A goal we have every year is to increase member participation and retention. This school year, we accomplished that through engaging and versatile events. In the past, ACS membership for our student chapter has mainly limited itself to chemistry and biochemistry students. Through interdisciplinary events with other departments at Florida Southern College, such as Chemistry of Sports, we hoped to interact with non-chemistry majors to get them involved in our student chapter and events. Additionally, we fostered collaborations by working closely with other ACS chapters in the local area. Southeastern University has started a new ACS chapter at their school and we have worked alongside them at community events and demonstrations to serve as mentors and help them grow and expand their chapter. Through working with other chapters, we hope to gain a connection with them to work together in the future. We have a tradition of events and continue some from previous years, many of which include community outreach and chemical education. We regularly participate in a local community event called First Friday, in which we educate the public (adults and children alike) about chemistry using fun and safe demonstrations. Our demonstrations are typically interactive and contain a theme that helps to get participants interested and involved. The first fall First Friday’s theme was related to last year’s NCW, and focused on space and aliens. The second focused on Harry Potter concepts. We teach the children that come about safety first, have them wear proper PPE, and explain the chemistry in kid-friendly ways. We also invited several elementary and middle school classes into our labs to participate in chemistry demonstrations, usually about polymers (slime, silly putty, etc.), to expose young minds to just how interesting chemistry can be and to introduce them to a side of science they have not seen outside of their classrooms yet. Our student chapter also hosted guest speakers who gave presentations on interesting fields of research that students might not have been previously exposed to, such as marine chemistry and chemistry in art. This learning beyond the classroom will hopefully promote interest from attendees into factions of chemistry careers that they might not have thought of before and spark some ideas for what exciting things they would like to contribute to the field of chemistry.

Florida Southern College ACS student chapter growth 2019-2020

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.