From left to right: Aanya Kandala (awardee), Carol Ann Parker (spouse), Susan Hines (SVACS), Phil Hines (SVACS), Mridula Rajagopalan (awardee), Viraj Pandey (awardee).
In November 2020 the San Jose Mercury News published the obituary of David (Dave) Parker, a Ph.D. chemist and HAZMAT fire officer for the City of Santa Clara Fire Department. Dave had long been active in public outreach for science and chemistry. The obituary included a request to donate to the ACS Silicon Valley Local Section (SVACS) to support the chemistry education of middle school students. Dave had been a long-time active member of the SVACS Executive Committee.
Within a short time, donations were received to create the Dr. David Parker Fund to support 6-8th grade students presenting at the local Synopsys Championship Science Fair every March in San Jose. Donations are still being received to support student interest in science. The SVACS David Parker Award for Excellence recognizes 6-8th grade chemistry science fair presenters as David Parker Awardees. SVACS members Howard Peters and Mike Lepisto are the judges. Since the award was initiated in 2021 during the COVID epidemic, the earliest science projects were judged remotely.
On August 19, 2024, the City of Santa Clara Fire Department held a special event to honor the David Parker Awardees for years 2021-2024. These students and their families learned about the relationship between chemistry and fire science – both in starting a fire and how to extinguish one. They toured a fire truck containing tools and resources for firefighters responding to emergencies; were oriented to the role of the fire department in assuring public safety, as well as to station operations by fire department staff; and learned how the fire department responds to hazardous materials emergencies in the community. They performed hands-on testing with analytical equipment to identify potentially high-risk chemicals, as well as seeing demonstrations of hardware and software used to protect personnel. A special thanks to SCFD Firefighters Fred Chun and Jenn Panko for creating an amazing, informative learning session for these students and their parents. Fred and Jenn were integral in making this a memorable event.
Dave’s wife, Carol Ann Parker, was in attendance and brought Dave’s fire helmet (CHEMIST is printed across the front) and his gold badge to the event. The awardees had the opportunity to be photographed wearing the helmet, and a beautiful cake was served by fire department personnel in the awardees’ honor.
SVACS members Susan Hines and Phil Hines attended the event as well. Susan has organized the SVACS Award teams at the Santa Clara County annual Synopsys Science Fair for many years.
