DURANT, Okla. -- Southeastern Oklahoma State University was well represented at the American Chemical Society's National Spring 2010 meeting in San Francisco.
Five students and Dr. Nancy Paiva, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biotechnology, attended the meeting during spring break in March. The students are members of the SE ACS Student Affiliates Chapter, and also student members of the national ACS, a professional organization of more than 200,000 chemists, chemical engineers and chemical service providers from around the world.
The Southeastern chapter was presented an honorable mention award based on chapter activities listed in the previous year's report to the national ACS office. SE students receiving the plaque at the Undergraduate Chapter Awards ceremony were Ashley Lewis, senior from Durant, chapter president; Sadira Abu-Arja, senior, Durant, past chapter officer; Tracie Jay, freshman, Sherman, Texas, chapter member; and seniors Anthony Banks, Okemah, and Daniel Pardue, Boswell, chapter members and research poster presenters.
More than 18,000 people attended the San Francisco meeting, making it one of the largest ever held. The theme of the meeting was "Chemistry for a Sustainable World." Technical and undergraduate presentations covered a wide range of topics.
Paiva, SE's ACS-SA chapter co-advisor and trip sponsor, presented her technical poster in the Agriculture and Food Chemistry division.
The entire Southeastern group volunteered at an ACS Presidential Outreach event at the California Academy of Science Museum in Golden Gate Park. Parents brought their young children to see and do simple chemistry demonstrations with the help of student chapter volunteers from all over the country.
SE students attended sessions targeting undergraduates, ranging from chemistry graduate school recruiting to technical talks on the chemistry of chocolate or wine, to discussions of new jobs opening in the field of "green chemistry" (environmentally-friendly chemistry), to undergraduate socials.
Chemistry majors Pardue and Banks presented scientific research posters based on their individual undergraduate research internships at Oklahoma State University in the summer of 2009. They also had a chance to meet many other undergrad chemistry majors from around the country.
Lewis, Abu-Arja and Jay presented the SE successful chapter poster entitled "Southeastern Oklahoma State University ACS Student Chapter: Chemistry from the Blue and Gold," with co-authors Paiva and Dr. Gordon Eggleton, long-term advisor to the SE chapter.
"In addition to technical information that the students learn at this type of meeting," Paiva said, "part of my goal on this sort of trip is to help the students learn more about the national ACS organization, how it can help them get into graduate schools or find a job, and how to get around at this type of convention. In a few years, some of these students may be presenting their first independent research findings or interviewing for a job at one of these meetings."
Funding for the trip came from many sources, including the NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium. The offices of Student Affairs and Student Government Association on campus, ACS Student Programs and ACS Presidential Outreach office all contributed. Financial assistance also came from the Oklahoma NSF-LSAMP program (OKAMP) and the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). SE logo T-shirts were provided by the SE offices of Academic Advising and Outreach Center, and Enrollment Management.
Southeastern students Sadira Abu-Arja, a senior chemistry major, Ashley Lewis, a senior and SE ACS chapter president, and Tracie Jay, a freshman chapter member, present the "Successful Chapter Poster" at the ACS national meeting in San Francisco.