Don’t Miss These March Events!
- March 14, Monday: Registration opens for Central Regional Meeting (June 7-10, Ypsilanti, MI)
- March 20-24: Spring ACS Meeting, hybrid format, San Diego. Registration is still open.
- March 21, Monday: EC Meeting, 7 p.m. (contact Ben Maxey)
Professor Daniela M. Arias-Rotondo Gives Overview of Research
Dr. Daniela M. Arias-Rotondo, assistant professor of chemistry at Kalamazoo College, presented an overview of her research in photoredox catalysis on February 16, 2022. Dr. Arias-Rotondo is from Argentina and received her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. She then received a Ph.D. at Michigan State under Prof James K. McCusker, followed by a postdoc at Princeton with Dr. David W. C. MacMillan (2021 Nobel Laureate). She explained how ruthenium was originally used for these reactions, but iridium proved to be a superior catalyst. Dr. Arias-Rotondo then explained how these catalysts could provide photosensitized energy transfer-mediated catalysis through electronically excited nickel (II) to form oxygen-aryl bonds from carboxylic acids and aryl halides (for the original paper see: D.M. Arias-Rotondo, et al., Science 2017, 355, 380-385). All on the ZOOM meeting appreciated hearing the enthusiasm with which Dani (as she likes to be called) shared her research work with us and gave her a hearty round of applause.
KalChemist News: An ACS Member Benefit
Did you know that The KalChemist News is a benefit of being a member of ACS/KACS?
Any ACS member whose address of record at ACS is in a zip code within Kalamazoo, Allegan and VanBuren Counties is assigned to the Kalamazoo Local Section of the ACS (or KACS); changes in mailing addresses, e-mail addresses or telephone numbers should be reported to service@acs.org (or call 1-800-333-9511).
Personal Career Consulting with ACS Career Consultants
ACS Virtual Office Hours are held the first Thursday of every month at 12pm ET, and feature a presentation from an ACS Career Consultant for the first 45 minutes, followed by small networking breakout sessions led by Career Consultants for the remaining 45 minutes. Register for the 2022 themes today!
Connect 1:1 with ACS Career Consultants for Personalized Career Advice
Continue the discussion and sign up for a Personal Career Consulting appointment! This ACS Member-only program allows you to arrange a one-on-one appointment with a certified ACS Career Consultant.
Our diverse team of Consultants provide personalized career advice to ACS Members through resume reviews, mock interviews, LinkedIn profile reviews, and general career counseling sessions. Browse our Career Consultant roster and request your appointment today!
Job Posting: Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Kalamazoo College invites applications for a one-year appointment as a Visiting Assistant Professor to teach general and organic chemistry. The position will begin September 2022 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry, or the equivalent is required (or evidence of imminent completion). For more information click here. Questions may be addressed to Dwight Williams at dwight.williams@kzoo.edu.
Do You Want to Help a Chemistry Teacher? Let’s Talk!
Action has started on one of our major objectives (Education outreach) identified at last Fall’s Strategic Planning session. Below is a letter to our members regarding the progress made on this objective and requesting some assistance as we move forward.
By: Doug Williams and Carl Stachew
Are you interested in motivating young science students to enrich our world through chemistry? We think that one of the best ways is to support their teachers, so KACS set this as a primary goal in our 2021 strategic plan. To develop this goal more effectively, we have been meeting with some of our local science education administrators for advice and support.
The Michigan Department of Education’s K-12 science standards (MSS) were updated in 2015 and emphasize a transition to query and project-based learning that gives more relevance to scientific principles, uses a wider variety of sources (not just a textbook) and requires more writing and presentation of results. Even though it has been over five years since adoption of the new standards, our regional teachers are still challenged to find quality instruction materials that are aligned with them. A concise version of MSS for Principals suggests potential helping opportunities that seem particularly suitable for KACS member engagement. These include:
- Finding and/or supplementing high quality instructional materials that are suited to specific curricular goals.
- Avoiding/troubleshooting technical problems encountered in using new instructional materials.
- Identifying high quality professional learning materials or development opportunities that are suited to a teacher’s personal needs and interests.
- Answering instructor or student questions about the relevance of classroom activities.
- Providing advice on careers in chemistry and possibly offering workplace tours, job shadowing, student internships, where applicable.
We believe that KACS members have a lot to offer to our area teachers. If you would like to learn more and/or be part of our planning process, please contact either of us by email or phone (see below).
Doug Williams, treasurer@kalamazooacs.org, (269) 760-2360
Carl Stachew, carl.f.stachew@pfizer.com, (269) 720-0984