Highlights

• the year-end wrap-up by KACS Chair Brian Eklov
• local election results
• Spooky Science at Haverhill Elementary
• the recent Thanksgiving chemistry potluck
• the recent CGSA ice-cream social
• our new communications chair: Chris Pruis

Comments from the Chair

By Brian Eklov

This was a busy year for our Kalamazoo Local Section. We started off the spring with our annual High School Competitive Exam and subsequent Awards Gathering. We honored our 50- and 60-year members, and gave awards to Outstanding Students from local High Schools and from WMU and K College.

We also gave awards to the High School students who placed in our annual competitive exam. I was surprised by the number of sophomore and junior students who have the opportunity to compete again in 2016.

In May, we co-hosted the 2015 Joint Great Lakes / Central Regional Meeting in Grand Rapids. Over seven hundred attendees were on hand for the four hundred papers that were presented in 23 organized symposia. Additionally, a number of workshops, great social activities, and a wonderful panel on climate change were offered. Six members of the local section were on the organizing committee, and the meeting was very well received.

Brian Eklov, Ph.D. (KACS Chair)

Pictures from 2015 Joint Great Lakes/Central Regional Meeting

Pictures from High School Competitive Exam and Awards Gathering

50-year ACS Member Dr. Malcolm W. Moon

2015 Outstanding High School Students

2015 Competitive Scholarship Awardees

In October, our 29^th annual Chemistry Day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum was a great success. Eighty volunteers presented over twenty activities and experiments to 1,000 attendees! Stay tuned for news about our 30^th annual Chemistry Day in October 2016.

We ended the year at Bell's in November for our Recycle-A-Poster event. It was great to see the breadth of science occurring in the local community, and Karson Putt's presentation on inhibiting the progression of malaria was very well received.

In addition to these events, our section also sponsored two Project SEED students this year, we completed our third Climate Science Event for local teachers, we had events at two venues for Chemists Celebrate Earth Day, we co-sponsored Dr. Daniel Rabinovich's Chemistry on Stamps talk a WMU, and we supported both the WMU CGSA Spring Picnic and the Kalamazoo College DowBQ.

Stay tuned, as the first announcements from our 2016 event schedule should be coming your way after the holidays.

Pictures from Chemistry Day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum

Photos by Elena Hines

Elephant toothpaste

Chemiluminsecnece

“UV-sensitive polish on my nails, collecting my goodies.”

Green slime

KACS Election Results

By Angela Willson

23 Members voted in our online election for Alternate Councilor and Secretary. Dr. Doug Williams was elected to continue as our Alternate Councilor and Angela Willson was elected to continue as Secretary. Congratulations to our officers and thank you for your continued service to our local section.

Halloween at Haverhill

By Angela Willson

Haverhill Elementary School in Portage celebrated their second annual Halloween Science Day on October 30^th. They invited Angela Willson to return to kick off the day with a full school assembly. The 450 elementary students experienced spooky science firsthand with many spooky science demonstrations. The focus of our discussion this year was on physical and chemical changes.

The students saw physical changes like dry ice bubbles and pop rocks in soda to see how this is only a physical change as no new carbon dioxide is produced. Doing this demonstration allowed us to break the myth that eating pop rocks and drinking soda will make your stomach explode! The students also got to see chemical reactions like baking soda and vinegar to see how carbon dioxide can be produced through a chemical reaction. The crowd favorite was the Oozing Pumpkin.

Haverhill Elementary School was excited to invite Angela back for another Halloween Science demonstration for next year.

Spooky Science by Angela Willson

450 Haverhill elementary students learn about Spooky science

Spooky Oozing Pumpkin experiment

Thanksgiving Potluck Report

By Sarut Jianrattanasawat

On November 18, 2015 the Chemistry Graduate Student Association (CGSA) hosted a Thanksgiving Potluck for the Chemistry undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff of the Dept of Chemistry at Western Michigan University. The event was an opportunity for international students and their families to celebrate the American Thanksgiving tradition.

The event was successful and well attended. Thank you to KACS for financial support and helping us make this a great event.

Thank you to Kelly Current and Don Kidd for making the turkey for the Thanksgiving potluck.

Welcome Ice-Cream Social Report

By Sarut Jianrattanasawat

On September 25, 2015 the Chemistry Graduate Student Association (CGSA) hosted an ice cream social for the undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff of the Department of Chemistry. The aim of this event was to introduce the new students to the existing student body. With more than 60 people attending, students were able to make new connections, get to know the student organizations as well as catch up with old friends. Thank you KACS for helping us make this a successful event.

New Communications Chair

Introducing Chris Pruis, KACS's New Communications Chair

Hello, Kalamazoo-area chemists! I am excited to be the next local section Communications Chair. While I know it will be nearly impossible to fill David Bolliet's empty seat, I will do my best to keep you informed about community events and news. However, before I get to work, I thought you might like to know a little about me. While I was born and raised right here in Kalamazoo, it was only recently that I was again able to call this place home after nearly twenty years away. So, here is my story…

I attended Valparaiso University where I graduated in 1999 with honors in Chemistry. During two of my undergrad summer vacations I completed internships right here in Kalamazoo at Pharmacia & Upjohn (1998) and Pharmacia (1999) before heading off to graduate school. I completed my doctoral work in Richard Silverman's lab at Northwestern University were I studied MOA-B inactivators (2004). At this point I left the shores of Lake Michigan to live in the desert of Arizona. For ten years I was a full-time teaching faculty at Arizona State University where I oversaw the undergraduate organic chemistry teaching labs (~1200 students) and taught ground and online organic chemistry lectures (~400 students). While at ASU my scholarly interests focused on the use of media in chemical education and on improving ways to mentor developing chemistry educators. In the spring of 2011 I was awarded the College of Liberal Arts and Science's Outstanding Lecturer Award. My involvement with ACS local sections began in Arizona, and for two years (2006 & 2007) I was the Central Arizona local section chair.

Despite my positive experiences in Arizona, in the spring of 2014 I left my Senior Lecturer position at ASU to pursue a new challenge as the Chemistry Subject Matter Expert at W. W. Norton and Co, an employee-owned publishing company based out of Manhattan. I work out of my home assisting our online homework faculty users with their courses and developing new chemistry multi-media learning tools with the Norton product team and editorial staff. This new position gave our family the freedom to move back to this much colder climate. (I personally did not like the 120 degree summers!) When not working, I enjoy spending time with my husband Tim, my two children (8 and 6 years old), and my two dogs. Some of my hobbies include reading, rug weaving, home re-modeling (Tim and I flipped three homes in AZ), hiking, bargain-shopping, and meeting new people!

That being said…I look forward to meeting you at an upcoming local section event!