June 2022, Vol. 12(6)

Print 🖹 PDF 📄 eBook đŸ“±

Highlights

Hershel Jude Wins Service Award

By Ed Thomas, Ph.D.

The KACS Section Meritorious Service Award recognizes individuals in our section who have selflessly and continuously contributed their time and energy.  Our 2022 awardee is Dr. Hershel Jude. Since the inception of this one-time award in 1989, only 42 section members have won this prestigious award.

Hershel volunteered at the museum demonstrating chemistry experiments and presented a poster at Bell’s KACS Poster Session. With his interest piqued in KACS, he then joined the governance of the section, being elected Chair-Elect in 2018. He planned and hosted our last in-person event for the section at Latitude 42 during early March 2020 [pre-COVID]. This was followed by his leadership as chair during 2020 to conduct monthly executive committee meetings. He also directed us in continuing our awards and seminars by ZOOM. As Past-Chair, he led the program to update our website to a more modern, user friendly and functional platform. He also accepted from Lydia Hines the responsibility to lead the National Chemistry Week activities. He recruited chemists and provided

Hershel Jude (right) receives the 2022 KACS Volunteer Award from past-chair Edward Thomas.
Photo by Doug Williams

chemical resources when needed for Chemistry day, which permitted Annette Hoppenworth to produce a movie that captured a virtual science world of chemistry demonstrations. This was made available to all in our section—which includes Allegan, Kalamazoo and Van Buren Counties. All of this volunteer work occurred while Hershel conducted research at Kalsec in the hops department as a lead research scientist. 

Hershel received his award on May 5 from Ed Thomas, 2021 KACS chair, at the Kalsec research site.

Hewitt Named New President of Bridge Organics Co.

By Ed Hessler, Ph.D.

I retired as president from Bridge Organics Co. in Vicksburg, MI on February 11, 2022 and am very pleased that Brad Hewitt was named President of the company as of that date.

Brad had worked at Upjohn (Pfizer) for 20 years with a BS degree in Chemistry. Because he demonstrated very high chemistry knowledge and productivity, he was promoted to a senior scientist at Upjohn in 1993. Brad came to Bridge Organics in early 2006 and has worked for Bridge ever

since. In addition to his responsibilities as a senior scientist, he was responsible for the planning and execution of a major expansion of the building in 2008-9. From that expansion in our pilot lab, Bridge now has two glass-lined reactors (400L and 800L) capable of -30 degrees C; two hastelloy reactors (400L and 100L) capable of -70 degrees C; and two 120L glass-lined reactors capable of -70 degrees C. These reactors and associated cooling/heating circulators were all found by Brad through his diligent searches of online equipment auctions.

Brad has also greatly expanded his knowledge of the environmental and safety aspects of working with laboratory areas and the large pilot area, and has developed standard process safety reviews for the large equipment.

Brad, who initially interviewed with The Upjohn Company in an effort to return to Michigan, shared the following biographical information:

I received a BS Chemistry degree from University of Michigan in 1984, with Prof. Masato Koreeda, Ph.D. as my senior research advisor. After two years of graduate school at University of California-Berkeley (advisor Prof. Clayton Heathcock, Ph.D.), I decided to interview with The Upjohn Company in order to return to Michigan and pursue a career in industry. 

I joined Chemical Process R&D at The Upjohn Company in 1986 as a chemistry associate. In the years that followed, I had the opportunity to work with Drs. Bruce Pearlman, Joel Huber, and Kevin Henegar, and in 1993 I was promoted into the company’s Ph.D. career path and assigned a lab to lead.  In 1997, my lab became part of Early Process R&D, where we supported Drug Discovery R&D.  When Pfizer discontinued the Pharmaceutical Sciences division in Kalamazoo in 2006 I was pleased to be given an immediate opportunity to join Bridge Organics as a senior scientist and remain in Kalamazoo. In addition to working on developing and scaling chemistry for our customers’ needs, I have served as the Chemical Hygiene Officer since 2007, the Facility Engineer (2009-2015), and VP of Engineering (2015-2021).

Words to the Wise …

Three ingredients for success:

  • The strength of a horse
  • The skin of an elephant
  • The work ethic of a bee

— Sir James Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern U), 2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

“Science doesn’t care if you are cool, rich, or have lots of followers. Science is hard and demanding but amazing and powerful. If this sounds interesting? Maybe you are a future scientist.”

— Adele Luta, Exploration Extravehicular Activities (EVA) Integration Project Manager at Oceaneering, with MS and BS degrees in physics

ACS Leadership Institute: A Note from the Chair-Elect

By Nicole Burke, Ph.D.

I attended the ACS Leadership Institute in Atlanta May 20-22. It was an engaging and exciting opportunity to meet with fellow local section leaders (in person even!) and learn more about ACS and how to better serve our local Kalamazoo section. The weekend was split into networking events, the local section leaders track session, and an elective leadership course. The local section leaders track session addressed topics such as communication, social media, the new ACS membership model, and the NeXus grant program. The primary focus of the track session was collaborative brainstorming sessions for planning successful activities. The main take-away was the excitement and eagerness to return to in-person and hybrid events to foster connections with ACS local sections’ most important assets – our members and communities.

For my leadership course, I selected the Diversity Workshop, a new offering for the 2022 Institute. It was a four-hour session on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect (DEIR) that somehow felt not nearly long enough. The session was so successful in large part due to the clearly established ground rules, which I share here as a resource that we can all utilize in our lives.

For my leadership course, I selected the Diversity Workshop, a new offering for the 2022 Institute. It was a four-hour session on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect (DEIR) that somehow felt not nearly long enough. The session was so successful in large part due to the clearly established ground rules, which I share here as a resource that we can all utilize in our lives. As for the content of the session, ACS has developed a model for DEIR that uses a language we can all relate to – chemistry, particularly that of a reaction coordinate. In this model, professional success and progress can

be envisioned as an endothermic reaction. Within this context, each individual has a unique sense of self that exists at the intersection of many identities. Within society and/or our professional life, these identities may introduce barriers to success and progress. Intersecting identities (e.g. age, race, gender, religion, etc.) may be additive or synergistic to lower an individual’s ground state energy. Traditional D&I initiatives focus on equalizing the

ground state energies via demographics analysis and targets, i.e. % of managers that identify as female. This model focuses on achieving equality through equalizing enthalpy, ΔH. However, true equity requires acknowledgement of varying barriers to success, i.e. different activation energies. This more comprehensive model focuses on achieving equity through equalizing enthalpy, ΔH, and activation energy, EA. In this model, we can look at finding professional ‘catalysts’ to reduce the activation energy. In doing so, it is critical to remember that a catalyst fundamentally works by changing the pathway or mechanism to the end-point, here defined as success.

I look forward to implementing the lessons learned at the 2022 Leadership Institute both in my daily professional life both in service of my workplace and KACS. 

MiSTEM Chemistry Network Meeting

By Doug Williams, Carl Stachew, Blakely Tresca

On May 19, nine KACS members and Pfizer employees met with six high school chemistry teachers from southwest Michigan to discuss new STEM teaching standards and ways that we can help teachers in their classrooms. The meeting was organized by KRESA Science Consultant, Mary Burke. Mary works closely with KRESA’s MiSTEM Regional Director, Diane Owen-Rogers, to manage the Southwest Region of the MiSTEM Network, which is administered under the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

Among the issues raised, teachers indicated that they are seeking assistance with:

  • Project and Phenomenon Based Learning
  • Connecting Science & Engineering Practices (SEP) to Careers
  • Relating HS Chemistry Labs to Workplace Lab Practices
  • Engaging students in the wake of pandemic fatigue and remote learning

We are planning to continue these discussions and follow up with more specific partnership ideas in the coming months. Watch The KalChemist News for future updates and invitations to join in this important piece of our strategic plan. If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact Doug Williams (treasurer@kalamazooacs.org).

Longtime Member Passes Away

Robert (Bob) Kelly, 1974 chairman of the KACS and a 62-year member of the ACS, passed away on May 22, 2022, in Florida. A Memorial Service will be held in Kalamazoo at First Baptist Church on Sunday, June 26 at 1:30 p.m.

ACS CEO Announces Retirement

On May 31, the American Chemical Society (ACS) announced that Thomas Connelly, Jr., Ph.D., will retire from his position as ACS chief executive officer at the end of the year after more than seven years of serving in this role.

Volunteers Needed for Summer Picnic/Annual Meeting

Are you feeling as isolated over the COVID-19 Pandemic as I am? Do you miss getting together with your fellow chemists to discuss science without a screen between you? Do you enjoy planning picnics or social gatherings? Would be willing to help plan one? If your answer to any of the preceding questions is “yes,” I (Hershel Jude) would love to talk with you about an idea that came out of the KACS strategic planning session last fall; KACS is planning a meeting tentatively scheduled for September 2022—which hopefully will become an annual event—that will include a combination of food, drinks, and science. However, we cannot organize this wonderful event without your help! If you are willing to participate, please email Hershel Jude.

Chemistry Day at the Museum Returns—Please Volunteer!

Chemistry Day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum is being planned for Saturday, October 15, 2022, noon to 4 p.m. This event will be held in person for the first time since October 2019! Get ready to educate, entertain, and entice the next generation to the wonders of chemistry and watch the smiles on the faces of children and adults alike! The topic of this year’s National Chemistry Week is Fabulous Fibers: The Chemistry of Fabric. Do you have a great experiment you can share with an audience of 5th to 9th graders? Are you interested in demonstrating one of several experiments that are performed every year at this event (we have a list!)? Do you have no idea what this event is about but are willing to contribute a few hours of your time on a Saturday in October to brighten the day of young aspiring scientists in our community? We need your help to make this event a success. If you are willing to participate please email Hershel Jude.

Fall Speed-Networking Event Being Planned!

Blake Tresca, who has led the organization of recent Speed-Networking events for the KACS is in the process of recruiting volunteer mentors for the Fall event on Tuesday, September 27, from 6-7:30 p.m. on ZOOM.

If you have not participated in prior events and would like to know more about this very helpful outreach to mentor students aspiring to a professional career in chemistry, please contact Blake Tresca at Blakely.Tresca@kzoo.edu. If you have served as a mentor in the past, I am sure that Blake would be delighted to have you contact him with your offer to join this important outreach once again.