KSU SAACS

We are having our monthly Adopt-a-Stream testing Friday, September 15, 2006 @ 9:00am off Campus Loop Road in front of the Lutheran Church. All are welcomed, especially biology and biochemistry majors. We need a couple of you guys.

Dr. Chris Dockery, our new faculty advisor, made some announcements at the first SAACS meeting of the Fall 2006 semester. So, for those of you that missed the meeting or were unable to jot down all of the announcements, here is a link to information regarding the presentation entitled “The Art & Science of Making Beer” at Gordon Biersch as well as the Herty Medalist Undergraduate Research Symposium being held at Morehouse College: Download me! We saw a lot of new faces today and I hope to see you all at the next meeting, especially the freshmen! Thanks everyone!

Yes, it’s true. We are having our first meeting on September 12, 2006 in SC 212 at 12:30pm. This is going to be a short meeting just to meet the officers and talk about the organization. Feel free to join. Membership fees are only $5 a semester.

Elections for the next KSU SAACS administration of the 2006-2007 academic year were held on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 12:30pm in SC 213. Congratulations to Joe Madden (president), Sarah Rosenbaum (vice president), Busola Adeyemi (secretary), and Dayne Fraser (treasurer). Good luck on final exams and we’ll see you next semester!

Laurene Hall, a biologist, and Pradip Shah, a chemist, from the Cobb County Adopt-a-Stream program visited with SAACS on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 12:30pm in SC 213. They spoke about the obstacles they have encountered while working in environmental protection and about how they have overcome some of these problems through community education. They also discussed the types of biological and chemical tests that they and their volunteer groups routinely perform on water samples from the local streams. They are extremely dedicated to improving the quality of our natural water systems here in the greater Atlanta area. Quite an engaging meeting, especially during the week of Earth Day!

CAPT. Ralph O’Connor, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chief of Operations and Director of Emergency Operations, will be giving a talk with KSU SAACS about career and research opportunities for chemists at the CDC. He received a B.A. in Chemistry & Psychology from Washington and Lee University in 1966 and then obtained a Ph.D. in Water Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983. If you are a chemistry, biochemistry, or biology major, I urge you to attend this meeting. It’s a rare chance to talk with an experienced chemist in the CDC. Please join us and, keep in mind, space is limited.

A few of our KSU SAACS members attended Celebrating Chemistry: Kids & Chemistry LIVE!, an ACS-sponsored event, at the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, GA to perform chemistry demonstrations for groups of children to get them excited about science. They conducted hands-on chemistry activities from the 2005 National Chemistry Week Theme, The Joy of Toys, including “It’s a Gas” and “Rainbow Fish” that illustrated the basic properties of phases of matter and acid-base reactions, respectively. This was undoubtedly an amazing and quite busy event. Many children with their parents, grandparents, and teachers showed up to enjoy a Saturday afternoon learning about chemistry.

Are you attending the ACS national meeting in Atlanta or just need some extra convincing to do so? Here is a GREAT guide to the event created by Courtney Phillips. Enjoy! If you haven’t already, you can register for the conference through this website.

Scott Rosencrance, Ph.D. from Kemira Chemicals, Inc., which has local locations in Kennesaw and Atlanta, will be visiting with SAACS on Tuesday, March 14 at 12:30pm in SC 213. Dr. Rosencrance is the global R&D manager at Kemira and will be talking about the types of research they conduct in the polymer, pulp & paper, and “green” chemistry areas as well as career opportunities at Kemira. Graduating seniors are particularly urged to attend and to bring their résumés.

Update: Dr. Rosencrance, a physical chemist, provided insightful advice on how to prepare for graduate school and how to stand out when creating and submitting a résumé. He spoke about the company for which he works, a specialty chemicals company as opposed to a commodity chemicals company, and the many opportunities for graduates with bachelors’ degrees that they offer. Kemira’s main divisions develop performance chemicals as well as chemicals for water treatment, pulp & paper, and paints & coatings.

On Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 12:30pm in room SC 213, Leslie Juhn (pictured below on the right) came to visit and talk with students about her career as a pharmacist. She has worked as a pharmacist for over twenty years in both the retail and hospital settings. She provided students with handouts about the different opportunities in pharmacy and a list of organizations and resources to contact to get more information. If anybody would like a photocopy of either of these handouts, please contact KSU SAACS.

The Chemistry of Chocolate SAACS fundraiser held on February 14 in the Clendenin Lobby was a huge success. The gross profits were almost $1,000. Custom-made t-shirts, ACS study guides, recipe books compiled by the chemistry department faculty members, and bags of chocolate were sold in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Thank you to all the volunteers that worked at the tables selling these items. A portion of these fundraising monies will go towards funding a KSU SAACS scholarship.

Chocolate fountain recap: The strawberries were gone in a matter of minutes. Four molds were filled with melted chocolate in preparation for the Chemistry of Chocolate fundraiser next Tuesday, February 14 from 10:00am until 4:00pm in the Clendenin Lobby. Thank you to all members who volunteered to help out at the tables.

Today five members of SAACS visited the Cobb County Adopt-a-Stream site, a division of Georgia Environmental Protection, to become quality assurance/quality control certified in chemical testing for a local stream near the Kennesaw State University campus. While taking a tour of their laboratory facilities, we spoke with several staff members who had backgrounds in chemistry and biology about their job responsibilities and the types of equipment they used to analyze the water samples. After the tour, Laurene Hall guided us through the chemical testing training. The tests we will be performing on our adopted stream will be temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen. I would like to encourage anyone else who is interested in this program to call Laurene Hall at 770 528-1482 for more information.

There was a great turnout for the first meeting of the Spring 2006 semester. Free local membership was granted to those who attended. The usual fee is $5.00 per semester. However, national membership is also highly suggested because ACS is holding a national conference in Atlanta at the end of March. Discounted entry to this event is only available after becoming a national member. Early registration (before March 8th) is $69 for members and $155 for nonmembers.

Here are some special moments from our first general meeting:

The SAACS cubicle has been cleaned up and redecorated and now ready for use! Any SAACS members who would like to use the cubicle for tutoring or keeping office hours should contact us for more information. Here are some pictures of our new cozy corner on the third floor of the student center: