The Roger Williams University student chapter of the American Chemical Society aims to enhance scientific literacy in the local community. Enhancing scientific literacy starts with effective science communication and our group communicates science by hosting community outreach events, encouraging science education on and off campus, supporting student research, and holding a number of campus activities. As part of our educational outreach efforts, our chapter hosted a science night at Colt Andrews Elementary School, judged the high school science fair at Mt. Hope High School, and ran sessions at the Girls STEM conference at Weymouth High School. On a weekly basis, we practice performing science demonstrations (e.g. fluorescein extraction from highlighters, “Lightning in a Jar”, and Briggs-Rauscher and Belousov-Zhabotinsky oscillating reactions). We explore diverse chemical reactions, discuss their historical and mechanistic underpinnings, and hone our presentation skills to adapt these activities to a variety of audiences based on their age and level of science engagement. For our own engagement, we attended a presentation by Dr. Harry B. Gray, from Caltech, for his talk on “<i>Powering the Planet: How to Solve 21<sup>st</sup> Century Problems in Sustainability</i>” at Providence College. In order to support RWU students, we held study sessions for general and organic chemistry students before their final exam with peer tutors. Our recreational activities also held a focus on science communication, such that we hosted movie nights showing “The Theory of Everything” and “Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge”. Additionally, we participated in the “Program in a Box” webinar from the national chapter about “Voyage to Mars: Red Planet Chemistry” and visited the Ladd Observatory at Brown University and the Boston Science Museum.

Enhancing scientific literacy in our community

2019 Spring National Meeting

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