November 2021, Vol. 11(10)

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Highlights

Getting Ready for Project SEED 2022

Project SEED, if you are unaware, is ACS’ program to provide paid, summer research experiences to high school students from economically-disadvantaged families. If you would like more information and inspiration for this remarkable program, please see the Project SEED home page and impact page. Although in-person research programs for Project SEED were canceled in 2020 and 2021 for COVID, we are optimistic for a return to local internships in Summer 2022. Planning is underway and the ACS will begin to receive proposals on December 1.

At present, we have mentor commitment and sufficient funding to support at least two local section internships next summer but we are willing and interested in expanding our program because we have had to turn a few qualified students away in recent years. With that in mind, I ask you to consider the following three requests:

1. Please send me an email if you would like to serve as a research mentor for a Project SEED fellow in 2022, or if you know of someone else who would be willing to serve in that role.

2. Please send me an email if you know of a worthy student who may qualify for a Project SEED fellowship.

3. ACS expects a $1250 matching commitment from local sections for each approved project. If you would like to make a donation to our local Project SEED fund, please see our KACS Project SEED webpage for instructions on how to contribute. Thank you!

Doug Williams, KACS Project SEED Coordinator

treasurer@kalamazooacs.org

Remember to Renew!

ACS membership renewal notices will be arriving soon — Remember to renew!

More detailed information about the new packages and a general member FAQ can also be found on www.acs.org/newchoices. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or feedback by sending an email to mac@acs.org.

Thank You for Survey Participation!

Dear Members,

You stepped up and delivered by participating in our recent survey. We will use your answers to the questions on the first day, November 12, of the KACS strategic planning session. Your likes, dislikes and suggestions will help us set goals and plans for future activities in the section. 

I was very pleased with your responses, your attention to detail and the quality of the material we have to work with. A summary of your responses is given below.

I hope you will be excited with the strategic planning outcome and our efforts to serve you.

Sincerely,

Ed Thomas

2021 KACS Chair

Kalamazoo Local Section Survey: Report of Findings

October 15, 2021

Background

The survey was distributed by the Kalamazoo Local Section to approximately 300 affiliated ACS members on September 16. A reminder to complete the survey was sent on September 24. A total of 96 respondents attempted the survey by the closing date on October 11. The final response rate is 32% with a margin of error +/-8.2%.

Key Findings

The majority of respondents (59%) have attended 1-3 events and activities organized by the Kalamazoo Local Section. Roughly one quarter (23%) of respondents attended zero events or activities.

Bell’s Poster Session (54%), outreach activities (41%), and Zoom presentations or celebrations (33%) are the top events or activities identified by respondents who indicated participation in at least one event.

The majority of respondents (55%) declare they are likely to participate in Kalamazoo Section-sponsored events within the next 12 months.

Respondents who are unlikely to participate in local section events within the next 12 months indicate working hours, health, relocation, and the pandemic as reasons for intended lack of participation.

Respondents identify networking opportunities, the variety of events, quality of content or topic, and scheduling as the main contributing factors influencing their satisfaction with Kalamazoo Local section events.

Two thirds (66%) of respondents are satisfied with events and activities organized by the Kalamazoo Local Section. Respondents who are dissatisfied identify a lack of defined event types between social or professional and de-prioritization of engagement within events as reasons for their dissatisfaction.

Respondents identify networking opportunities, the variety of events, quality of content or topic, and scheduling as the main contributing factors influencing their satisfaction with Kalamazoo Local Section events.

Half of respondents (54%) identify C&EN as one of their two main reasons for being an ACS member. Just under half, or 46%, highlight local section events and activities as one of their two main reasons for ACS membership. Responses for “other, please specify” (25%) include specific ACS resources or benefits, community, continuation, comfort, and networking as other reasons.

The majority of respondents (70%) consider the Kalamazoo Local Section to provide subject matter related to their community interests. Less than half (41%) consider the Local Section to provide subject matter related to their career interests with one-third (31%) indicating a lack of alignment within the same context.

  • Respondents identify medicine, networking, research presentations and speakers, chemistry education, and mass spectrometry as topics in alignment with their career interests that are offered by the Local Section. Respondents include toxicology, teaching in chemistry and agricultural chemistry as topics of interest not currently offered by the Kalamazoo Local Section.
  • Respondents identify education outreach, WMU, chemical education, resources for students, local research/applications of chemistry, family-friendly topics, and women in chemistry as topics in alignment with their community interests that are offered by the Local Section. Respondents include diversity and community activism as community topics of interest not currently offered by the Kalamazoo Local Section.
  • Respondents identify access to publications or resources such as C&EN, exposure to new research, mentoring, community engagement, career resources, networking, local sections, and insurance as benefits offered by ACS as the most useful to their interests.
  • Just under half of respondents (46%) declare a preference for hybrid participation (a combination of in-person and virtual) in Local Section activities in light of COVID-19. One fifth (21%) of respondents indicate a preference for in-person participation.
  • Half of respondents (54%) would prefer to participate in-person for Local Section events once COVID-19 no longer impacts social engagements.
  • Three-quarters (80%) of respondents indicate email as the preferred method to receive communication from the Kalamazoo Local Section. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents identify the monthly newsletter as their preferred method of Local Section communications.

Demographics

  • Industry: Pharmaceuticals (32%), Education (26%), Other (14%), Agriculture/Food/Beverage (8%), Independent Consulting (5%), Not Directly in Chemistry (5%), Environment/Conservation (3%), Hospital or Clinic (3%), Industrials (3%), Engineering/Construction (1%); other includes fluoropolymer, toxicology, consultant, and retired.
  • Professional Role: Retired (31%), Educator (23%), Staff Scientist (21%), Consultant (11%), Other (6%), Executive (4%), Student/Post-Doc (3%), Laboratory Manager (1%); other includes analyst, director, engineer, disability, and retired.
  • Age: 65+ (40%), 55-64 (23%), 35-44 (11%), 45-54 (10%), 25-34 (10%), prefer not to say (3%), 18-24 (1%)
  • Gender: Male (74%), Female (23%), Prefer not to say (3%)
  • Racial/Ethnic background: White (86%), Prefer not to say (5%), Other (4%), Native or Indigenous American (3%), Latino or Hispanic (3%), African Descent or Black (3%), Asian (1%); Other includes Lithuanian, Middle Eastern, Irish-Lithuanian

KACS and National Election Results

KACS Election Results

  • 2022 Chair-elect: Nicole Burke
  • 2022-23 Secretary: Jacob Kirkendall
  • 2022-24 Alternate Councilor: Tomasz Respondek

ACS National Election Results

  • ACS 2022 President-Elect: Judith C. Giordan, Managing Director and Vice President, ecosVC
  • District V Director (our KACS is in District V): Lisa M. Balbes, Freelance Technical Writer and Editor with Balbes Consultants
  • Director at Large: Natalie LaFranzo, Vice President of Market Development at Cofactor Genomics
  • Director at Large: Lee Latimer, Drug Development Consutant with LHLatimer Consulting

Providing Members with Essential Educational Information

The following is a comment by William J. Greenlee, chair of the Committee on Budget and Finance (B&F) titled “CAS and ACS Publications: Drivers of ACS financial strength” C&E News, October 18, 2021, p. 3

As you will read in the above article, ACS is always striving to provide members and educators with essential educational information on a variety of topics; highlighted below is a new offering regarding safety, a subject applicable in all settings in which chemists work.

Newly Released: On-Demand Lab Safety Instruction

To address the need to introduce critical lab safety skills and set a defined standard for safety, ACS Publications has introduced ACS Essentials of Lab Safety for General Chemistry, a new 90-minute on-demand course, designed by teaching faculty and safety experts from top universities in the U.S., intended to give students the opportunity to learn and practice key concepts in laboratory safety and chemical communication, and to build their confidence before working in the lab for the first time.

Although ACS Essentials of Lab Safety for General Chemistry is designed for students, it also benefits universities and professors, offering assurance that students will develop a sense of personal responsibility for lab safety after completing the lessons. This course is the first of many resources being developed by ACS Publications and ACS Education for the new ACS Center for Lab Safety, one of seven centers in the ACS Institute. Future courses will

support a spiral curriculum, deepening and broadening safety education alongside chemical education. This curriculum will include instruction tailored to teaching assistants, in addition to videos and resources to help create a culture of lab safety, and case studies based on real-world examples.

ACS Members qualify for a discount on the registration fee for ACS Essentials of Lab Safety for General Chemistry. For organization-level deployment, please visit this page to contact the ACS Sales Team. You can request a demonstration and learn about the seamless integration of the course into your institution’s learning management system, so students can begin using the course during the Fall 2021 academic semester.

ZOOM Seminar Presentation: Nanojars

Dr. Gellert Mezei, a full professor of chemistry at Western Michigan University, presented a seminar entitled “Removal of Anionic Contaminants from Water Using Nanojars” to the KACS at noon on October 21. Members and students enjoyed his noon chemistry talk over Zoom.

Dr. Mezei received his B.S. and M.S. chemistry degrees in Romania. He then moved to Puerto Rico and received a Ph.D. under Dr. Raptis at the University of Puerto Rico. Wishing to further his chemistry foundation he joined Dr. Pecoraro for a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. He joined the faculty of Western Michigan University in 2007 and became a full professor in 2019.

His research, funded by the National Science Foundation, explores the selective encapsulation and extraction of anions, including toxic pollutants, such as chromate and arsenate. He captures anions with a novel and highly efficient class of compounds developed and patented by his lab, called “nanojars.” Pyrazoles, five-membered nitrogen heterocycles, serve as the building blocks for nanojars. Key findings of the research include strong binding of highly hydrophilic anions by totally incarcerating the and anion and achieving selectivity among the anions by rigidifying the nanojars. Importantly, extraction of carbon dioxide from water in the form of carbonate by capped-nanojars has been demonstrated. The capped-nanojars were characterized by mass spec, NMR and x-ray crystallography. 

The participants asked many questions as to costs, scale up and to clarification of the beautiful chemistry presented. With a hearty round of applause the audience sounded its appreciation.

News of Activities from the WMU Chemistry Club

By Sydney Collins
2021 club president

This Fall semester has been one full of new challenges as well as opportunities for the Chemistry Club thus far. One challenge in particular was recruitment. The Bronco Bash is an annual event that is held that allows University clubs to advertise their organization and recruit members. This year, Bronco Bash was not able to be held in-person due to the pandemic, which led WMU to get creative. As an alternative, we were able to create virtual booths using a program called Degy World. Students were able to create avatars and roam freely to look at booths and speak with the club representatives. It was a unique experience and we were able to recruit quite a few new members. We were also able to visit various Chemistry classes on campus and speak to students directly to advertise our club to new members.

In October, we had the privilege of hosting Dr. Stull as a guest speaker at our meeting. He discussed the research he is performing in his lab that is investigating specific enzymes and their role in a possible therapy for nicotine addiction. Our next meeting was a pumpkin carving party in which we were able to spend time with the newer members and get to know them. In the future, we will be hosting one more guest speaker who is a current PhD student in organic chemistry at WMU. We also plan on discussing possible research opportunities as well as student resources in the chemistry department in order to ensure that students succeed in our chemistry department.

These next two months hold four separate events that the Chemistry Club will take part in. Three of these events will be school visits where we will visit the elementary school in-person or virtually and perform chemistry experiments and explain them at their age level. The activities that will be performed will include the acetone and styrofoam experiment, elephant toothpaste, the rising-water pressure experiment, slime, the can-implosion experiment, and two different dry ice experiments dealing with dish soap bubbles. Through the demonstration of these experiments, we are able to cover topics such as states of matter, chemical and physical changes, elements in nature, catalysts, pressure and temperature relationships, and heat and energy in reactions. With the help of visuals, body movement, and questions, these young chemists tend to be very engaged during these presentations. The schools we will visit include Prairieview Elementary and Calhoun Christian School in Battle Creek, and Springport Elementary School in Springport.

The fourth event we will be taking part in will be the Junior High Science Day hosted by WMU. This is an annual event where Western hosts middle school children and they view demonstrations put on by the various science departments the campus has to offer. Our demonstrations consist of the same experiments as the elementary school demonstrations, but with more advanced explanations and questions. This event is planned to be held virtually this year. These next two months will be quite busy for the Chemistry Club, and we as a club are looking forward to the new experiences the coming events have to offer us.