One of the goals of the Saint Louis University chapter of the American Chemical Society is to promote scientific education to the next generation of students and scientists. Traditionally the SLU Chapter's external service opportunities focused heavily on simple demonstrations for K-5 students at local primary school "STEM Nights"; but post-COVID, the chapter made a push to expand our promotion of chemistry concepts to a wider audience. In Spring 2022, the SLU chapter coupled with the ACS Chemical Engagement Library to create a chemistry demonstration video involving the crosslinking reaction of calcium chloride with sodium alginate. The use of a video demonstration allowed us to tell a longer chemistry story in a more polished medium. In Fall 2022, the chapter began collaborating with the iSCORE program at SLU's School of Education, providing an opportunity for local students to be introduced to university-level science facilities. By hosting the event in a university science lab, more complex demonstrations and experiments can be performed and fundamental chemical concepts are able to be better communicated. All of these opportunities together allow the chapter to reach students of all ages and backgrounds while connecting them to supplemental science education that they would otherwise not be exposed to. In this way, the SLU ACS Student Chapter hopes to expand its mission and support underrepresented populations in STEM.

SLU Chemistry Club: Expanding science education and communication to new audiences

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

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