• Chemistry Day at the Museum: This Month!
• Recycle-a-Poster Event Coming to Bell’s November 6
• Get a 30% Discount on ACS Membership
• Great Lakes Regional Meeting 2025
• Update of KACS’ Bylaws is Complete
• KACS Calendar
Chemistry Day at the Museum: This Month!
By Hershel Jude and Carol Guerrero
Chemistry Day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum will be held on October 19, 2024. This event will be held in person from noon to 4 p.m. Get ready to educate, entertain, and entice the next generation to the wonders of chemistry and watch the smiles form on the faces of children and adults alike! Do you have a great experiment you can share with an audience of 4th to 9th graders? Are you interested in demonstrating one of several experiments that are performed every year at this event? Do you have no idea what this event is about but are willing to contribute a few hours of your time on a Saturday afternoon in October to brighten the day of young scientists in our community? We need your help to make this event a success. If you are willing to participate, please email Hershel Jude or Carol Guerrero.
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum does not require participating vendors to obtain a background check for this event; however, all ACS members participating as vendors must follow the ACS Volunteer & Participant Code of Conduct.
Recycle-a-Poster Event Coming to Bell’s November 6
By Tomasz Respondek
The Kalamazoo Section of the American Chemical Society presents Sustainable Science – Recycle a Poster on Wednesday, November 6 from 5-9 p.m. at Bell’s Eccentric Café, 355 E Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49007. The event is free and open to the public, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres provided.
The keynote presentation will be “Identifying causes and novel therapeutic strategies for treatment-resistant cancers” by Dr. Carrie Graveel.
Dr. Carrie Graveel is a Senior Research Scientist at the Van Andel Research Institute and the Assistant Dean of the Van Andel Institute Graduate School in Grand Rapids. Her scientific career began as a Chemistry Major at Kalamazoo College where she was a Dow Chemical Foundation Scholar and Goldwater Fellow. Dr. Graveel obtained her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the last two decades, her research has focused on the oncogenic signaling pathways that drive both sarcoma and breast cancer progression and treatment resistance. Dr. Graveel has numerous publications on the adaptive molecular mechanisms that promote cancer progression, including several with pharmaceutical collaborators. In this talk, Dr. Graveel will discuss her current oncology research and the opportunities and serendipitous events that led her passion for science into a career as a scientist.
5-7 p.m. Poster Setup, Registration, Reception
6:45 p.m. KACS Announcements
7 p.m. Keynote Speaker: Carrie Graveel, PhD
8 p.m. Prize Announcement
8-9 p.m. Poster Session, Network with Scientists and Speaker
Current ACS members, poster presenters, and Zoetis employees are eligible for two complimentary drink tickets (alcoholic beverages for 21 years and older)
For questions please email symposium@kalamazooacs.org. Funding has been provided through a generous grant from Zoetis.
How to Submit a Poster
Newly prepared or “recycled” posters are welcome from all attendees, though undergraduate and graduate students are especially encouraged to participate. Student presenters who submit their abstract (100-200 words) by Sunday, November 3, 2024 can win a $50 cash prize! (3 student presenters will receive a prize)
To reserve an easel, presenters should email the following information to symposium@kalamazooacs.org by Sunday, November 3, 2024:
· The poster title
· Author list with the presenter underlined and an asterisk (*) for the lead PI
· Institution information
· An abstract to enter the prize drawing
More information is available on the KACS website at https://www.kalamazooacs.org/.
Get a 30% Discount on ACS Membership
By Doug Williams
Now that I am retired, I occasionally wonder why I still read C&E News every week – not every article, of course – but I’m happy when it shows up in my email. What would my adult children do if I stopped sending them my favorite story each week? How would they get through life without a proper appreciation of chemistry? If you’re reading this, you may already know of many ways that ACS and the Kalamazoo local section support professional member growth, accelerate paths to chemical education, and increase public awareness of the value of chemistry. Members are vital for this work.
Recently we received a memorandum from ACS’ “Component Services” saying that they were initiating an ACS membership campaign that runs from October 1, 2024, through November 15, 2024: If you renew or upgrade to Standard or Premium membership during this period, you will receive a 30% discount on the membership fee. To redeem your discount:
1. Visit https://membership.join.acs.org
2. You will be prompted to log in using your ACS ID (username/password). If you don’t have one or forget your login, click the appropriate link on the login page
3. On the Review step of the application, enter the following code to apply the discount to your ACS dues: LSGROW24
After considering this offer, please share it with others in your network who may not be current members but might be interested in ACS. The discount applies to new memberships too! Thank you.
Great Lakes Regional Meeting 2025
Planning for the program is under way for the Great Lakes Regional Meeting in Appleton, WI, June 4-6, 2025; the theme is Chemistry for a Better Planet and it is being cohosted by the Central and the Northeast Wisconsin Sections of the ACS. This meeting will bring more than 400 chemists from industry, academia, and government sectors together.
A tentative list of symposium topics is in the photo below. If you would like to organize a symposium on one of those topics, or on a different topic, please send one of the organizers below an email with your contact information and your topic(s) of interest. We would also like to hear from you if you would be willing to preside over a session but are not currently interested in organizing a symposium.
The general co-chairs Katie McGarry (kmcgarry@uwsp.edu) and Matt Hammers (hammersm@uwosh.edu), as well as the program co-chairs, Jennifer Mihalick (mihalick@uwosh.edu) and Bree Lybbert (lybbertb@uwgb.edu) would very much appreciate your involvement as speaker, symposium organizer, exhibitor, sponsor. More information may be found by emailing glrm2025@gmail.com or visiting https://greatlakesregion-acs.org/event-welcome/glrm-2025.
Update of KACS’ Bylaws is Complete
By Jake Kirkendall
In the September issue of The KalChemist News we shared that updates to the Bylaws had been proposed by the ACS Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B). After adjustments of minor wording errors in that proposed document, the KACS Executive committee voted on the revision of the bylaws and was able to pass them unanimously. C&B officially approve the new KACS Bylaws on September 26, 2024 and these may now be found at https://kalamazooacs.org/bylaws/.
Thanks to all who participated in the working and editing sessions, as well as to those who were able to catch needed minor wording adjustments and typos. Your work on this was invaluable.