Chemists Celebrate Earth Day, April 26, 2014, Saint Louis Science Center

Chemists Celebrate Earth Day (CCED) will be held at the Saint Louis Science Center, Dinosaur Overlook, from 10AM till 4:30PM, April 26, 2014. This 2014 theme is "The Wonders of Water". For those who have already volunteered, it is greatly appreciated. For those that have not previously volunteered, please consider joining us for this public outreach event. If you are aware of someone who would like to join us, please have them contact Greg Wall by email gwall37@msn.com or phone (314-435-6487). If you have any special needs, let Greg know. You may arrive at 9AM to set up and parking will be validated.

Kids and Chemistry will also be at CCED with three tables already set up for you to volunteer to help. The three tables are Crushing Cans, Starch Scavenger Hunt, and Enzymes are Workers and each has an experienced leader. YOU do not need to be experienced to help, just at least two available hours. Contact Kids and Chemistry coordinator, Sheryl J. Loux by email, sjloux@gmail.com , or by phone, 636-237-5419. Hope to see you soon.

Recognition Night 2014

Past and Current Section Chairs

The 2014 Recognition Night was held on Saturday March 8th at Maggiano’s Little Italy. The evening started with appetizers and a slide-show of 2013 section activities. There was one 60-year ACS member, Dr. Robert Schultz, in attendance. Three 50-year members attended: Drs. Frank Stary, Neil Dunski, and Jim Meador. Following dinner, each 50- and 60-year ACS members received a certificate from the ACS. The 2014 Distinguished Service Award from the St. Louis Section ACS was presented to Ms. Sheryl Loux, who was honored for her many outreach activities including “Kids’n Chemistry” and “Chemistry is pHun.”. Ten past and present St. Louis Section Chairs attended:

Lol Barton
Donna Friedman
Ted Gast
Hal Harris
Steve Kinsley
Leah O’Brien
Jim O’Brien
Benjie Outlaw
Ziad Ramadan
Keith Stine

The evening finished with a presentation by the immediate past chair, Dr. Ziad Ramadan. The talk focused on food preferences and metabolic markers. Did you know that some men are indifferent to chocolate? Remarkable!

Keeping up, with the Chemical Bond

If you’re reading this now, then you obviously know when the Chemical Bond is posted and where to find it. Maybe you’ve subscribed to the reminder list, and you received an email from our MailChimp account. Maybe you’ve got us in your RSS feed, and were alerted that way. Or possibly you just know where to go around the first of every month to catch up on events in the Saint Louis Section–ACS. Whatever ... however ... we’re glad you’re here.

But you’re among an unfortunately select few. Our website traffic tells us that typically fewer than 100 Section members see the Chemical Bond in the month it’s published—out of 1,600 total members, more or less. We know the readership was much higher when we printed and mailed the issues to members. In short, when everyone gets it, a lot more people read it.

So in order to make sure you are informed of our events and activities, the Bond email list will transition to an opt-out e-newsletter. Over the summer, we will opt everyone in, so the entire membership list will receive a brief email in September with links to that month’s stories.

If you decide you don’t want to receive those emails (a total of only nine per year), you can opt out and we’ll honor your decision forever. Just click on the “Unsubscribe from the Chemical Bond reminders” link near the bottom of the email. (See illustration; please avoid the “unsubscribe from all future St Louis ACS mailings” link, or we won’t be able to get in touch with you about anything, ever—even elections!)

We know we’re reaching exactly the wrong subset of members with this story. But we wanted to keep you informed of what was going on here. After all, that’s what we do.

Winners of the American Chemical Society St. Louis Section’s Science Fair Chemistry Awards at the 2014 Illinois Junior Academy of Science Region 12 Science Fair on March 29th

Sarozjani Hunter, 1st Place, 9-12 Division

• GRADES 9-12 DIVISION

  First Place: Sarozjani Hunter, “Effect of Temperature on Solubility”, Grade 9, Governor French Academy, Bellville, IL.

  Second Place: Caleb-McKenzie Phillips, “pH Effect on Copper Corrosion”, Grade 9, Governor French Academy, Bellville, IL.

  Third Place: Aiden Napp, “Particles in the Mist”, Grade 9, Alton High School, Alton, IL.

• GRADES 5-8 DIVISION

  First Place: Gaylen Dimick, “Electrolysis of Water:Electrolytes and their Conductivity”, Grade 6, Lincoln Middle School, Edwardsville, IL.

  Second Place: Marshall Hatlee, "Surface Tension, a Molecular Science”, Grade 8, Gillespie Middle School, Gillespie, IL.

  Third Place: Benjamin Goodrich, “Burning Junk Food”, Grade 7, St. Francis/Holy Ghost School, Jerseyville, IL.

• Honorable Mention

  Jared Wright, “Juice Power”, Grade 7, Good Shepard Lutheran School, Collinsville, IL.

  Patrick Tottleben, “Potatoe Power”, Grade 7, Good Shepard Lutheran School, Collinsville, IL

  Zach Hellickson, “Meltdown”, Grade 7, Good Shepard Lutheran School, Collinsville, IL

  Elliot Voss, “Burning Junk Food”, Grade 5, Albert Cassens Elementary, Glen Carbon, IL.

Chemical Science and Technology Award Winner

2014 Chemical Science and Technology Award Winner Bojana Opacic.

We are pleased to announce that Bojana Opacic who works at Vi-Jon, Inc. is the winner of the 2014 Chemical Science and Technology Award for the St. Louis Section of the ACS. Given her diligence, speed, and attention to minute details in using HPLC, GC and other methods and her ability to develop and validate new methods at Vi-Jon, she has the unofficial title of “Best Out-Of-Specification Investigator.” This ACS award follows an internal Vi-Jon award – in 2012, Bojana received Vi-Jon highest annual honor, the Chairman’s Award. This was conferred for her outstanding contribution to the QC lab and for her demonstrated commitment to Vi-Jon’s 4C core values: Consistently Best Quality, Cost Advantage, Collaborative Teamwork and Continuous Improvement.

High School Chemistry Contest Award Winners

Places are based on a written test given in March. There are two divisions: the Regular Division exam is open to students who are in their first year of high school chemistry (other than an AP course); the Advanced Division to those taking their second high school chemistry course or AP chemistry. Each exam has a multiple-choice section and then a “tie breaking” section that consists of short-answer and essay questions.

The 2014 winners are listed below.

REGULAR DIVISION

ADVANCED DIVISION

*HM: honorable mention

ACS Oustanding Junior Chemistry Student Award Winners

Nine local colleges and universities choose their school's "Outstanding College Junior-Chemistry Student" for this award. The honor is bestowed at the Awards Night Banquet where each student is given dinner, a framed certificate, and their name is engraved on a plaque that resides at each school. Each student's mentor is invited to join the student at this event.

Awards Night will be Tuesday April 15!

Student winners and their teachers receive a complimentary dinner; others may attend for $25 each. RSVP by Wednesday, April 9, to the Awards Night coordinator, Leah O'Brien at lobrien@siue.edu or 618.650.3562.

The Awards Night will be held this year at Maggiano's on the Boulevard (across Brentwood Blvd from the Galleria, map). The cost will be $25 per person for all guests.

Winners of the High School Chemistry Contest, the High School Chemistry Teacher–of–the–Year, and the Outstanding Junior Chemistry Students at area colleges and universities are all recognized.

Agenda:
6:00 PM – Reception/social hour
6:30 PM – Dinner
7:30 PM – Awards program

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 and driving directions). 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 $25 ($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: April 10
Social hour: 5:30 pm
Business meeting: 6:30 pm (suspended for dinner when served)
Future meetings: May 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 Jim Edwards, jedward5@slu.edu.

April 11
Robert Levis
Temple University
TBA

April 25
Yun Lu
SIU-E
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.

May 5
Distinguished Alumni Lecture
Katherine Block, Senior Scientist at Novartis Clinical Trial Center of Excellence (Genoptix)
A Perspective on the Path to Industry

April 14
Clay Bennett
Tuffs University
Stereoselective Synthesis of Glycosides Without Directing Groups

April 21
Jeffrey Zaleski
Indiana University
Thermally and Photothermally Activated Radical Architectures: From New Material Morphologies to Dissolution of Biopolymers

April 28
Patrick Kinlen
Boeing
Electroactive and Conductive Polymers for Aerospace Applications

Washington University

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

April 22
Jeffrey Zaleski
Indiana University
Thermally and Photothermally Activated Radical Architectures: From New Material Morphologies to Dissolution of Biopolymers