Greater Houston Section

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  • 27 Mar 2024 3:32 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    The Greater Houston section was out in force at the ACS Spring Meeting in New Orleans! It's difficult to get everyone together for photos at a large conference, but hopefully you had a chance to meet with one of our local section representatives out and about, or stopped by to chat and pick up a sticker at the Sci-Mix poster event.


    GHS Board Members (left to right): David Germack (Councilor), Amber Hinkley (Councilor), Dawn Friesen (Alt. Councilor), Safia Mohamed (Chair)

    Didn't catch us at the conference? We're active year-round in the Greater Houston area so keep an eye on our website and social media accounts for upcoming virtual in and in-person events, as well as volunteer opportunities. Getting involved with your local section is a great way to meet chemists from all areas of science to build your personal and professional networks. We'd love to meet you!

  • 27 Mar 2024 3:06 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)


    The Greater Houston section participated in this year’s IUPAC Global Women’s Breakfast event by holding a virtual networking and group discussion on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2024. The event was co-organized by the ACS Greater Houston Section, Stepan Company's Women's Networking and EMBRACE (Black employee) Resource Groups, and the Space City EWOC chapter. This year’s theme of “catalyzing diversity in science” was recognized by focusing on the benefits of diversity in science and sharing practical strategies to ensure that diverse voices and ideas are being heard in the scientific community.

    Participants were provided with a short list of resources highlighting the importance of hearing diverse voices both personally and as a good business practice prior to the event, as well as articles offering practical tips for amplifying diverse voices at work.

    A brief presentation on strategies to speak up and be heard was given by Dr. Dawn Friesen, (ACS-GHS Alternate Councilor) before the participants launched into a lively discussion of their experiences, including successes and challenges of speaking up for themselves and others in the workplace.

    GWB 2024 - Amplifying Diverse Voices Presentation


    Thanks to those who attended for engaging in conversation with us, and special thanks to our collaborating organizations for participating in an excellent event!

    Event Co-organizers:

    Stepan Company: Alexis Bender, Diana Dardugno, Parker Stockman (Women’s Networking Resource Group); Monica Brown and Andre Ceasar (EMBRACE [Black Employees] Resource Group)
    EWOC: Catherine Faler, Haley Brown


  • 27 Mar 2024 1:04 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    The Greater Houston Section is proud to recognize Dr. Ding-Shyue (Jerry) Yang, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston, as our 2024 Outreach Volunteer of the Year!


    Jerry manages the National Chemistry Olympiad program in the Houston area.  Annually, he organizes and administers around 400 tests, which for a city the size of Houston is no small feat. He also administers the local awards on both a district-level and school-level to the top performers, and supports the students advancing to the International Chemistry Olympiad. In 2023, Jerry assisted during the special Student Awards and Project SEED Dinner (for the first time since COVID) to recognize students that participated in our various outreach programs including the Chemistry Olympiad.

    Learn more about other Outreach Volunteer of the Year award recipients here!

  • 01 Feb 2024 10:09 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    L to R: Falonne Moumbogno (Director), David Germack (Councilor), Obiageli Nwosu (Alternate Councilor)

    The Greater Houston section sent new and returning board members as delegates to the 2024 ACS Leadership Institute, an annual conference where ACS leaders come together to learn both management and leadership skills to enable their personal professional growth as ACS leaders. This year's event was held January 26th - 28th in Atlanta, GA. As a 2023 ChemLuminary Award winner, our section was also invited to present a poster describing our award winning activities.

    Pictured: Obiageli Nwosu with the GHS Activities Poster

  • 01 Feb 2024 9:52 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)
    The ACS-GHS was proud to present a chemistry-based demonstration at San Jacinto College's annual STEM Expo event at San Jacinto College South campus on November 16, 2023. About 250 students participated in the event.


    Obiageli Nwosu coordinated the demonstration in collaboration with Hongyi Wang, as well as with the laboratory coordinator for San Jacinto College, and chemistry department Head Connie Gomez.


  • 03 Dec 2023 12:55 AM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    L to R: Frank Blum, Cheryl Frech, Lloyd Bumm, and SWRM Board Chair Ruthanne Hathaway

    The ACS Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM) was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 15-18. The meeting was sponsored by the Oklahoma Local Section of the ACS where the theme was "Chemistry Energized". The energy was evident in the more than 1000 attendees who gathered to speak and/or hear about recent advances in chemistry and chemistry-related fields developed in partnership with local sections and technical divisions, including special symposia on Lessons and Inspirations from the History of Chemistry, Best Practices for Small Chemical Businesses, and Innovative Ways to Convey the Value of Chemistry to the Public. Special events included the Senior Chemists Breakfast and Lecture, Women Chemists Breakfast and Lecture, and the SWRM Awards Dinner where Cindy Welch of the Greater Houston Section and Kingwood High School received the 2023 ACS Division of Chemical Education SW Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching. Congratulations to General Chairs, Cheryl Frech and Lloyd Bumm, and Program Chair Frank Blum for organizing an exceptional regional meeting!

    Stephen Prilliman presenting the SWRM Teaching Award to Cindy Welch

  • 03 Dec 2023 12:54 AM | ACS GHS (Administrator)


    Thanks to those who joined us for our Fall Science Cafe aGlassblowing Houston in Tomball on November 11, 2023. We hope that you enjoyed learning about glassblowing and creating unique pieces, viewing the beautiful works of art on display, and mingling with other members. The food was pretty tasty too! It was our pleasure hosting this event and hope that you will join us for future events. 

  • 02 Nov 2023 9:10 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    Photo Credit: Sharon Fox

    Douglas Klein with Anne Hightower, Mamie Moy, and past ACS President, H. N. Cheng.

    On Saturday, October 7th, at the Junior League of Houston, the ACS Greater Houston Section honored members who have received local, regional and national ACS awards. We honored Mamie Moy for the National Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society and Phoenix Wu, Viraj Negandhi, and Anant Asthana as finalists in the 2023 Chemistry Olympiad. Cindy Welch was unable to attend but will receive the Southwest Region High School Teaching Award in Oklahoma City at the Southwest Regional Meeting in November. We were also honored to have in attendance 50-year member Bob Botto and 60-year ACS members Steve Roman and George Ransford. At the local level, we honored Safia Mohamed as the 2023 GHS Outreach Volunteer of the Year. Julian G. West received the Younger Chemist Award, John Jamerlan received the Excellence in High School Teaching Award, Eduvigis Marrero received the Two Year College Teaching Award, Amber Hinkle received the Mamie W. Moy Distinguished Service Award, and Douglas Klein received the Joe W. Hightower Award. As the Hightower winner, Dr. Klein gave a short talk called “My Life in Chemistry”. Thank you for all who attended in-person and online.

  • 24 Oct 2023 6:35 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    From Bob Botto, Event Organizer, on behalf of the Greater Houston Section - American Chemical Society in Partnership with Chemical Marketing & Economics:

    National Chemistry Week (NCW) at the Children’s Museum has been held every year since 2015 except the two Covid years of 2020 and 2021. Each year National ACS sets the theme for NCW and I interpret it, plan, and set up the event. This year the NCW theme was “The Healing Power of Chemistry”. This year also the GHS-ACS had the good fortune of being sponsored by the Chemical Marketing & Economics (CME) organization which donated $1000 specifically for this event.

    Our Volunteers!

    Interpreting the theme to appeal to kids seemed difficult to us. My wife Kathy said that kids love flowers, flowers grow on plants and that plants can also be used as medicine. Thus, we became focused on medicinal plants to tell the story of the healing power of chemistry. I selected plants that are effective, sustainable, and readily available. Personally, I have a much better life because of medicinal plants. I suffer from heart failure and hawthorn berries from the hawthorn tree improve my heart function so much that I take 8 capsules of hawthorn berry extract every day!

    Color Changes with Juices

    Once I had the focus of the theme, I chose 7 medicinal plants to display on the Theme Table. The benefits of these plants and the medicines they produce are effective against “Coughs to Cancer”. With each plant I displayed a live example, the chemical structure of the active ingredient and an example of the commercial medicine made with the plant. From the contribution of CME we were able to buy giveaway marigolds for the Theme Table.

    Radish Writing

    I used tried and true Kids & Chemistry activities for the other tables. In previous years Slime, Color Changes with Juices, Radish writing and Play Doh have been hits. With the contribution of CME we bought giveaway slime and science gift bags for the slime table.

    Slime Table

    Our volunteers came from Chemistry clubs at three local colleges: University of Houston Downtown, Rice University and University of St. Thomas. I organized them into two shifts, Shift 1, 9am-noon including setup and shift 2, noon to 3pm including cleanup. 30 students reported for the first shift and 12 for the second shift. I had 40 volunteers preregistered. Some of the students stayed for the whole day so I’d say 36 volunteers participated. We offered all of them free parking at the museum and pizza at noon. They ate 10 large pizzas! The volunteers were more than adequate and enthusiastic about participating.

    Color Changes with Juices

    The kids started coming at 10 am with their family members. I counted how many were there several times during the day. At least 15 visitors were there with a maximum of 21. I estimated that they spent 10 minutes in the area so if we average 18 visitors and they turn over 6 times an hour that is 540 visitors for the entire 5 hour day. I saw a congestion of people at the end of the Great Hall where we were set up all day. Last year I estimated 400 visitors so this was a significant increase over last year.

    Bob and his grandson Zion

    I believe this event was a blowout success in every way. The public learned the importance of chemistry in healing and the kids and adults had a lot of fun.

    Respectfully submitted,

    Bob Botto, ACS-GHS Kids & Chemistry Coordinator

  • 14 Sep 2023 8:31 PM | ACS GHS (Administrator)

    The ACS-GHS Awards Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Local Section Awards. The awards will be presented at our annual awards banquet on Saturday, October 7th.


    L to R: Douglas Klein, Joe W. Hightower Award; Julian G. West, Younger Chemist Award; Eduvigis Marrero, Two Year College Award; James Jamerlan, Excellence in High School Teaching Award; and Amber Hinkle, Mamie W. Moy Service Award

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