It’s hard to believe that it is already August. The summer is rushing by as it so often does. We had the SVACS annual picnic in-person on 17 July 2021. The weather was perfect, the venue was beautiful, the wines, beer and food were fantastic, and the company was great as always. Several service awards were presented, filling us with gratitude for our volunteers. Grace Baysinger was awarded the Ottenberg Award for her incredible work and dedication in championing our website renovation. Please visit https://www.siliconvalleyacs.org/ to check out the new website – fast, easy to navigate, and user-friendly. Natalie McClure was recognized with the Shirley Radding Award. The Radding Award was established in 1994 by our local ACS section to recognize demonstrated, dedicated, unselfish leadership, service and significant contributions, over a sustained period of time, to industrial, applied, or academic chemistry and to the ACS at local, regional and national levels. Natalie personifies these qualities excellently. Redwood City Librarian Pam Evans was presented the Salute to Excellence Award for her phenomenal work engaging children during the COVID-19 pandemic by fostering Pop-Up Chemistry at the Redwood City Library. We also heard from Joe Lowry about his career in chemistry. Joe is one of the twenty-seven 50-, 60-, and, 70-year members recognized this year! I would like to thank section members Peter Rusch, Sally Peters, Matt Greaney and Stephanie Benight for making this picnic a huge success.
With autumn a month away, we enter 2021’s homestretch. Some roles on our leadership team are beginning to shift toward next year’s responsibilities. For example, monthly events are now arranged by our chair-elect, Stephanie Benight. She has been working tirelessly to put a program together. Keep an eye on our website as the details emerge. If you have a suggestion for a dinner speaker, let the Program Committee Chair know (chair@svacs.org).
Another shift is underway in preparations for SVACS’s 2021 election of members for its 2022 leadership team. We are excited to have a ballot this year with multiple candidates for our leadership positions. A number of members and newcomers to SVACS have stepped up to fuel a surge of interest in rejuvenating our section. Step up and contact us if you would like to take part in this transformation. Open positions include Secretary, Chair-elect, Councilors and Alternate Councilors, described on our website, https://www.siliconvalleyacs.org/about/executive-committee.
By the way, did you know that a worldwide survey reveals that blue is the most popular color in 10 countries across four continents? Blue is a predominant color on earth due to the sky and ocean, but in nature, blue is quite rare. There isn’t really a blue pigment in the nature, and flora and fauna in fact make use of tricks to appear blue. Plants commonly use a red pigment called anthocyanins whose appearance changes with varying acidity. Animals, on the other hand, use structural effects, such as iridescence and selective reflection to achieve the brilliant blue hues. If blue pigment is so rare, how do scientists at Huue Inc. engineer microbes to basically produce our favorite blue jean color? I look forward to hearing from Dr. Tammy Tsu, the CSO & Co‑founder at Huue Inc, about their bio-based clean color platform. Don’t forget to register for what promises to be an exciting talk on August 19, https://www.siliconvalleyacs.org/event/how-one-company-is-making-blue-jeans-green/.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or any of your other SVACS representatives with questions, comments, or requests. We love hearing from our members and strive to best serve your needs.
