Highlights

• our upcoming SciMix poster session and lecture
• our recent Chemistry Day at the Museum event
• our recent school outreach activities

Comments from the Chair

Sustainable Science - Recycle a Poster

By Elke Schoffers

Attend This Award Winning ACS Event on Tues 15 Nov

Bell's Eccentric Café
355 E Kalamazoo Ave
Complimentary hors d'oeuvres
Free and open to the public

Sci-Mix Poster Session on Tuesday 15 Nov (5-9pm)

• 5-7 pm Poster Setup, Registration, Reception
• 7-8 pm Keynote Speaker (Dr. Tom L. McTier, Zoetis)
• 8-9 pm Poster Session, Network with Scientists and Speaker
• 8 pm $50 Prize Announcement

Discovery and Development of Simparica^®

A Novel Companion Animal Isoxazoline Parasiticide

Dr. McTier is currently Therapeutic Area Head for Companion Animal Parasitology, and Research Director in Global Therapeutics Research, Veterinary Medicine Research and Development at Zoetis in Kalamazoo, MI. He will discuss the discovery and development of sarolaner (Simparica^®) in Zoetis' labs here in Kalamazoo. This drug is a novel isoxazoline derivative and has unique structural features important for its potency and pharmacokinetic (PK) properties.

Funding provided through a generous grant by

You are invited to a 75th birthday celebration

By Lydia E. M. Hines

Our Kalamazoo Section of the American Chemical Society (KACS) will be celebrating its 75th anniversary with a dinner event on the main floor of the Air Zoo (6151 Portage Road) on the evening of Thursday, 23 February 2017. We anticipate a presentation on the SR-71, the Executive Director of the ACS will join our celebration, and we will have access to 4 of the Air Zoo's event experiences for those who would like to take advantage of them. Please plan to join many of your fellow KACS members for this special party!

Report: 30th Chemistry Day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum

By Lydia E. M. Hines (KACS) and Annette Hoppenworth, (KVM)

Though it was a beautiful Fall afternoon with many competing events in the Kalamazoo, MI, area, for four hours beginning at noon on October 8 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum we saw a large number of enthusiastic visitors of all ages; they were treated to a smorgasbord of 23 hands-on activities which included 6 in an area that required a solution to a "mystery" heist. This was all the result of the hard work and enthusiasm shown by about 60 volunteers, approximately half of whom were high school and college/university students :) Their availability to work with our public and to show them how much they love chemistry was exemplary! The smiles on the children's faces, and their accompanying adults' expressed thanks, were the icing on the cake for the afternoon. The museum staff are still talking about it. The level of engagement and family interaction surpassed all past programs - it was noteworthy that parents were not on their phones but actually working and talking with their children. We heard several patrons ask what colleges to go to so that they could become a chemist. Most of our visitors were here for at least two hours during the 4-hour program. According to the latest count we reached somewhere around 700, with over 500 people doing the CSI mystery.

Enjoy some photos from the 2016 Chemistry Day, courtesy of Elena Meadows:

Making Instant Snow

Making Bath Bombs (AKA baking soda & acid)

Dancing Milk

Forensics: Fingerprinting

Forensics: Crime Tape

2017 Great Lakes Regional Meeting

By Graeme R. A. Wyllie, General Chair, ACS Great Lakes Regional

Greetings from the 2017 GLRM

It's time to get an update for the 2017 GLRM. Feel free to share this with any interested colleagues and contact me if you have any questions (wyllie@cord.edu). The meeting will be June 27-30th held at the Holiday Inn in Fargo, North Dakota, so save the date. Some specific updates in what will be an at least monthly email keeping people in the loop as to all things GLRM2017.

Symposia

Symposium Sessions need to be submitted by Dec 15 th to Seth Rasmussen, contact information and the list of Symposia to date can be found at http://www.glrm2017.com/symposia.html. If you wish to propose a session especially for a specific topic, contact Seth at the link provided. While our overarching theme is Energy and Sustainability, we are still interested in anything that will bring together colleagues from the region to share their science. We are also still looking for people to host some of the general papers in the divisions or review papers. Contact Seth if interested in helping out.

Awards

We plan to award a number of regional awards at the meeting including the Stanley Israel award, the P3 Award, the High School Teacher Award and E. Ann Nalley Award for Service to the ACS Region. Details on all of these can be found at http://www.glrm2017.com/awards.html. We will be more actively soliciting for nomination packages soon but for now, check out the awards and if you have suitable nominations, it's a chance to begin preparing the packet. We look forward to seeing you in Fargo in 2017.

We look forward to seeing you in Fargo in 2017.

Report: Two School Outreach Programs

By Lydia Hines

Lake Center Elementary

In mid-September of 2016 the chair of the PTO at Lake Center Elementary in Portage contacted the KACS leadership to ask for our help in their first-ever undertaking to present a successful evening of Science- Technology- Engineering- and Math-learning for their students and their families, in an I ❤ STEM event at that school. We are very pleased to inform you that we sent them a $300 cash donation, as well as supplied them with written materials for participants to take home and continue their science learning there (500 copies of Celebrating Chemistry focused on Forensic Science experiments, and 500 copies focused on how chemistry is integral to the Colors we observe around us). Additionally, students from the WMU ChemClub happily agreed to present hands-on activities which helped the children and their parents make slime, as well as change common pennies to "gold" pennies. Pfizer chemists rallied to our request as well and offered chemistry-related activities such as "acid/base indicators" and "Instant Snow (super-absorbent polymer)".

The school's PTO did a yeoman job of assembling together MANY southwest Michigan organizations which represent each of the aspects of STEM, and the crowd of more than 800 attendees during the evening was busily engaged at each of the 35 stations set up throughout both floors of the school. Each of the Lake Center Elementary students who came got a bag of at least 7 items to take home to continue their science learning; as one parent excitedly replied as she was pulled by her children into one of the areas, "the kids really wanted to come, and after all, this is real science learning". It was obvious that the PTO was most appreciative for our generous participation, as was the enthusiastic crowd on that evening of October 20.

Arcadia Elementary

In late October a Chemistry Graduate Student, a member of the Iraqi Student Association at WMU, who had attended our Chemistry Day at the Museum, requested and received written materials to supplement his presentation on chemistry careers to about 60 Arcadia Elementary School Students.

Report: Ice Cream Social Event at WMU

On September 30, 2016, 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 at WMU; the aim of this event was to introduce the new students to the existing chemistry family. With more than 60 people in attendance, students were able to make new connections, get to know the student organization, as well as catch up with old friends. Thank you to KACS for helping to defray some of the cost of this successful event.