, and it was agreed that this would also be a good topic for a meeting (tentatively - the February meeting).  Sharing of web resources was also mentioned, and a request for links to teachers' favorite web resources will be included in the next meeting announcement.  They will be compiled on the Chemistry Teacher Web Resources page at the local section website.  Finally, two teachers: Bill Struck from Williamston High School and Will Paddock from East Lansing High School each shared a chemical demonstration with the group.

Anyone interested is welcome to attend the meetings (2nd Monday of every month during the academic year, 7:00 PM, 136 Chemistry Building, MSU Campus).  If you know of any teachers who might enjoy being a part of this group, please pass on the information to them.  Questions?  Contact Gavin Reid (reid@chemistry.msu.edu) or Kathy Severin (severin@chemistry.msu.edu).
Contact Kathy Severin if you'd like to be added to our teacher e-mail list.

The YCC (Younger Chemist Committee) will be hosting a holiday food drive this year.  All donations will go to Second Harvest which supplies the Mid-Michigan Food Bank.  The Mid-Michigan Food Bank cordinates support for many shelters accross mid-michigan including several here in Lansing and East Lansing.  We will be providing five boxes (one for organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, and chemistry staff) in the Department of Chemistry Main Office (485 Chemistry Building, MSU Campus).  Donations can be made Dec. 1 through Dec. 19th during normal office hours.  In order to increase department interest we will award a trophy to the area that accumulates the most points at the end of the food drive.  We look forward to everyone's support.  If you have any questions feel free to contact Matt Fhaner (fhanerma@msu.edu).

On Saturday, October 25, 2008, the MSU Local Section of the ACS celebrated National Chemistry Week (NCW) with our 22nd annual “Chemistry Day” event.  This year, 1200 people visited Chemistry Day at Impression 5 Science Center!  Among those in attendance were 400 Boy and Girl Scouts who earned a participation patch for completing nine special activities, many of which related to the theme of the day, “Having a Ball With Chemistry; The Chemistry of Sports”.  Thanks to a generous donation from Emergent BioSolutions, admission to Impression 5 was free!   Emergent BioSolutions also gave every child in attendance a pair of safety glasses!  The MSU Local Section gave everyone who attended Chemistry Day an NCW activity newspaper (“Celebrating Chemistry”), a “Hooray for Chemistry” bag, a NCW sticker, a “Proud to be a Chemist” temporary tattoo, and a NCW helium balloon.
In addition to the regular exhibits at Impression 5, tables of hands-on activities and chemical demonstrations were presented by students from the Department of Chemistry at MSU, MSU student organizations: ACS Women in Chemistry, ACS Younger Chemists Committee, NOBCChE (National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers), Science Theatre, Alpha Chi Sigma (chemistry fraternity), Omega Chi Epsilon (chemical engineering honorary); and students from Olivet College, Perry High School, and Eaton Rapids High School.  Many of the activities and demonstrations showcased how chemistry is important to various sports and physical activities!  Some of the activities included the mechanics of throwing, electrolytes in sports beverages, determination of iron in cereal, polymers in sports equipment, the effects of density on floating, physical properties of ice relating to winter sports, and how different gases and temperature change the bouncing ability of balls.

Chemistry Day would not have been possible without the help and support of our volunteers.  THANK YOU to everyone who participated and helped to make Chemistry Day 2008 a great success!  Please visit our website (http://www.chemistry.msu.edu/chemday) to see pictures from the event.

Dr. Amy Pollock was the event coordinator and Mr. Dave Voss trained the demonstrators.  More...

Women in Chemistry (WiC) sponsored the sixth-annual Chemistry Merit Badge Day on Saturday, December 6, 2008.  Boy scouts and girl scouts came to the MSU chemistry building and participated in a day of experiments and activities.  The boys earned a Chemistry Merit Badge; the girls earned a Chemistry Interest Project Patch (IPP).  This year 27 boy scouts from 5 troops and 22 girl scouts from 6 troops attended.  The event was organized by WiC members Ms. Lisa Harlow, Ms. Allison Brown, & Ms. Heather Crawford.  Many others volunteered and helped with the activities including 9 other graduate students, 15 undergraduate students, and professors Dr. Paul Hunter and Dr. Abby Bickley.  Chemical demonstrations by Dr. Amy Pollock and a glass blowing demonstration by Mr. Scott Bankroff were also part of the event.  The organizers would especially like to thank Scott and Amy, Steve Poulios and Dave Voss for use of the laboratories as well as Merit Badge counselor Dr. Bob Hausinger who comes every year to sign all of the cards and make sure all of the boy scout requirements are met.  They'd also like to thank Melissa Parsons, and everyone else who volunteered!

The Girl Scout Chemistry Interest Project Patch was developed by women in the local section and approved by the Girl Scouts of Michigan Capital Area Council in 2004.  Any girl scout can earn the Chemistry IPP by fulfilling the requirements.

The Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) once again organized a social gathering for incoming graduate students.  The event, which was held on Wednesday, August 20th at Reno's East, provided a relaxed atmosphere for bringing together current graduate students and faculty with the new members of our graduate program; attendance was 75-100 people.   By all accounts it was a great success!  Graduate students Mr. Matt Fhaner and Mr. John McIlroy were the coordinators.

Women in Chemistry (WiC) welcomed new incoming women to the department with an orientation luncheon on Tuesday, August 19th.  The luncheon was held in the department and attended by ~25 women.  Coordinators were Ms. Samantha (Frawley) Cass and Ms. Christine Hay.

This the sixth year that Women in Chemistry has participated in this Lansing event.  The group raised money by selling pink ribbons and close to 100 homemade cookies in the lobby of the Chemistry Building; having an ice cream social (ice cream donated by MSU Dairy Store) for the department on Wednesday, October 3rd; and walking in the event on Saturday, October 20th.  Altogether they raised $2023.50 for breast cancer research!  Ms. Samatha (Frawley) Cass and Ms. Lisa Harlow coordinated this activity.

Seventeen AP Chemistry students from Sexton High School in Lansing visited the undergraduate instrument laboratories in the MSU Department of Chemistry on Tuesday, December 9th from 8:00 am - 10:45 am.  In preparation for the visit, each student investigated an analytical instrument (UV-Vis, Atomic Absorption, FTIR, NMR, HPLC, or NMR) and then was able to use that instrument under the supervision of a graduate student.  Students worked in groups of 2-4 to prepare samples and collect and analyze data.  In many cases they were also able to examine an opened up instrument to facilitate their understanding of how the instrument worked.  Toward the end of their visit, the class rotated though the instruments, and the students who had been working on a particular instrument explained what they'd learned to their classmates.  The students were accompanied by Sexton chemistry teachers Ms. Susan Stoltzfus and Mr. Mark Barrera.  Many thanks to the excellent graduate student volunteers Ms. Amber Hupp, Mr. John McIlroy, Mr. Paul Wrzesinski, Mr. David Dotzauer, Mr. Ben Oberts, and Mr. Matt Nethercott!  Dr. Kathy Severin coordinated the visit.

The bylaws of the local section have been modified to be consistent with current ACS language, to update local election procedures, and to specify mechanisms for dissolving the local section and removing officers, among other changes.  The proposed bylaws were reviewed by the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws after the Fall ACS meeting and deemed them ready for an approval vote by the local section membership.  The proposed bylaws were sent to the membership on Thursday, December 11, 2008 and members were given one week to vote on whether or not they approve of the changes.  The proposed bylaws will be adopted if three-quarters of the ballots submitted approve the changes.