| YCC Annual Report
|
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| Goals of the LSYCC Annual Report |
The purpose of LSYCC
Annual Reports is to summarize and highlight the achievements
of Local Section (LS) YCCs every year. This accomplishes
several objectives:
(1) continuity within each LSYCC to
use for future reference and succession planning;
(2)
increased awareness of LSYCC programming to share with the LS
ACS and the National YCC;
(3) conveyance of event ideas
with other LSYCCs. Along those lines, Annual Reports are used
to select LSYCC award winners. | |
| Submission of the LSYCC Annual Report |
| This form must be
completed if you wish to be nominated for a LSYCC award. If
you do not wish to be nominated for an award or do not have a
LSYCC, this form is optional. | |
| I. Overall Evaluation |
| Provide a brief, general
overview of the LSYCC. Reflect on the state of the committee
-- if the goals of last year were accomplished, possibly
commenting candidly about the activities. |
This year YCC has grown in membership and we were
able to become involved in several new events. We
have had a productive year, but have plans to become
even more involved in both the department and
community in 2006. | | |
| II. Officers and Members |
| Provide a list of
current LS officers and committee members. Note who is writing
and submitting Annual Report. It is strongly suggested that
this list contain contact information, e.g. email addresses,
phone numbers, and mailing addresses, for the: |
| LSYCC Officers |
Amanda Smeigh:
smeigham@cem.msu.edu (517)355-9715 x 107
Jennifer Froelich:
froelic3@msu.edu (517)355-9715 x 207 | |
| YCC Mentor |
|
| YCC Members |
Brad Cox: coxbrad@chemistry.msu.edu
Margaretta Dimos: mdimos@chemistry.msu.edu
DJ Osborn: osborndj@msu.edu
Heather Pillman: pillmanh@chemistry.msu.edu
Gwynyth Scherperel: scherper@msu.edu | | |
| III. Activities |
| This section highlights
each LSYCC activity in more detail, such as: a description of
the event, how many people attended, what did and did not
work, obstacles encountered, photographs, websites, etc. |
The MSU Local Section has been a participant in the
US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) program for
several years. In 2005, YCC was involved in the
Chemistry Olympiad qualifying examination held in the
MSU chemistry building. Several members from YCC
proctored both the written and laboratory
components of the examination.
YCC participated in Chemistry Day at Impression 5
Science Museum in downtown Lansing, MI as part of
National Chemistry Week. This event was attended by
over 1,200 parents and children. The purpose of this
event is to engage children's interest in science
through various hands-on demonstrations. This year
YCC did three demonstrations one of which was the CO2
leaky faucet. Smokey CO2 gas, from dry ice subliming
under water, was passed through a faucet-like series
of pipes, the mouth of which had a soap film across
it. Dense CO2 bubbles form, pinch off and fall
rapidly downward. Children tried to catch the bubbles
without breaking them by first making their hands
soapy. This was a very popular demonstration for both
the children and their families. In addition, we
added two new demonstrations this year. One of the
demonstrations taught the children about alternative
fuel sources for automobiles. We used a small vehicle
that utilized either solar or battery power to split
water into hydrogen and oxygen. We used the vehicle
to explain how a car can operate without the using
gasoline. We also taught them about the concept of
phosphorescence by passing out candy with glow-in-the-
dark wrappers. They not only got a tasty treat, but
they also learned why the wrapper glows!
YCC also held a donut and bagel fundraiser in the
lobby of the MSU chemistry building to raise money
for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Fifty-percent
of the profits from the sale and 100% of cash
donations were sent to the Red Cross's relief
efforts. A total of $161.00 was raised. The remaining
profits from the sale will be used by YCC to help
fund future events.
YCC was designed to make ACS relevant to younger
chemists, increase the involvement of younger
chemists in ACS at all levels, and develop mechanisms
to integrate younger chemists into the profession. An
important aspect of becoming a successful scientist
and being able to integrate into the profession is
having the opportunity to present original research.
The MSU Local ACS section has funds available to
provide travel support to chemical
research/educational conferences; however, the number
of students interested in attending these meetings
has increased significantly in the past few years. In
this regard, YCC has become involved in the process
of administering travel grants awarded to students in
the MSU Chemistry Department. An overwhelming number
of travel grants were awarded this year with a total
of 16 $100.00 and five $250.00 awards. A list of
students, the conference they attended and the amount
of the fellowship is provided below.
2005 Travel Award Recipients
Sulagna Paul (Fall National Meeting) $100
Ping Liu (Fall National Meeting) $100
Yu Zhang (Fall National Meeting) $100
Srivatsan Kidambi (Fall National Meeting) $100
Yiqian Lian (Fall National Meeting) $100
R. S. Krishnan (Fall National Meeting) $100
Leslie Passeno (Fall National Meeting) $100
Feng Jing (Fall National Meeting) $100
Yana Cen (Fall National Meeting) $100
Ying Zheng (Fall National Meeting) $100
Anish Tuteja (Fall National Meeting) $100
Xuwei Jiang (Fall National Meeting) $100
Xiuni Xu (Fall National Meeting) $100
Zhiyi Bao (Fall National Meeting) $100
Venkata Kallepalli (Fall National Meeting) $100
Zhenjie Lu (Fall National Meeting) $100
Jun Yan (Spring National Meeting) $250
Tao Zheng (Spring National Meeting) $250
Marina Tanasova (Spring National Meeting) $250
Kyoungsoo Lee (National Organic Symposium) $250
Soheila Vaezeslami (American Crystallography
Association Meeting) $250 | | |
| IV. Budget |
| Itemize each event with
the cost, and acknowledge the source of funds. |
There was no cost for us for the Chemistry Day
demonstrations.
All food and supplies for the Hurricane Katrina
fundraiser were purchased by members of YCC and each
member was reimbursed from the sales of the
fundraiser. | | |
| V. Future Plans |
| State the short-term
objectives such as brain-storming ideas and point-people for
specific projects. Also, state the long- term goals, e.g. the
purpose of the LSYCC. |
YCC already has several events scheduled for the
upcoming year. One of these events is the Science,
Engineering and Technology (SET) Day scheduled for
February 25, 2006, at Michigan State University. The
purpose of SET Day is to showcase the benefits and
opportunities in science, engineering and technology
at MSU. The SET Day audience is primarily high school
juniors and seniors and their families. YCC will be
organizing several information tables to highlight
the opportunities available for undergraduates in the
Chemistry Department and to encourage high school
students to consider a career in science.
YCC will also be teaming up with Women in Chemistry
at MSU to help organize the Michigan Science Olympiad
State event to be held in late April. The state
competition is hosted by the College of Natural
Sciences at Michigan State University. YCC and WiC
will be responsible for writing examinations, testing
experiments, and proctoring the examinations for the
state competition.
In the near future YCC is interested in organizing
either a grant writing or resume workshop open to
students in the MSU Chemistry Department and
potentially other interested departments as well. We
would like to establish a panel of faculty from the
chemistry department to speak about the skills
necessary to submit a successful grant application or
resume. We would also like to plan a student/faculty
mixer in early fall to give incoming graduate
students an opportunity to meet current graduate
students and faculty in a relaxed, informal
atmosphere. In addition, we would like to plan a
fundraiser for an organization such as the American
Heart Association to become more involved with the
community. | | | |