Below is the wonderful surprise that we received from the ACS President about being ChemLuminary Award Finalists for two awards. Descriptions of our activities submitted for each award are described after the letter.
June 4, 2024
Dear Dr. Eberspacher,
On behalf of the American Chemical Society (ACS), I am delighted to inform you that the Silicon Valley Local Section has been selected as a finalist for the ACS ChemLuminary Awards in the following category:
- Outstanding Local Section Career Program Award
- Outstanding NCW Event for a Specific Audience
The winners will be announced during the ACS Fall 2024 in Denver. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday, August 20, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Ballroom A-C, located at 1550 Court Place, Denver, CO 80202.
The ceremony will feature a keynote address by V. Michael Mautino, retired from Covestro and the recipient of the 2024 Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society. The awards presentation given by 21 committees of the Society will follow. This year’s theme is “Elevating the Dedication of Our Volunteers,” which celebrates the work of volunteers to improve all people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.
Congratulations on your outstanding achievements. We look forward to celebrating with you at the ACS ChemLuminary Awards ceremony!
Sincerely,
Mary K. Carroll, Ph.D., President, American Chemical Society
ACS ChemLuminary Awards | chemluminary@acs.org | www.acs.org/chemluminary
Outstanding Local Section Career Program Award
Paving the Path (PtP) was initiated as a peer mentorship program to support community college students interested in transferring to 4-year institutions. Among a number of different activities in the past few years of the PtP program, including one-on-one peer mentoring, financial aid and college application seminars, and resume-building workshops, the career fair has proven to be highly successful. In April 2023 we hosted a career panel tailored for this audience in that the panel of scientists was composed of professionals who all started their higher education journeys at community colleges. The panel was organized in hybrid format so students from a number of community colleges could attend without the hassle of traffic.
In one case, however, we tested a different format: We provided food and ACS bling for a Zoom watch party in-person at a gathering spot on campus. Hartnell Community College stepped up to host the in-person gathering and SVACS members Steve Boyer and Jane Frommer stepped up to lead the in-person watch party and interact with students. Going forward, we are planning to expand this in-person hybrid event, hosted on each campus by a pairing of a campus representative (usually a faculty member) and an SVACS member representing the professional ACS community.
OUTCOME From 6-8 pm on Thursday, April 27th, over 50 community college students, alumni, instructors, and supporters from around our section gathered on Zoom for a Virtual Career Panel that showcased four scientists who started their higher education journeys at community colleges. Over the two-hour event, our four wonderful panelists – industry professional Joel Bruegger, Associate Professor Kelly Chacón, Assistant Professor Andro Rios, and PhD student Victoria Tafuri – shared their stories and advice in a moderated panel, in an open Q&A session, and in small groups in breakout rooms.
Two special add-ons to this event included (1) an in-person watch party at Hartnell College where students gathered for SVACS-supplied pizza and to participate as a group and (2) a special raffle for ACS prizes for a couple lucky winners who filled out our post-panel survey. The panel went off without a hitch with survey respondents saying they would recommend the event to other people in the same stage of their education. Some feedback was that “This panel was very helpful and inspirational for a community college student like me.” Other attendees mentioned “gaining wisdom from the panelists” as well as “a better idea of possible career paths.”
Outstanding NCW Event for a Specific Audience
The Silicon Valley local section embraced the National Chemistry Week and conducted events at 4 different venues. These included:
- Martin Luther King Library, San Jose, CA
- Salinas Community Science Center, Salinas, CA
- Ronald McDonald House, Palo Alto, CA
- Redwood City Library, Redwood City, CA
Over 300 students participated in the experiments which encompassed some old favorites like Slime and Boo bubbles and some new experiments including “Cloudy with a Chance of Clear” from the Celebrating Chemistry and a Medicinal plant experiment. Boo bubbles, which are made using dry ice, were a great way to attract attention from passers-by and draw them into the full event. In honor of the Halloween season, we incorporated iron filings in the slime mixture which made the slime more interactive and almost seem alive when a magnet was in proximity. We also had a medicinal plant experiment where the students were asked to match a sample of the medicinal plant with its essential oil, while learning about the natural origins of many of our medicines.
Ronald McDonald House is a facility where young outpatients and their families and siblings can stay while undergoing medical procedures. We made UV activated bead bracelets and played the board game that was included in the Celebrating Chemistry magazine.
At the Salinas Community Science Center, we explored the cochineal dye and water surface tension experiments.
Our section has an ongoing hands-on science program at the Redwood City Library, where we meet each month for an hour and explore a new science experiment. We have a regular following of students who come each month to try the new experiment. This is a particularly attractive program for home schooled students who might not get as much exposure to science. For NCW, they evaluated the buffering capacity of magnesium hydroxide.
These events were supported by the Chemistry clubs at San Jose State University and Santa Clara University, as well as volunteers from Silicon Valley local section. I’m not sure who had more fun, the students or the volunteers. And of course, each student left with a Mole Sticker, an ACS pencil or a tattoo (or maybe even one of each!)
The Silicon Valley section also participated in the NCW poetry contest. Several students submitted illustrated poems. The section awarded each participant a small gift card and submitted our favorite poem to the National contest. Shreyas K was the 1st place winner in the Grades 6-8 category.
