The Greater Houston Section was proud to host an ACS Career Workshop on Saturday, August 29th, Skydiving Into Retirement: Enjoy the Ride and Land Softly, for those contemplating retirement or newly retired (± 2 years).

The virtual workshop was led by Bill Carroll and we had 7 attendees. The course was extremely popular with both Houston and Brazosport local section members and resulted in a waitlist almost double the size of the course capacity! We could not accommodate everyone in the originally scheduled class so the facilitator has graciously agreed to run another workshop session in late September.

An Agile and Iterative Approach to R&D with Brian “Ponch” Rivera

On August 13, the ACS-GHS hosted Brian “Ponch” Rivera from Hyperdrive for a Virtual Tech Talk focused on agile iterative approaches to R&D. Brian is an author, TEDx speaker, organizational performance coach, and co-creator of The Flow System. In this talk, Brian highlights the importance of team work in driving successful projects, and how critical clear communication is to make sure every member of your team is working towards the same goal.

More Resources:

The Flow Guide

Scrum Guide

Agile Manifesto

Cynefin Framework

I have an earthy odor, can attract mosquitoes, and beet peels are rich in me. What compound am I?

Answer: It's geosmin!

Thanks to everyone who came out to our first virtual trivia night hosted via Zoom. Our Quizmaster for the evening was Dr. Aaron Sanders who treated us to a Flying Saucer Pub-style trivia night with themed question rounds and escalating difficulty. The final question involved matching 10 Chemistry Nobel Prize winners with the years of their awards, and stumped most of the participants…but at least the names were familiar. More to brush up on for next time!

Bonus Archive Content:

The question that stumped us all...

We’re still experimenting with online events for our members, and on July 15th we ran a small social networking event via Google Meet. Seven people participated (host not shown), and the conversation ranged from bioluminescent squid, experiences being a volunteer docent at the Museum of Natural Science, and shifting careers from accounting to chemistry, to good online courses for statistics as applied to chemical problems. It was wonderful to meet everyone who participated!

Sound interesting? Keep an eye on our event calendar or subscribe to our e-newsletter to get the scoop on our next virtual networking event.

Bonus Archive Content:

The squid discussed: Hawaiian Bobtail Squid (and Vibrio fischeri)

The free statistics course discussed: Statistical Thinking for Industrial Problem Solving (SAS/JMP)

I am an ionizing solvent, used as an RNA stabilizer in gel electrophoresis, and in tissue preservation. What compound am I?

Answer: It's formamide!

The ACS Greater Houston local section held our first virtual networking event via Zoom on Wednesday, June 24^th and it was a hit! The evening kicked off with introductions and an invitation for everyone to share their favorite element – carbon and oxygen definitely had the most fans in the group. After a few brief remarks from the event host, GHS Past Chair Snigdha Chennamaneni, attendees were split between two breakout rooms to discuss a range of suggested topics including the current pandemic and personal development. It was great to meet and chat with everyone who attended and we’re looking forward to our next virtual meet-up!

Guess the Molecule - May

I am a solvent in beverages, a feedstock for producing other chemicals, and—more recently—as a transportation fuel. What compound am I?

Answer:  It's ethanol!

I am an electrophile that is often used in Diels-Alder reactions and is also an effective topical treatment for psoriasis. What compound am I?

Answer: It's dimethyl fumarate!