Request for nominations for 2012 officers

The St Louis Section of the American Chemical Society requests nominations for officers, directors, councilors, and alternate councilors to stand for election in the Fall of 2011. If you would like to nominate someone, including yourself, for any or all of these offices, please fill in the nominating ballot and mail it, postmarked no later than June 15, 2011 to:

Dr Pat Burrell-Standley
1716 Eldon Ridge Court
Chesterfield, Mo 63017

You may also type and save your entries in the nominating ballot, and email the file to the Secretary (sec@stlacs.org). While it will be difficult to assure your anonymity as a nominator, your identity will be removed before the ballot is forwarded to the Nominating Committee.

Outstanding Scientist Award to Sigma-Aldrich Chemist

St Louis Section–ACS member Ettigounder (Samy) Ponnusamy, PhD, Principal Scientist at Sigma-Aldrich, received the 2011 James B Eads Award for his work in the chemistry of polyamino acids. The award, administered by the Academy of Sciences of Saint Louis, was presented on April 13 at the Starlight Ballroom of the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

His many patents are used by at least 10 global companies in drug delivery systems. Samy was also cited for design, improvement, and scale-up of novel drug delivery polyamino acids to advance new medical devices and chemical entities for treating cancer, diabetes, and heart disease; for vaccine therapies; for commitment to green chemistry, conservation, and waste minimization; and for novel green chemistry technologies. One such innovation, an efficient and green synthesis, has led to a safe and less toxic formulation of paclitaxel, a leading oncology drug in the US. Congratulations, Samy!

Illinois Jr Academy of Science, Chemistry Winners

reported by Sheryl J Loux, Science Fair Awards Coordinator

The 2011 Illinois Junior Academy of Science Region 12 Science Fair, March 26 at SIU–Edwardsville, hosted over 200 projects in two tiers from a 10-county area. We’re pleased to announce the winners of the special Chemistry Award winners at this fair.

• Grades 9–12
  • 1st Place–Jialing Zhou, Viscosity, Surface Tension and Temperature, Grade 12, Governor French Academy, O’Fallon, IL
  • 2nd Place–Austin Bundy, Which liquid produces the highest voltage in an electrolytic cell?, Grade 10, Waterloo High School, Waterloo, IL
  • 3rd Place–Martina Hukel, The Boiling Rates of Water with Additives, Grade 9, Governor French Academy, O’Fallon, IL
• Grades 5–8
  • 1st Place–Max Schrader, Does iron have a higher average Curie temperature than nickel or gadolinium?, Grade 8, Waterloo Jr High School, Waterloo, IL
  • 2nd Place–Elizabeth Bockler, The Decay of Jolly Ranchers, Grade 5, Good Shepherd Lutheran School, Collinsville, IL
  • 3rd Place–Michael Dizon, Does sodium content affect electrical resistance and conductivity in beverages?, Grade 6, St Francis/Holy Ghost Catholic School, Jerseyville, IL
  • Honorable mention–
    • Mikayla Goodwin, Cut flower longevity: which water treatment will help cut flowers live the longest?, Grade 6, Marissa Elementary School, Marissa, IL
    • Amy Grandidier, Vitamin C Titration, Grade 8, Mount Olive Elementary/Jr High School, Mount Olive, IL

The Science Fair season heads toward its close with the last and largest fair, the Greater Saint Louis Science Fair, May 4, at Greensfelder Recreation Complex, Queeny Park, 550 Weidman Rd, Ballwin, MO. If you’re coming late to the realization that, yes, you really do want to help judge science fair projects this year, volunteer by contacting Sheryl J Loux at 636.237.5149 or email sjloux@gmail.com. These events are real team efforts; your participation as a judge would be greatly appreciated!

Report from Awards Night Banquet

Part of the 113-strong crowd at Awards Night, watches, listens, and ducks, as Bob Becker touts the magic of chemistry.

Bob Becker sometimes frightens even himself during his demos—or so it seems.

Awards Night was held on Monday, April 11, at Maggiono’s Little Italy, repeating the venue from last year. After dinner, Chair-elect Eric Bruton introduced the speaker. A crowd officially counted at 113 people watched as Bob Becker, Kirkwood High School chemistry teacher, 1997 winner of the ACS James Bryant Conant teaching award, and 2010 Missouri Teacher-of-the-Year, entertained and enlightened with a series of chemistry demonstrations that made liberal use of fire and loud noises. He showed us that gases and flames can be poured. He asked if sound could also be poured. He showed us how his demonstrations worked to help students understand chemistry better. He even showed some glowing methanol vapors and fiery methane gas bubbles rising to the ceiling.

Myron Reese introduced the winners of the high school chemistry contest. The top student in the advanced division was Uttara Chakraborty, a student who was home schooled. Nathan Peck’s students from Clayton High School dominated the advanced awards. We are grateful to Jane Bené and Gina Misuraca, who distributed monetary awards provided by ADACIOM. Michael Hauser presented awards to nine outstanding junior students from area colleges and universities and one to the outstanding chemical technology student from Florissant Valley Community College.

In addition to the awards mentioned in the article, winners of the Marcus Award competition were also feted: (left to right) Dr Mike Lewis, Michael Watson, Catherine Entriken, Trent Parker, Rebecca Grout, Alexander Cioffi, Dr Dana Baum, Dr Bruce Kowert, Dr Istvan Kiss, Dr Scott Martin, Douglas Kirkpatrick, and David Wetzel. Kirkpatrick was the winner of the Marcus Award; Watson, Entriken, Parker, Grout, Cioffi, and Wetzel were finalists. Lewis was Parker’s advisor, Baum advised Entriken and Grout, Kowert advised Watson and was the 2011 Marcus Chair, Kiss advised Cioffi, and Martin advised Kirkpatrick. Not picture is Dr Shelley Minteer, who advised Wetzel.

John Gleason, Awards chair, presented Kathleen Dwyer, winner of the 2010-2011 Award for High School Chemistry Teaching. Ms Dwyer teaches chemistry in the Maplewood–Richmond Heights School District. She received awards in 2007 as Educator of the Year from the Missouri Consortium for Science Research and The Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District. In 2008, she received the Pfizer Award as Science Teacher of the Year. She has also worked on scientific programs and projects in Belize and Colombia. In addition to numerous extracurricular activities in science, Kathleen has been involved in community volunteer activities such as Speakers for Science, Girl Scouts, and children’s art events and theatrical productions.

We want to thank Virginia Kirwin for coordinating the high school award process for the past few years. We are grateful to Pat Burrell-Standley and Vic Lewchenko for tracking awardees and their guests, and providing all with name tags.

Reminder: cross-section picnic

Remember the picnic: June 18, 12 noon to 5 pm at the Chinese Shelter, Tower Grove Park (#7 on the park map)! A cross-section of our section—newbies and long-timers; young and ... less young; chemists and non; adults and children; hotdoggers and hamburgerers; beer-sippers, soda-swillers, and pure-water purists—will defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics to share picnic fare, soda, beer, games, talk. Bring the family! Just $5 per person (kids under 12 free). Please reserve by June 13th so we can plan for food and drink, and crowd control. Questions and reservations to:

Jeff Cornelius
1 Maybeck Place
Principia College
Elsah, IL 62028
email jeff.cornelius@prin.edu

Undergraduate Research Symposium reports

“Outstanding Poster” winners Brian Kamusinga, Meghan Murray, Godfred Fianu, and Angela Hoynacki flank Section Chair Jeff Cornelius.

The 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium was held on April 9 at St Louis Community College–Florissant Valley. Approximately 20 persons attended the event. Outstanding poster presentations were Thermodynamic Parameters for the Formation of RNA Duplexes with Triple Nucleotide Bulges by Meghan H Murray, Evaluating Methods of Extracting Eugenol from Cloves by Godfred Fianu, Thermodynamic Characterization of RNA Duplexes containing Non-natural 1x2 Nucleotide Internal Loops by Angela Hoynacki, and Analysis of Color Degradation in Paper and Artwork by Brian Kamusinga. Meghan Murray and Angela Hoynacki are working under the direction of Dr Brent Znosko at Saint Louis University. Godfred Fianu and Brian Kamusinga are working under the supervision of Dr Jeffrey Cornelius at Principia College. Photographed are the award recipients with Section Chair Jeff Cornelius.

Chemistry at the Illinois State Fair? [Hint: yes!]

One Bond Brief to carry us through the hazy days of summer:

The Chicago Section—with support from several other local sections with territory in Illinois—has been staging a booth at the Illinois State Fair each year since 2004. The ACS booth is located in the Conservation World part of the State Fair grounds, and is open to the public during the entire Fair. The booth features continuous chemical demo shows, hands-on science activities for the public, free chemistry newsletters and brochures for students and teachers, an opportunity to take a chemistry quiz on a computer and win a prize, and information for high school teachers seeking continuing education credits.

The Saint Louis Section has often had volunteers to help staff the booth. Volunteers are sought to work in the booth for four-hour sessions to help present the hands-on activities, greet visitors, and distribute materials. Volunteers receive free admission and are able to park in the exhibitor lot. A detailed webpage, including many photos of activities in the booth from prior years, a 2011 schedule, and information on how to volunteer can be found at: chicagoacs.net/statefair/. The 2011 Illinois State Fair is scheduled for August 12-21 in Springfield, Illinois.

Kids and Chemistry and Chemists Celebrate Earth Day: a nice mixture

The Kids and Chemistry program gave a big assist to Chemists Celebrating Earth Day at the Science Center on Saturday, April 23. About 700 kids and grownups cycled through one or more of the activities: Enzymes Aid Digestion and Cleaning led by Sheryl Loux, Starch Scavenger Hunt led by Chris Glass, and Air Molecules Crushing Cans led by Don Sartor.

Board of Directors

St Louis Section–ACS Board of Directors meets the second Thursday of each month, usually at the Glen Echo Country Club ( map). Meetings are open to all members, and all are encouraged to attend. Elected officers and chairs of major committees vote on questions put to the Board; others in attendance have voice but no vote.

If you want to attend for dinner, please contact the section Chair at least a week in advance. Usual cost of the dinner is $24 ($12 for post-docs and unemployed members). Members wishing to become active in section activities are welcomed for their first dinner as guests of the section.

Date: May 12
Social hour: 5:30 pm
Dinner: 6:30 pm
Business meeting: 7:15 pm
Future meetings: June 18 (picnic, not actually a meeting), Sep 8, Oct 13

Saint Louis University

Seminars are on Fridays at 12 noon in Carlo Auditorium, Tegeler Hall, unless noted otherwise. Refreshments follow. For more information, contact Ryan McCulla, rmccull2@slu.edu.

Sigma-Aldrich Lecture Series
Marcetta Y Darensbourg, Texas A & M University
May 5, 4 pm, Carlo Auditorium, Carlo Tegeler Hall, Saint Louis University
Hydrogen Evolving Catalysis: Insights from Nature
May 6, 9:30 am, Sigma-Aldrich Learning Center Room 1610, 2909 Laclede Street, St Louis
When Iron Met NO: Good Chemistry, Intriguing Biology

University of Missouri–St Louis

Mondays at 4 pm in 451 Benton Hall, unless otherwise specified. Refreshments 15 minutes prior to seminar time. For more information, contact the Chemistry Department, 314.516.5311.

May 2
24th Distinguished Alumni Lecture
Elizabeth Amin, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota
Chemistry and Homeland Security

Washington University

Seminars are in McMillen 311 at 4 pm unless otherwise noted. For information, contact: Liviu Mirica, mirica@wustl.edu.

May 12
Greg Engel, University of Chicago
Imaging Excited State Dynamics: Uncovering Design Principles behind Quantum Biology

About the Chemical Bond

The Chemical Bond is published at www.stlacs.org January through May and September through December by the St Louis Section–American Chemical Society. If you would like to receive email notification when each issue is posted, you can subscribe to the bond.remind listserv. You can also follow the link to “Manage bond.remind options” from the home page at www.stlacs.org.

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