Volume 63, Number 9 | December, 2012 |
Career Management Seminar report
Outreach program seeking retirees
Reserve for Continuity Dinner by Dec 10
Nominate for CS&T Award by Dec 21
First ever Girl Scout Science Night
American Polymer Standards, Inc.
Chemir Analytical Services
Huffman Laboratories, Inc.
micron inc.
University of Missouri–St Louis
Place an ad in the Chemical Bond
The November Career Management Seminar, Number XIV in the series, built upon our first seminar of the year, which focused on Securing and Preparing for the Interview. We hosted a Behavioral Based Interviewing Workshop facilitated by Dr Lisa Balbes, an ACS Career Consultant with abundant information on this topic.
We had 17 people in attendance, ranging through current undergrads, BS chemists, PhD candidates, and PhD chemists. There were also a number of St Louis Community College students in attendance, in particular, a group who are starting their own Chemistry Club on the campus. Some non-traditional students and individuals who plan to make a career change in the near future came out as well.
The group was highly interactive, and we began the event with everyone giving their “60 Second Elevator Speech” to practice selling themselves. It was a good way for us to get to know everyone, and good practice as well. Then Lisa gave a brief introduction to behavioral-based interviewing including information on why employers use it, how they evaluate the information they receive, and best practices.
We then broke off into groups and each answered a question within our group, selected the best answer and shared it with the entire audience for evaluation. Many people provided feedback on the answers and there were questions that stemmed from this exercise.
Hot in the heels of this workshop comes Number XV: Business Etiquette and Communication with Dr Elizabeth Petre, Washington University Olin Business School, and Dr Dennis Harney, SNR-Denton, on December 4th. There’s still time to check out the details and make a reservation.
One of the most popular outreach programs sponsored by the St Louis ACS section is Chemistry is pHun! Sheryl Loux is offering training in this program for retired ACS members in an effort to expand its reach and impact in the St Louis area. The 38 Chemistry is pHun programs in calendar year 2011 — all given by Sheryl — have had an educational impact on 1,487 students in 17 or more schools. Program activity has started strongly this fall. The program modules offered by Sheryl are “States of Matter”, “Chemistry is pHun”, and “What is Matter?” for elementary students, and for middle and high school students, “Polymers are Marvelous” with DNA extraction from strawberries. Sheryl thanks Don Sartor for helping with “Polymers are Marvelous”.
The “States of Matter” program was designed for elementary students and is popular for the 2nd and 3rd grades. Solid, liquid, and gas states are explored, mainly of water, demonstrating the addition or release of energy in the form of heat when changing physical states. Examples of plasma are mentioned and “Gluep” is made to show a substance that has properties of both liquids and solids.
The “Chemistry is pHun” program is designed for 4th grade and up and covers pH, a review of states of matter, dissolution, chemical reactions, and various polymers.
Another program for K-3 is “What is Matter?” where the periodic table of elements is introduced and water molecules are made with marshmallows for atoms and toothpicks representing electron bonds.
If you would like offer some of these programs in a school district close to where you live, please contact Sheryl J Loux, sjloux@gmail.com or 636.237.5149 to discuss the programs. Training is available.
POLYMER STANDARDS FOR GPC/SEC
MOLECULAR WEIGHT ANALYSIS
GPC/SEC COLUMN REPACKING
American Polymer Standards Corporation
8680 Tyler Boulevard, Mentor, OH 44060
Phone: 440-255-2211 Fax: 440-255-8397
The December Board of Directors meeting is also our Continuity Dinner, a fancier than usual affair to celebrate the year’s achievements, recognize certain members, announce the Distinguished Service Award (conferred in March), and pass the gavel to the incoming section officers. And then there is the Henry Godt Memorial Lecture, lightly and briefly recapping the past year, which is given by a surprise speaker.
There will be a General Meeting of the Section to vote on ... well, come and find out. And there are almost always some new and old members whom we see only at this event. So come!
Please join us: Thursday, December 13
(Edited 24 Nov 12 to note venue change) Branica-Frontenac, 10411 Clayton Rd, St Louis, MO 63131 (map), in the Plaza Frontenac complex at Clayton Road and Lindbergh Blvd
5:30 pm social hour with cash bar
6:30 pm dinner, meeting, and Continuity events
Cost of dinner is $24. Please register by Dec 10 at bit.ly/2012ACSContinuityDinner and mail your check to:
Vic Lewchenko
354 Larkhill Ct
Webster Groves, MO 63119
Nominations for the Chemical Science & Technology Award are still open. We want to be sure all the best technologists are considered for this award, so be sure to nominate your most valued non-PhD coworker. It’s a great way to recognize an outstanding worker, and the local ACS section does all the heavy lifting!
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 will consist of a plaque, a $500 honorarium, and dinner for the awardee and a guest at Recognition Night in March, 2013.
For eligibility criteria and further information about the award, check the Awards page.
To submit a nomination, contact the Chemical Science and Technology Award coordinator, Adrienne Mazdra, 314.513.4035 or amazdra@stlcc.edu. Nominations are due by December 21.
Graduate Studies in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis
Have you considered pursuing a graduate degree in Chemistry? Here at UMSL, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has a thriving graduate program that includes a Master of Science degree program, obtainable by completion of graduate-level courses. Classes for all graduate courses (for Ph.D. and Masters candidates) are held in the evenings with courses at the graduate level being available in organic, inorganic, physical and biochemistry. Evening classes allow our graduate students to work full time while taking courses. The department has a strong research emphasis as well as a dedication to teaching but is of medium size, allowing substantial interaction between faculty and students.
Masters Degrees can be obtained by graduate coursework only, MS (non-thesis), or by a combination of graduate coursework and research culminating in a written thesis, MS (thesis). These degree programs may be pursued on a full-time or part-time basis with entry to the program possible in August or January. The part-time MS (non-thesis) remains a particularly popular option for chemists with Bachelors degrees who are employed locally in St. Louis and are looking to upgrade their qualifications. Contact us by phone or e-mail for an application package, for more information or to arrange a visit to campus. Further information about the department can be found on our website: www.umsl.edu/chemistry/.
Not to give short shrift to scouts of the female gender, the St Louis Section sponsored its first Science Night for Girl Scouts on Friday, November 9.
Twenty-four Girl Scouts from grades 4–8 spent the evening rotating through five stations to earn their Detective (grades 4-5) or Special Agent (grades 6-7-8) badges. The stations included • DNA Extraction • Fingerprinting • Mystery Substance Identification • Invisible Ink/Body Language and • Kim’s Game. Stations were run by professional scientists, with help from the Saint Louis University Chemistry Club and Girl Scout leaders.
Each Scout took home a bag with items donated by local chemical companies, including Kids Discover Chemistry magazine, pens, flashlights, patches, thermochromic cups and straws, and photochromic beads: just like working scientists at a professional conference.
Workshop participants left lots of positive comments after the event. A sampling: It was fun and I got to do things that I’ve never done before. —Katie, age 9 I liked having something that was so hands on outside of Science class. —Sarah, age 12 |
We conducted another successful local section election last month using strictly e-balloting, and again, many more members voted than did in past paper-balloting years.
The elected officer slate for 2013 is:
We’ll have a full listing of 2013 governance positions for you in the January issue.
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: Dec 13 (Continuity Dinner)
Branica-Frontenac, 10411 Clayton Rd, St Louis, MO 63131
See above for details and to make a reservation
Social hour (cash bar): 5:30 pm
Dinner, meeting and Continuity events: 6:30 pm
Future meetings: Jan 10, Feb 14
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.
At press time, there were no seminars scheduled for December.
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.
Dec 3
Nan Zheng
University of Arkansas
A photo touch on amines: New synthetic adventures of nitrogen radical cations
Dec 14, 1 pm (note special day and time)
Harry W Orf
Senior Vice President for Research, Massachusetts General Hospital
Seizing serendipity and preparing for opportunity’s knocks: Lessons learned from a personal career journey
Seminars are in McMillen 311 at 4 pm unless otherwise noted. For information, contact: Liviu Mirica, mirica@wustl.edu.
Dec 4
Nan Zheng
University of Arkansas
A photo touch on amines: New synthetic adventures of nitrogen radical cations
Dec 6
Joshua Coon
University of Wisconsin
Mass spectrometry for quantitative biology of complex systems
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 |
Asst Editor & Advertising Mgr | Sue Saum | 314.513.4808 advmgr@stlacs.org |
Business Manager | Donna Friedman | 314.513.4388 bizmgr@stlacs.org |
Correspondence, letters to the editor, etc., should be emailed to editor@stlacs.org Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society and the St Louis Section–ACS |