Notices
ACS National Elections
The American Chemical Society 2020 National Election is open through October 23, 2020, 12:00 PM CDT. You will receive unique login credentials by email in order to vote online.
SNS Elections for 2021
Elections are coming up! You may self-nominate for the following 2021 Executive Committee positions: Chair-Elect (1-yr position with 3-yr commitment), Treasurer (1-yr), Secretary (1-yr), Councilor (3-yrs), Alternate Councilor (3-yrs) and Member-at-Large (2 yrs). To self-nominate, send a bio and picture to the Nominations Chair, Kazumasa Lindley (kazumasa.lindley@csn.edu) by October 23, 2020.
For the full announcement, please click on the image below.
ACS Bridge Project - Training program to increase public's attitudes on chemistry
"The ACS Bridge Project aims to broaden participation in the chemical sciences by increasing the number of graduate students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as providing career and professional development workshops.
In collaboration with the Genentech Foundation, the ACS-BP is pleased to offer a virtual ACS Career Kick-Starter Workshop November 13 - 15, 2020 for ACS Bridge Fellows, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars from underrepresented minority groups in the chemical sciences." Link
Application Deadline: October 31 at 5:00 p.m. ET
Project SEED - Call for 2021 mentors
The Southern Nevada Section of the American Chemical Society would like to invite you to be a mentor for Project SEED in Summer 2021.
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/highschool/seed.html
This program provides chemistry research experience for economically disadvantaged high school students for 8-10 weeks during the summer. The project would provide a stipend for the students for up to 2 years. Each mentor can have 1-2 students.
If you are interested in being a mentor, please send a short abstract for your project (example) and the number of students (1-2) you would be willing to mentor in your lab to SNS-ACS Project SEED coordinator Hokunani Keehu at keehuhr@nv.ccsd.net.
2020 Project SEED - Student interviews
Congratulations to high school students: Enrique Duran Del Cid, Daniel Favela, Maggie Louie, Mayra Martinez Rodriguez, and Ashley Vazquez Romo who were selected to participate in the Virtual Project SEED program. The goals of the program are to prepare students with basic lab safety skills, expose students to sub-disciplines of chemistry, chemistry careers, and interesting chemistry research, and develop students professionally by improving professional etiquette and writing abilities. Participants received a stipend of $1,000 for successfully completing the virtual summer camp experience.
Some of our local Project SEED students briefly shared about their experience this summer:
"My name is Maggie Louie. I am a freshman at UNLV, and I am 18 years old. This summer, I participated in Camp SEED for the first time, and it was definitely a motivational experience. Having mentors to guide me through the work and provide advice for college, chemistry, and classes in general was reassuring and fascinating. In addition, my group members all had different ideas and contributions, which were eye-opening and widened my perspective in the world of science. This camp made me more interested in the field of chemistry and steered my career path towards medicine. The activities as well as seminars enlarged my vision on my future career, encouraging me to create my own path to success."
Sixteen year old Ashley J Vazquez Romo, an 11th grader at Basic Academy of International Studies had this to say about Project SEED.
"Project SEED was the highlight of my summer, the program helped me network with professionals as well as other students interested in chemistry. I learned various practical applications of chemistry and was exposed to a wide range of careers that I could pursue in the future. Through the Project SEED program I was able to deepen my understanding of chemistry and I came to love it more. The program is remarkable and I am excited to reapply for next year, it is a great opportunity for students like me who feel passionate about chemistry."
"Hi! My name is Mayra Martinez, I am 16-years-old and I am currently a Junior (11th grade) at Desert Pines High School! My thoughts on Project SEED, are nothing but really good memories! I loved forming part of it and it was such a huge blessing to be there! I met a lot of cool people and amazing doctors, scientists and researchers. This had been something I have never experienced before and I am so thankful I was able to attend this year. I feel that this experience has shaped and affected me in many positive ways, I feel more capable of my own decisions, and it has made me more confident in what I would like to pursue as a career and do for a living. My cabin leaders and cabin mates are such incredible people and I promise I will never forget the amazing work we achieved all together as a team and how much fun we had by being with each other! Truly an amazing experience that I would totally love to live again!"
2020 SNS-ACS High School Chemistry Summer Research Project
Congratulations to Rancho High School student, Yajahira Dircio who was selected to participate in the SNS-ACS High School Chemistry Summer Research Project. Yajahira conducted microplastics research as an intern under Dr. Erick Bandala at the Desert Research Institute. She will receive a $500 stipend from the Southern Nevada Section of ACS and plans to present her findings at LatinXchem.
Request to support local high school student doing research
Dear Members: We are reaching out for your support to provide an additional research stipend for Yajahira Dircio. As mentioned above, she is a local high school student who completed research over the summer. Because this opportunity was outside of the regular Project SEED program, we are not able to use the original ACS funding source to provide the student with the usual stipend of $3,200. The SNS Executive Committee has set aside $500 from our annual budget toward a student stipend. We seek your help to make a difference for this local, economically disadvantaged high school student. We invite SNS members who are financially able to make a donation to join us in supporting this student toward a future career in chemistry. Our goal is to match the $3200 stipend that the student would have normally received through Project SEED.
If you are able to donate, please use this direct link or visit our website. To see more details, please click on the image below.
Upcoming Events
Local Section Seminar - October 16th
Please join SNS for a virtual seminar by Dr. Darryl Johnson of Ace Analytical Laboratory on Friday, October 16th at 5:30 pm. His talk is titled "The Science of Cannabis Analysis". To join, use this Zoom Link.
Click on the image below to read the abstract and biography.
High School Chemistry Art Poster Contest
Calling all high school students! SNS announces that annual art poster contest using this year's National Chemistry Week theme - Sticking with Chemistry. For details on how to participate and submit a digital entry, please visit our website page for the poster contest: https://acssouthernnevada.starchapter.com/2020_High_School_Poster_Contest_
National Chemistry Week - October 18-24
In light of the continuing health safety guidelines, there will not be an in-person activity for National Chemistry Week this year. We encourage you to check out one of the many virtual events offered by ACS sections. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/outreach/ncw/find-an-event.html
Councilor Talking Points
Rampur Viswanath filled in as Councilor during the August ACS National Meeting. Below are some notes from the Councilor's meeting that Rampur would like to share with the membership.
Dr. Cheng, incoming President chaired the ACS Virtual Council meeting that was held on August 19, 2020 to select committee chairs and vote on some issues. There were two platforms Lumi, a more secure platform for casting votes and Zoom for information and discussion before voting. In all, 515 (maximum number displayed) participated in this meeting that included Councilors, Senior leadership and Administration. Some highlights:
1. Several committee reports were read including past president's report.
2. Members who are affected by COVID-19 will get a waiver from paying ACS membership dues.
3. CEO announced that there is no lay off of ACS staff
4. Resolution passed on the recommendation of Committee on Committees to disband Committee on CAS
5. 55.7 million dollar surplus
6. Rocky Mountain Regional meeting is going to be Virtual
7. San Francisco conference (virtual) Registrations were about 6500 with 70 Exhibitors
8. Committee selection of relevance to SNS is "Committees of Council," for a 3-year term, elected were:
Elizabeth M. Howson, Zaida C. Morales-Martinez, Margaret J. Schooler, and Jeanette M. Van Emon. And 1-year term: Mark D. Frishberg
9. ACS National Elections will be held with a deadline of October 23rd, ballots will be electronic but can request for a paper ballot
Safety Note
Our Safety Committee Chair, Liuba Williams, prepared this safety message with information on what to consider when returning to lab work.
And...the monthly joke
|
