Great Services, Fun Learning, and Success - ACS Symposium Series

Chapter 11

Great Services, Fun Learning, and Success

Downloaded by CORNELL UNIV on October 12, 2016 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 5, 2016 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2016-1230.ch011

L. Gao* and J. Ahlgren-Beckendorf Department of Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Geology, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, 900 College Street, Belton, Texas 76513, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Since its charter in 1977, the student chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) at the The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) in Belton, Texas has been recognized with ACS student chapter awards for almost 40 years. The chapter focuses on outreach through various activities both on and off campus. The love for chemistry brings the chapter members together to reach out to the community and spread their passion for chemistry and science to others. A shared favorite among the chapter members is Demos in the Dark, an annual event held during the National Chemistry Week. In collaboration with other student organizations the chapter hosts Science Saturday of hands-on activities and demonstrations for local children. For many years, the club maintained and serviced campus recycling bins until the university assumed this responsibility. The club also volunteers on behalf of Adopt-A-Highway for regular roadside trash pick-up. Additionally, every April, the club never fails to set up its Earth Day booth on campus to promote green chemistry and green ways of living. This student chapter continues to grow, providing further services to the community.

Introduction The chemistry club of the The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) has been an American Chemical Society (ACS) student chapter since 1977 and has won ACS student chapter awards for almost 40 years. As shown in Figure 1, a total of 38 ACS student chapter awards including 4 green chemistry awards are © 2016 American Chemical Society Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


displayed on a wall in the chemistry department. Since 1992, each spring faculty advisor(s) have accompanied the executive committee and interested members to accept their award(s) at the Student Chapter Awards Ceremony, held annually at the ACS Spring National Meeting.

Figure 1. ACS Student Chapter Awards between 1977 and 2015 are displayed on a wall in the Chemistry Department of UMHB. Photo was taken by one of the coauthors of this chapter Dr. Lin Gao. (see color insert)

The UMHB student chapter of ACS began under Dr. Darrell Watson in 1977. As an undergraduate chemistry student, Dr. Watson had been president of the student chapter of the chemistry club at Sul Ross State University. Thus, as a young faculty member at UMHB, he thought that students at UMHB would enjoy a similar club. At the initial meeting for interested students about twenty potential members were present. Dr. Watson, an organic chemistry professor, had recently lectured over sigma and pi bonds in class. One of his students suggested that the newly organized club be named Sigma Pi (ΣΠ), in recognition of the covalent bonds. The students unanimously agreed. When the original charter was written to establish the club, “Sigma Pi” was included as the name. In 2014, club members voted to use the lower-case Greek letters (σπ) to avoid possible confusion or identification with an unrelated, national fraternity and recognize the emphasis of chemistry in the club.

118 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.

Table 1. Major Service Activities Hosted and Sponsored by the ACS Student Chapter at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.


Service Activity

Number of Faculty Volunteers

Month of Year

Number of Service Hours

Number of Student Volunteers

1. Chem Camp

2 weeks in June

30

3-4

2

2. End of Year Party

Late April

3

10

2

3. Earth Day

April

4

10

1

4. Chemistry with the Cru

spring and fall semester

5 including 3 prep hours

10-12

2

5. Sigma Pi Speaker Seminar

spring and fall semester

2

2

1

6. Highway Cleanup

spring semester and fall semester

3-4

10-15

2

7. Women in Science and Engineering (W.I.S.E.)

March or April

3

3-5

1

8. Christmas Study Break Party

December

3

8-10

2-4

9. Science Saturday

November


24-30

2

10. Demos in the Dark

NCW in October


25

2

11. Sigma Pi t-Shirts

throughout the year

throughout the year

2

1

12. Lab Safety Goggles/ Aprons and ACS Study Guides 4 including 2 staff members

throughout the year

throughout the year

0

4 including 2 staff members

13. Snack Bar on Third Floor of

throughout the year

throughout the year

2

1-2



We, the current faculty co-advisors of the UMHB student chapter are very fortunate to assume responsibility for an organization first established and led by Dr. Watson. The relevant challenge for us is to determine the kind of management style that we would implement to retain the success, enthusiasm, and momentum σπ experienced under his leadership. A critically important attitude of our sponsorship is that the club “belongs” to the students, and each successive generation of students “inherits” σπ and has a “turn” to enjoy the advantages of membership. Among the goals faculty advisors quietly maintain, however, is not only the fun and social-life club membership offers, but real opportunities for learning and practicing leadership, collaboration, and managerial problem-solving skills. In comparison to chemistry learned in the curriculum, these goals require much more creativity, flexibility, collaboration, and decision-making by students. Thus, the strategy of management for this student organization is best described by Tannenbaum and Schmidt as the “manager permits subordinate to function within limits defined by the superior” (1). A more modern description of these principles may be described as “democratic” (2). With regard to democracy, the club members elect all officers by secret ballot; the only exception is the safety officer. Each student and faculty advisor has one vote. Students choose to run for office and announce that they wish to be on the ballot. The candidates for president must have participated in the Demos in the Dark activity before running for this office. Other officers, including vice president, secretary, treasurer, public relations, and historian, are elected without regard for any specified previous experience. The president of σπ and his officers choose activities for the academic year. Some of the activities are traditional; students enjoy them and wish to participate in traditional activities each year. Other activities are new additions to the club and may vary from one year to another. For non-traditional activities, the president of σπ decides upon one or more new projects to distinguish his administration from those of past presidents. Faculty advisors do make suggestions with regard to projects, but the choice to accept or decline these suggestions remains the prerogative of the president and his/her officers. Over the course of multiple years, some worthwhile but infrequent projects may be recycled. Occasionally, a new project proves so successful that it becomes traditional. Thus, faculty advisors foster not only democracy, but creativity and independence. In the following sections of this chapter, the implementation of our principles of management as well as specific traditional and non-traditional service activities are discussed. Our major service activities currently conducted throughout the months are listed in Table 1.

Building and Maintaining Consistent Traditions Consistent traditions allow students to plan and prepare early in the school year. The chapter members usually use a combination of e-mails, on-campus digital announcement, chapter bulletin board, and chapter Facebook to advertise the events and communicate with each other. For big events which require coordination among many people, officers create volunteer sheets with the names 120 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


of all the volunteers and their assignments. One of our policies is that safety standards must be incorporated into all activities. The faculty advisors made a safety data sheets folder for all chemicals used in our events. In addition, all student participants must wear personal safety equipment when doing demos. At least one faculty member must be present when students are either practicing or performing the demos for the events. We continue to improve our traditional performances. Recently, we revised all documents covering safety, demo preparations, personnel and supplies lists. Faculty advisors and students assembled many of our demonstrations into grab-and-go boxes. Each box includes all reagents, glassware, safety equipment and detailed instructions for the demo. The boxes are portable, allowing the demonstrations to travel to wherever the activity will take place. Electronic versions of these documents are also created and can be easily passed onto a new chapter leadership team the next year.

Demos in the Dark: Visual Demonstration of Chemistry In 1991, UMHB built an amphitheater close to the science building. Dr. Darrell Watson had been performing chemical demonstrations indoors, and thought that the amphitheater would be an ideal place to host chemical demonstrations that are inappropriate in an indoor environment, such as Banging Balloons and Thermite. Thus, Demos in the Dark was born, and since this time, has been a yearly tradition to celebrate National Chemistry Week (NCW). In one of the years that followed its inception, the UMHB community held a food drive for Helping Hands ministry. At this time, Dr. Watson incorporated the donation of a food item for admission to the Demos in the Dark. Our student chapter has maintained this tradition “Demos in the Dark: Things That Go Boom and Bang in the Dark” to celebrate the National Chemistry Week every year on campus since 1991 (3). The show starts at dusk, and students conduct two hours of chemical demonstrations that are set to music, glow in the dark, produce controlled fires, or cause colorful explosions. Some examples of the demonstrations are Rainbow Connection, Burning Books, Purple Flames, Methanol Fire Jugs, Glow-in-the-Dark Elephant Toothpaste, Exploding Pumpkins, Banging Balloons, and cannons that shoot t-shirts and Nerf footballs. Children in attendance receive balloons, temporary tattoos, booklets and have the opportunity to make slime. Liquid nitrogen slushies are served after the show. The event also doubles as a canned food drive because the admission is a non-perishable food item per person. Every year the outdoor event attracts 300-400 attendees in good weather and 200-500 pounds of food are collected and donated to a local food bank. Dr. Darrell Watson, the former student chapter advisor, believes the event is successful because of its consistency (3). The children’s favorite demo and the finale of the program is Banging Balloons. Children and their parents cheer and clap with excitement over the burning, bursting and booming balloons. For the students in the club, the greatest of demos is showing the audience that chemistry is cool. Club members communicate clearly that science, especially chemistry, is exciting. 121

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Demos in the Dark program is a good example of our democratic management with limitations. Dr. Joy Beckendorf, who oversees the students on this event, gives a lecture with required attendance for interested students. During the lecture, the opportunities for participation, limitations, safety, and responsibilities are discussed in detail. As faculty advisors, we have an unequivocal obligation to insure the safety of both participants and audience. Thus, with regard to limitations, Figure 2 lists safety requirements which must be observed without exception. This handout is provided to all of the student participants involved in the program, including those volunteers not performing a demonstration. Members of the audience are prohibited from entering the field at any time. Campus police and the City of Belton Fire Department are present. The faculty advisors make all necessary arrangements with the university to host the event, including reserving the space, the audio-visual equipment and technician, lighting for after the performance, and information-technology for internet advertisement. Faculty advisors notify the campus police and the city fire department. “In the past, we had invited the fire department to attend Demos in the Dark,” Dr. Watson said. “Usually you saw a fire truck complete with paramedics and everything. Fortunately they were just sitting and watching the show” (3). We developed a protocol to provide a super-structure for Demos in the Dark into which the students incorporate for participation in the event. Positions are defined with specific responsibilities: safety officer, secretaries, hosts, demonstrators, stage manager, master of ceremonies, music manager, and spot-light manager. On the democratic side, students are free to participate in whatever position they choose, except the safety officer is appointed by faculty sponsors. At our university, we are fortunate to have many veterans as non-traditional students. Most commonly, the safety officer is a veteran with experience in the handling of hazardous and explosive materials. The safety officer, as shown in Figure 3, packs all safety supplies to be transported to the field, places water carboys on each of the three tables, puts tap water in the bucket, and monitors safety protocol for compliance. The on-the-field faculty advisor also monitors for safety compliance. The safety officer and faculty advisors transport compressed-gas cylinders and liquid nitrogen to insure that no person accompanies these hazards on the elevator. The safety officer and a faculty advisor conduct Banging Balloon explosions. The safety officer also may conduct another demo if he or she wishes. The current president of chapter is the managing secretary of demos; previous participation in Demos in the Dark is a requirement for the candidates who run for president. The secretary writes the script; recruits volunteers to prepare announcements, handout baggies, and slime reagents for the children; and writes a sign-up sheet for demonstrators and hosts. Faculty assist the secretary as needed. Hosts greet the audience, give children the handout baggie, and sell the T-shirts. From popular requests, we designed a new T-shirt that glows in the dark. After the demonstrations, hosts serve liquid-nitrogen slushies and assist children in making slime. Demonstrators package the materials and chemicals for their demo for transport and perform the demos. Supervised practice of the demo prior to the day of the event is required. The more hazardous demos are reserved for junior and senior students; with this limitation, students are free to choose which demo to perform on a first 122



come, first sign-up basis. Several demos allow for more than one volunteer, and a disappointed junior may reserve the demo of their choice for their senior year. The stage manager does not perform demos; the responsibility of this position is to insure organization. The stage manager labels carts and tables, makes sure the pre-packaged demo supplies are on the correct cart, and notifies the demonstrator that the demo is in line to be conducted two or three demonstrations in advance of time to perform. Consequently, the demonstrator is able to move the supplies to the correct table prior to the demo and prepare to be in the spot-light. In the event that a demo is not working as anticipated, the stage manager notifies the master of ceremonies to move on. If a demo begins to work, the stage manager alerts the master of ceremonies to re-direct the attention of the audience and the spot-light to the demo. Sometimes, under conditions of high humidity and/or wind as is common in our location in Central Texas, demos are delayed or may not work at all. Stage managers notify the faculty advisor on-the-field about any problems. The master(s) of ceremonies have the microphone. They entertain the audience with prepared remarks, announce the name of the demo according to the order determined by the script. One limitation is that faculty advisors reserve the privilege to review the script prior to the performance. The master of ceremonies needs to be flexible; in the event of delay, master of ceremonies re-directs the attention of the audience or may tell chemistry jokes. The music manager plays music to accompany certain demos, according to directives in the script. Music is stored on an electronic devise; auto-visual technician of the university route the devise to the loudspeaker. Club members and demonstrators suggest music to accompany demos; some pieces are used routinely, while others may be a new idea. The spot-light manager operates the spot-light for demos that require light to be seen by the audience. The spotlight manager follows the script and the master of ceremonies. The limitations imposed on students with demos are primarily for reasons of safety, appropriate content, and organization. The democracy is that students have choice and real responsibility. Faculty advisors are open to new demos, music, and script. The super-structure is to prevent failure of any one person from causing failure of the entire event. Thus, responsibilities are well-defined, voluntary, and assistance for the participants is available by request.

Science Saturday: An Outreach to the Community Science Saturday is a second activity popular with students, which had its beginning in 2009. Science Saturday is sponsored by all of the student organizations under the umbrella of natural and social sciences; thus, math, chemistry, engineering, computer science, biology, psychology, and sociology join together to offer activities for elementary school children on a Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Public school teachers are also invited to participate in order to serve as a resource for local schools. Because of the Demos in the Dark event, the chemistry club has established a good relationship with the local public elementary schools. The chemistry club takes the responsibility 123 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


and send the Science Saturday flyer to a total of 65 elementary schools by e-mail and paper mail. The event announcement is posted on the digital signage in main buildings on campus as well as on the university website and the club website. The contribution of the chemistry club to Science Saturday includes come-and-go, hands-on activities as well as scheduled chemical demonstrations in an auditorium which we titled Demos in the Den. If weather permits, Banging Balloons demo is staged on the lawn of the building, as shown in Figure 3. For the chemical demonstrations, students conduct the demo of their choice. Demos must be appropriate for safety in an indoor environment; for example, the Thermite reaction is not allowed. All demonstrators wear lab apron or coat and goggles, long pants and close-toed shoes. If more than one student is interested in the same demo, a second Demos in the Den is scheduled for a different time in the program, and additional demonstrators are recruited.

Figure 2. Safety requirements in a document given to all of the student participants and volunteers involved in Demos in the Dark.



Figure 3. Banging Balloons were presented outdoor on Science Saturday. Photo was taken by one of the coauthors of this chapter Dr. Lin Gao. (see color insert) Our chemistry activity room is one of the most popular destinations during Science Saturday, with children visiting from open to close. For entrance into the chemistry room for hands-on activities, club members hand out child-sized safety goggles and a Science Saturday brochure. The brochure is used to teach kids the chemistry of each activity. Children return the goggles upon leaving the room; goggles are sanitized before being loaned to another child. Within the room, children choose to participate in a number of activities. Each activity is supervised by two club members who volunteered for the particular activity. Students are free to recommend new activities; several have been added by student suggestion including “Giant Bubble”, “Crush the Can”, and “Nail-Polish Bookmarks”. For the Giant Bubble activity, children stand on a stool inside a wading pool holding a soap solution and hula hoop. As the hula hoop is lifted, a giant bubble forms around the child. With parental permission, a photo is taken of the child. These permission forms are useful to inform the interested families for future events. Science Saturday is a very successful service project. Every year it attracts more than 250 children attendees from over 100 families. In 2015 Science Saturday was reported on two local newspapers and also awarded as the Most Outstanding Service Program of the Year by the university. Earth Day Celebration and Adopt-A-Highway Internationally, the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1990; with an increased emphasis in care for the environment. Thus, Sigma Pi began participating in the Texas Adopt-A-Highway program in 1998. Since this time and for almost 20 years, highway trash pick-up has been an important service event for our members. Our 125



club has two signs along Texas State Highway 93 in Belton, Texas; informing the public that UMHB Sigma Pi cares for this section of our public highway. Over the years our student chapter has conducted various activities to celebrate the Earth Day, several of which have become an annual tradition on campus. Every year an Earth Day booth is set up usually from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the university student center. The chemistry club encourages people to wear green on Earth Day and collect electronics such as TV, VCR, phones etc. and then sends them to BestBuy for recycling. Club members give liquid nitrogen ice cream to students while they listen to the green-living lectures. Although the celebration is basically the same, there are different variations each year. For several years, we invited people to write a pledge on a paper leaf and attach it to our plastic tree. One year, we set up a fundraiser project and planted a tree on campus. For another year, the club collaborated with the Baptist Student Ministry organization called Hope for the Hungry. The chapter students visited the underprivileged children the day before Earth Day. Crafts were made with donated magazines; the purpose was to teach children about recycling. These crafts were displayed at our Earth Day booth. In order to raise awareness of Earth Day, we also created an Instagram Picture Contest during the Earth Day week. The contestants may hug a tree or otherwise and show how much they love and care about the earth in their pictures. Prizes for most creative photo were awarded to three winners chosen by the club officers. Chem Camp Finally, people in the local community also enjoy our Chem Camp very much in summer. With the help of the funding from the ACS local section, two sessions of 5 days of fun-filled, exciting chemical activities are usually held in June. Dr. Darrell Watson designed the camp to motivate elementary school students toward science, while giving them actual laboratory experience. These activities can be found in Chem Camp handbooks published by the Institute for Chemical Education (4, 5). Participants make slime and nylon, turn pennies into gold and silver, separate ink into colors.

Promoting Innovative Service Projects Women in Science Extravaganza (W.I.S.E.): Successful Celebration of Women in Science One of our new missions is to inspire minorities and women in our community to become future scientists of the next generation. Since 2009 the group worked with local Girl Scouts of America in an event called Women in Science Extravaganza (W.I.S.E.) for girls to earn science badges. Local Girl Scouts were given the opportunity to enjoy an afternoon full of hands-on chemistry and yoga activities. Scouts had a chance to earn an Interest Project Patch by conducting explorations of Calculation of Velocity, DNA extraction, and Gas Chromatography activities. Attendees also had discussions with young woman on an undergraduate student panel and a female professor of chemistry. 126 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


Shaping Young Minds: Helping Create the Chemists of Tomorrow Fall 2011 marked the first semester of an active chemistry tutoring program for the UMHB ACS Student Chapter. The club was fortunate enough to receive the Innovative Activities Grant of the ACS and support from the ACS local section in order to create a helpful tutoring project for local high school and college students. This program was most beneficial for the students on UMHB campus taking general and organic chemistry courses. The chemistry club conducted individual and group tutoring covering general material, laboratory report calculations and reactions, and pre-test preparations. Chemistry students at UMHB received over 300 hours of tutoring per academic year. Most high schools in the area showed initial interest but follow-through was challenging because of high school time constraints. This tutoring project will continue as long as the interest in science and math exists among our future generations locally. Planting a Tree: Helping Campus To Go Green In 2014 the chapter president Mr. Zachary Winfield and his officers decided to plant a tree on campus and held a fundraiser to buy the tree. The club raised more than $200. He negotiated with UMHB administration about the kind of tree and where to plant it. With the help of the campus landscape service supervisor, a sycamore tree was selected before the Earth Day event. The tree was planted outside York Science Center on the Earth Day as shown in Figure 4. The university was very helpful and donated the tree to the club and all of the funds raised went toward a plaque to commemorate the Sigma Pi Chemistry Club.

Figure 4. Chapter members Zachary Winfield (left) and Ashley Hockaday (right) planted a sycamore tree to celebrate Earth Day. Photo was taken by one of the coauthors of this chapter Dr. Lin Gao. (see color insert) Although Mr. Winfield’s new activity for Earth Day is not likely to become a tradition, Mr. Winfield demonstrated creativity, initiative, and exercised his social skills to collaborate with others outside his primary interest of chemistry. In doing so, he shared his excitement about chemistry with a broader audience 127 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.

and left a lasting legacy, the tree, for us to share with students in the future. These accomplishments are a consequence of encouraging students to work independently and creatively within a limited democratic management.


Filming a Lab Safety Video Safety is not a specific activity, but rather a goal of the faculty in the Department of Chemistry is to establish a safety culture which we hope our students will adopt as a part of their education and critical thinking skills. Thus, we were delighted when, as president of the club, Mr. Winfield, decided to make a safety video. He collaborated with students from a filming class in the Business Computer Information for his production. The script was written by Mr. Winfield and the other officers. Under the supervision of 4 professors, 15 students from both the chemistry club and the filming class worked over 20 hours on several Saturdays to review the scripts. The video was filmed in our own teaching labs. After the filming, Mr. Winfield and the director of the filming project met with the department chair of chemistry and edited the video. Chemistry with The Cru - Successful Outreach to the Children’s Hospital In the spring of 2015 the chemistry club started a new outreach service at the Baylor-Scott &White McLane Children’s Hospital in Temple, Texas. The goal of the events was to help the patients become distracted from their hospital environments by providing fun and safe chemistry activities, and also to encourage them to have an interest in chemistry. This program was originated by the president, Kendall McGahey, and is becoming a new tradition. Chemistry with the Cru is a modified Science Saturday. Demos are not included because children are unable to attend if they are receiving nursing care, but may come to the hands-on activities before or after care is scheduled. Also, we have safety concerns with demos, and do not have a stage separated from our audience. The director of recreation for the hospital assisted the setting-up, tearing-down, and progress of the activities. The director of nursing usually checked our visit before the children come and often reappears after the patients are with us. We were grateful that they kept a close eye on our activities because some of the children have chronic and serious problems. Most of the patients attended with their IV pole in tow. Parents must sign a document to allow pictures to be taken of their child, and we identified such children with a colored wrist band. The members of the club brought reagents and activities for the children staying in the hospital. The first was Nail Polish Laminated Bookmarks. A mixture of clear nail polish and water was created. The kids decorated a bookmark with sharpie marker and then dip the bookmark in the mixture. The nail polish laminated the bookmark. The second was Shaving Cream Art, which created an awesome tie-dyed picture by using shaving cream and food coloring. The third was slime. The kids mixed polyvinyl alcohol, borax, and food coloring to make slime. The next activity was Oobleck. A mixture of cornstarch and water created a cool non-Newtonian fluid. Each child was given a small bowl with Oobleck; to prevent the transfer of germs, no two children shared the same bowl 128 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


of Oobleck. Finally the kids were able to participate in the bouncing bubbles activity. A solution of water and dish soap thickened overnight, and then the kids wore gloves and bounced bubbles off of the fabric. The patients and employees at the hospital had a great time. They were able to learn several chemistry basics and experience the excitement of chemistry. Ms. McGahey demonstrated the success and advantages of democratic management style. She made all of the initial contacts with hospital professionals and arranged the times for σπ to provide our program. We were invited by the director of recreation to return and have done so each semester since the original visit.

Fun Learning and Student Success Becoming an ACS student chapter member brings much fun and benefits to a student’s life. Students benefit from conducting the activities because it not only show them interesting facts about chemistry but it also shows them how to reach out and teach others how chemistry can be fun. By working side by side with their fellow students, the chapter members build relationships among members. When planning and carrying out these activities, members learn to work together to put their thoughts and ideas into action. They also learn to function in teams and work together efficiently. Chapter officers gain leadership skills by working with volunteers and by setting project schedules to ensure that the project goals are reached. All of the above skills are valued in the real world and ready to carry over to their professional careers. Below here are some examples of the chapter activities which mainly focus on educational, career-related experiences. As faculty advisors, we hope the student members take advantage of these unique learning opportunities to build on their successes. Attending ACS National Meetings Each spring members from the chapter attend the ACS National Meeting with a faculty advisor. After returning from a recent ACS National Meeting, David McKinzey, the current president of the student chapter, commented that “Participating in the ACS meeting was a fantastic, one-of-a-kind experience that we should recommend to all members of our club.” Students learn to write proposals and apply for the ACS National Meeting Travel Grant. With the ACS travel grant and other funds from the university, students are able to attend the Chem Demo Exchange program and present their research posters and/or the chapter activity posters. Importantly, they can learn about advancements in chemistry, and exchange good ideas with other student chapters at the ACS meetings. Hosting Chemistry Career Seminars For nearly 30 years, the UMHB student chapter has been hosting career seminars in the Department of Chemistry and arranged one or two speakers per 129



year. These seminars are usually scheduled during lunch time for students to network and hear about the career paths of the invited guests while enjoying pizza together. These off-campus speakers are selected from industry or graduate or professional schools. Many former students and members who have graduated come back and give presentations on graduate school experiences, research, and career opportunities. These talks are very helpful to the currents members who are pursuing medical degrees and doctoral degrees, as well as careers in industry or as science teachers. In 2015 Dr. Christopher Gouner, a former club member and currently a diagnostic radiologist at the Baylor-Scott and White Hospital of Temple, Texas, gave a presentation on “Introduction to Radiology”. A few days after his presentation and his visit with the department chair, Dr. Gouner and his wife generously donated an annual scholarship fund in the amount of $6000 for chemistry majors. Visiting General Chemistry Classes To meet one of the club’s goals to aid in the chemical education, the club pushed to create free tutoring sessions for lower-level chemistry classes at the university. Chemistry professors exchanged opinions on how to teach difficult concepts and agreed that chemical demonstration is a very effective approach. Members of the chapter are invited by each professor to visit his/her general chemistry classes and perform several exciting chemical demonstrations such as Elephant Toothpaste, Dry Ice Tower of Colors, and Flame Rainbow. These demonstrations are designed not only to illustrate the basic principles of chemistry, but also motivate the freshman students towards advanced studies in chemistry. Members talk to the general chemistry students about the chapter and the benefits of becoming a ACS member. They distribute ACS membership applications and pass around sign-up sheets so they can later contact interested students. A pedagogy called “Service Learning” has been adopted into a general chemistry course taught by Dr. Linda Gao since 2014. Students are encouraged and awarded with a couple of extra credit points for the final exam for helping kids doing demos on Science Saturday. The general chemistry students are given the recipe of each demo and an instruction sheet teaching them the chemistry behind the demo. Every semester about ten students participate in this unique learning experience through the chapter’s service projects. Taking Chemical Demonstrations Course One upper-level course in our chemistry curriculum taught by Dr. Darrell Watson is Chemical Demonstrations. Student members want to become science teachers are encouraged to take this course. During the semester, they study chemistry teaching methods involving laboratory techniques and demonstration. Dr. Watson and the students visit elementary schools one afternoon each week to teach kids about the “cool side” of chemistry. The results of the demonstrations are positive for both the children and the chemistry club. While the children learn about science, the college students practice demonstrations and learn about classroom teaching strategies. At the spring 2015 ACS National Meeting a club 130


member presented her studies with the local elementary schools on “Impact of Chemical Demonstrations on Student Interest and Learning in Science.”


Getting Involved in Green Chemistry Research Projects Additionally, the chapter faculty advisors hope chemistry students stay motivated. Perhaps some students will go to industry, making new plastics or better fuels. One of the faculty advisors, Dr. Lin Gao, has been actively engaging students with green chemistry research projects for six years. Their research projects focus on the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of alternative fuels in the range of whole fuel cycles. Instead of only considering energy consumption and emissions in vehicle operation stages, their research extends the investigation of energy use and emissions to the whole fuel cycle, from well-to-wheels (6, 7). Their studies have practical significance with regard to energy application and the environmental protection of using alternative fuels to supplement oil as a main energy source. Two student members of ACS, Zachary Winfield and Malintha Abeysiri, have published their findings of the above projects as full papers in four peer-reviewed journals (7, 8). Mr. Winfield’s paper titled “Life Cycle Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Advanced Vehicles” was published in the Energies and has now been cited by 24 other researchers worldwide.

Funding Chapter Activities To provide convenience and ensure lab safety for students, the Sigma Pi Chemistry Club sells lab safety goggles and aprons at the beginning of each semester. Our regular sale is about 250 pairs of goggles per semester. The club also sells ACS general chemistry and organic chemistry exam study guides throughout the semester. Recently the university helped us install a CruCard meter on our computer. Therefore, students no longer need to pay cash and they can use their student ID cards to purchase goggles and aprons, or ACS exam study guides. We also sell T-shirts as a fundraiser. Each year the club creates two or three designs for a new T-shirt and votes for the most favorite design to be sold to students to raise money. In the next year, we plan to sell organic chemistry molecular model kits to raise more funds. Moreover, we serve our students and colleagues by offering a snack bar on the third floor of the York Science building to provide them with convenient “fuel boost” during class breaks. The club provides over 30 kinds of snacks, over 20 kinds of beverages and fresh fruits such as apples. Our snack bar serves about 600 students and staff, and the profit of sales is used to support the chapter activities.

Concluding Remarks Finally, we need to give credit and appreciation to our students for all of the time and efforts they put into the chemistry club. We are a small ACS student chapter in terms of the number of students. However, many of our members are 131 Mio and Benvenuto; Building and Maintaining Award-Winning ACS Student Member Chapters Volume 2: Specific Program Areas ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.

active, responsible, and willing to serve 40-60 hours per semester in planning and conducting these activities. They pick up trash on the highway, practice demos, clean up after events, try new experiments, prepare new scripts, design and order t-shirts, tutor, and show up on weekends to host programs. All of this work students do in addition to their busy schedules of learning chemistry, often while working part-time as well. We are grateful for their industry and drive, creativity, energy, tolerance of their professors, and sense of humor. We offer a sincere thank-you to all members of the chemistry club, past and present.


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Tannenbaum, R.; Schmidt, W. H. Harvard Bus. Rev. 1973 (May-June), 162–180. Kocher, M. G.; Pogrebna, G.; Sutter, M. Other-Regarding Preferences and Management Styles. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 2013, 88, 109–132. Proffitt A. How to Run a Successful Student Chapter; American Chemical Society Undergraduate Programs Office: Washington, DC, 2013; pp 19−20. Chem Camp Handbook: The Institute for Chemical Education’s Guide to the Fun with Chemistry Laboratory Workshops for Middle School Students, 2nd ed.; Huseth, A., Shanks, K., Ed.; Institute for Chemical Education: Madison, WI, 1996. Fun with Chemistry: A Guidebook of K-12 Activities; Sarquis, M., Sarquis, J., Ed.; Institute for Chemical Education: Madison, WI, 1993; Vol. 1. Gao, L.; Winfield, Z. C. Beyond the Vehicle Operation Cycle. Int. Innovation 2015, 178, 80–81. Gao, L.; Winfield, Z. C. Life Cycle Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Advanced Vehicles. Energies 2012, 5, 605–620. Gao, L.; Abeysiri, M. C.; Winfield, Z. C. Evaluating the Energy Consumption and Emissions of Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells. Int. J. Energy Sci. 2012, 2, 211–216.


Great Services, Fun Learning, and Success - ACS Symposium Series

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