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NEW!

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NEW!

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</echo> Opportunity for Personal and Career Growth

We are thrilled to announce the new Leadership Development Forum (LDF). Debuting this month, LDF is planned as a modular series of sessions. Each module concentrates on one aspect of leadership, which is, according to Donald McGannon, Chairman of Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, “action, not position.” The programs should appeal to members at all stages of their careers, whether your job demands leadership qualities, you aspire to such a job, or you just want to be better at the people skills you use every day.

Modules will typically consist of three sessions: a seminar will introduce the topic; a book discussion will link theory to your own experiences; and a dynamic workshop will help you practice the basic and complex principles of effective leadership. There will be two modules per year.

The kickoff module is titled Management vs Leadership. The introductory seminar, presented by Dan Coombes, Leadership Development Lead at Monsanto, and Lucinda (Cindy) Buhse, Director, FDA Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis, is on September 27 at 6 pm in the Conner Auditorium, Farrell Learning & Teaching Center, on the Washington University School of Medicine campus (map to parking and the venue). A reception with dinner and opportunities to network will accompany each event. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required.

The remainder of this inaugural module will play out as (2) a discussion of the book, The Extraordinary Leader on October 18, and (3) a uniquely magical leadership workshop on November 29. All sessions begin at 6 pm and will last approximately 2½ hours. You do not want to miss any of these scheduled events, so mark your calendars now. Join us for all three sessions to cultivate your own leadership potential.

As this forum series sprouts wings, the most up-to-date information about the current module — what, where, when, who, and how to register — will be found on the special LDF page of the Section website.

We look forward to evenings filled with energetic, constructive, and entertaining events, so register and come on out! The Leadership Development Forum is supported by the national ACS through an Innovative Project Grant.

’Tis the season for Chemistry Career Night

The 2012 Chemistry Career Night, organized and hosted by the YCC, will convene on Thursday, September 20, 6–8:30 pm, at St Louis College of Pharmacy, Jones Building, Room 1390.

Program:

• Presentations by experts
  • Samuel Achilefu, PhD, Professor of Radiology, Washington Univ School of Medicine
  • Andrew Thomas, BS, Chemical Engineering Technician, USDA Agricultural Research Service
  • Gale Starkey, PhD, Scientific Advisor & Patent Agent, Global Patent Group, LLC
  • Zachary Stacy, PharmD, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, St Louis College of Pharmacy
• Question-and-answer session
• Food and beverages

Attendance and parking are free, but preregistration is required. Please register by September 18th at bit.ly/CCN2012. A link to directions and parking instructions is included in the registration page. If you want to get the word out to colleagues, please print the one-page flyer for this event.

Brotherly Love Notes

Here are some items of interest from the 244th National ACS meeting in Philadelphia last month. Most of this was taken from the Councilor Talking Points document that Councilors can use to report to local sections about the meeting. Councilor Talking Points documents are posted on our website, if you’re interested in the unexpurgated version.

Official attendance at the Philadelphia national meeting was 13,320, including 7,817 regular attendees and 3,177 students. The residue (so to speak) of 2,326 comprises exhibitors and members in special dues categories, including retired, emeritus, and unemployed.

The Career Fair drew 44 employers, representing a total of 144 open positions. There were 829 members registered as job seekers. The ratio of seekers to jobs, 5.76:1, is better (if you’re a job seeker) than the 8.76:1 ratio at ACS San Diego. That’s for the physical Career Fair. The online Career Fair registered 1,499 job seekers for 41 jobs at 13 different employers.

In a review of standing committees, Council voted to continue the Committee on Chemists with Disabilities and the Committee on Professional Training, and to establish a Senior Chemists Committee.

ACS President Bassam Shakhashiri hosted a symposium, Communicating Controversial Science, honoring Rudy Baum on the occasion of his retirement as Editor-in-Chief and Head Lightning Rod of C&E News.

Picnic Doings

Of course we had our picnic, the 8th Annual, during the summer hiatus! June 9th was even a decent day, before the summer turned its dial to “sear and sere”.

Jeff Cornelius hosted/organized for an unprecedented second straight time. Not because he’s the Section’s answer to Martha Stewart, but because last year, as Chair, he stepped into the void left by departing Past Chair Shelley Minteer, whose job it would have been to host/organize. But don’t feel bad for him. He recruited help (again) from his summer students, a personable, hard-working lot.

The turnout was good, with a pleasant mix of old faithful and fresh new faces. Admittedly, it was nothing compared to the St Louis Pagans, who were also picnicking at the east end of Tower Grove Park on the same day. Parking. Was. [Interesting].

So, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering ... who was there? and where are the pictures? Well ... not ones to sweep our failings under the rug, we have to own up: we lost the few decent photos we took that day, and we were relying on those photos to jog our memories so we could write this here report.

End of report.

Greater St Louis Science Fair report

belated but pertinent

reported by Sheryl J Loux, Science Fair Coordinator

For more than 60 years, the Greater St Louis Science Fair has been an amazing catalyst for students in kindergarten through high school. More than 55,000 students in the St Louis area participate each year in this science fair. In 2012, more than 1,700 top projects selected by their schools, representing 250 public, private and home schools, were on display in the Greensfelder Recreation Complex at Queeny Park during the first week of May. High school students with honors-level projects also compete for scholarship awards and represent the St Louis area at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

The St Louis Section–ACS gives special recognition to the best chemistry-related projects, independent of overall judging. K–5 elementary awards are not judged; each participant receives a letter of participation and a purple ribbon. Secondary school winners receive a certificate and a book; in addition, First Place receives a one-year membership to the Saint Louis Science Center for Friends and Family. Honorable Mentions receive a participation letter and ribbon.

• Grades 9-12 Honors Division
  • First Place: Mrigank Gupta, The Effect of Different Types of Separators on Power Produced in a Microbial Fuel Cell with Brewery Wastewater Substrate, Grade 12, Parkway West High School, Ballwin, MO
  • Second Place: Isha Pathak, The Effect of Monovalent and Divalent Ions on the Tetrameric Stability of KirBac1.1 Protein, Grade 11, Parkway South High School, Manchester, MO
  • Third Place: Jasmine Raskas, Analysis of Gas Phase Diatomic Molecules by Intracavity Laser Spectroscopy, Grade 12, Clayton High School, Clayton, MO


Honors 2nd place winner Isha Pathak



Honors 3rd place winner Jasmine Raskas



• Grades 9-12 Division
  • First Place: Jerrin Bowen, Comparing the Accuracy of Half Life of Polonium-210, Grade 11, Pattonville Senior High, Pattonville, MO
  • Second Place: Raymond Lay, Is “Organic” Really Worth It?, Grade 11, Parkway South High School, Manchester, MO
  • Third Place: Cate Allen, The Effect of Heat on Vitamin C Content, Grade 9, Ursuline Academy, Oakland, MO
• Grades 6-8 Division
  • First Place: Jourdyn Tamaray, Does the type of solution affect a chemical reaction’s formation of a precipitate?", Grade 6, North Kirkwood Middle School, Kirkwood, MO
  • Second Place: Alex Panchot, Vegetable Oil Energy, Grade 8, Crossroads College Prep School, St. Louis, MO
  • Third Place: Raven Schad, Base, pH, and Acid…Rain, Grade 6, Rockwood Valley Middle School, Glencoe, MO
  • Honorable Mention:
    — John Palmer and Jackson Kesting, Water Temperature and Rust, Grade 6, St John Lutheran School, Ellisville, MO
    — Zoe Alper, Climbing Colors, Grade 6, Solomon Schechter Day School, St Louis, MO
    — Michaela Morhaus, Are You Gelling?, Grade 8, St Bridget of Kildare School, Pacific, MO
• Grades K-5 Division
  • A congratulatory letter and a purple participation ribbon were given to 354 chemistry-related entrants this year.

Nominate for the Chemical Science & Technology Award

The St Louis Chemical Science and Technology Award is presented to a chemist in the St Louis area who has demonstrated a high degree of professionalism and scientific contribution. Criteria used to judge the award include technical proficiency, presentations, coaching/teamwork, and additional professional activities. The award consists of a plaque, a $500 honorarium, and dinner for the awardee and a guest at the annual Recognition Night in March.

To be eligible, the nominee should have an Associate, Bachelor’s, or Master’s Degree in chemistry or a chemistry-related curriculum. The nominee need not be a St Louis Section’ACS member.

Letters of nomination must be received by December 21, 2012. The nominating letter should address the criteria above. A current work address, phone number, fax number, and email address must be provided for each nominee.

You might work with someone who deserves this award. You know public recognition is a huge motivator, and the honorarium is kinda nice, too. To submit a nomination, contact the Chemical Science & Technology Award coordinator, Adrienne Mazdra, at 314.513.4035 or amazdra@stlcc.edu.

NCW on the horizon

The time draws nigh to volunteer to participate in the 25th annual National Chemistry Week activities October 21–27. This year’s theme is Nanotechnology: The Smallest Big Idea in Science. Along with other activities throughout the week, NCW Chemistry Expo will be held on October 27 at the St Louis Science Center from 10 am to 4 pm. A co-coordinator for the event is needed to make this public outreach event one of the best. For further information, or to toss your benzene into the ring, contact Greg Wall, 314.435.6487 or gwall37@msn.com.

If you’re already coordinating an NCW activity independently, we’d love to tell about it in next month’s Chemical Bond. Just let the Editor know the specifics, and whether it is open to the public.

YCC announces Young Researcher Travel Awards

The Younger Chemists Committee is pleased to announce that Jonathan Herrmann of Washington University and Graham Hudson of Saint Louis University are recipients of the inaugural YCC Young Researcher Awards. These awards provide funding to attend and present at the 2012 ACS Midwest Regional Meeting, October 24-27, in Omaha, NE. Congratulations to Jonathan and Graham!

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: Sep 13
Social hour: 5:30 pm
Dinner: 6:30 pm
Business meeting: 7:15 pm
Future meetings: Oct 11, Nov 8

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.

Sep 7
C S Raman
University of Maryland
TBA

Sep 14
Istvan Kiss
Saint Louis University
TBA

Sep 21
Scott Showalter
Pennsylvania State University
TBA

Sep 28
Blanton Tolbert
Case Western Reserve University
Structural biophysics of protein-RNA interactions involved in virus replication

Oct 5
Zhen Huang
Georgia State University
TBA

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.

Sep 10
Gal Bitan
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles
Structure-guided development of small-molecule inhibitors for amyloid-related diseases

Sep 17
Mark Peczuh
University of Connecticut
TBA

Sep 24
Scott McIndoe
University of Victoria (BC, Canada)
Catalytic mechanisms from mass spectrometry

Oct 1
Al Sattelberger
Los Alamos National Laboratory
TBA

Washington University

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

At publication time, there were no visiting scholar seminars scheduled for September.

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.

If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to our  RSS feed, which includes notices of Chemical Bond issues and timely postings about chemistry-related events in the Saint Louis area.

Editor	Eric Ressner	314.962.6415 editor@stlacs.org
Assistant Editor & Advertising Manager	Sue Saum	314.513.4808 advmgr@stlacs.org
Business Manager	Donna Friedman	314.513.4388 bizmgr@stlacs.org