Our ACS-SA chapter achieved an Outstanding award for the 2022-2023 academic year. This year, we are continuing the same efforts to be a key part of our undergraduate chemistry students’ community and the broader surrounding communities of Pittsburgh. Throughout the year our chapter hosts a variety of speakers, social events, and research talks as well as coordinates community outreach efforts to share our love for chemistry and science with others. Although largely chemistry majors, our nationally recognized organization’s reputation for leadership and outreach activities attracts members from a variety of majors such as engineering, neuroscience, psychology, and biology. Students in other majors are an important part of our community and are actively encouraged to participate in our meetings and activities.
We have a wide variety of other activities in which our members can participate. The speakers we host discuss topics including career choices, research development in both academia and industry, and current green chemistry issues in our lives. In addition, we make a point of hosting several social events each semester such as birthday celebrations, holiday parties, and senior farewell. Finally, to provide all our members opportunities to actively participate, they are encouraged to tutor within the Department, engage in our community outreach events, and even present their own undergraduate research from both within and outside of our department.
Our strong outreach program positively impacts both our chapter members and our community. Through community outreach, we work to improve access to science education for our local elementary and middle school students. This year we have expanded our scope to include a broader range of experiments including biocatalysis, DNA extraction, reaction kinetics, and combustion. We have also strengthened our emphasis on green Chemistry in outreach by introducing a series of biopolymer experiments.
By focusing on schools and programs in under resourced areas of our community, we work to provide hands-on science education that might otherwise be inaccessible. We have collaborated with programs including The Pittsburgh Project, Schenley Height Community Development, and Strong Women Strong Girls. After discussion with the community groups, we carefully design our experiments to meet each group’s goals for their students. This year our outreach program has received positive feedback from our chapter members and community members alike. Students reflected on their outreach, saying that since the Pittsburgh community had such a positive impact on their college experience, they hoped to return this favor by giving back through these programs. Similarly, leaders of community programs we collaborated with have expressed their appreciation saying it was wonderful to have our enthusiastic volunteers giving so much one-on-one attention to their students that wouldn’t normally be possible.
We are very proud of membership and their achievements. We hope to continue our strong legacy here at the University of Pittsburgh.
