We are pleased to share that Amiee Modic was recently voted in as President-Elect for the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT). She will begin her three-year presidential succession journey July 1, 2024.

Amiee is a chemistry teacher at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart and an active member of the Greater Houston ACS section, serving on Education and Outreach committees (including NCW and CCEW), and promoting chemical education opportunities in the Greater Houston area and beyond. In 2019, she was honored as an ACS Fellow for her work in chemical education.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced the team that will represent the U.S. at the 56th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 21 to 30, 2024.

The members of 2024 Team USA are:

• Anant Asthana, John Foster Dulles High School, TX.
• Yufei Chen, University High School, CA.
• Yunyi Ling, Mongomery Blair High School, MD.
• Alice Liu, Marquette High School, MO.

The first and second alternates are:

• 1^st Aaron Wang, Conestoga High School, PA.

• 2^nd Yash Shah, Panther Creek High School, NC.
  

The ACS Greater Houston is proud of Mr. Anant Asthana of John Foster Dulles High School, who also participated in the 2022 and 2023 USNCO Study Camps before being selected for Team USA in 2024. Congratulations, Anant! We wish you best of luck in the international competition!

See the complete announcement here

Project SEED has commenced for 2024 with a start date of June 10 and an end date of August 5, 2024. We are excited to partner with Sam Houston State University, University of Houston and Houston Electron Microscopy, Stafford, TX. Below is the list of our current mentors and students. More news to come!

"I ask myself, and always tell my students, you should always ask "why do we care?" Because people are going to ask you, so you should be the first one to ask yourself."

- Dr. Raúl Hernández Sánchez, June 12, 2024

We were pleased to host Dr. Raúl Hernández Sánchez of Rice University for the first of our June seminars, as he shared some of his group's research on applications of novel macrocyclic arene complexes. If you missed the live webinar, you can still catch the recording on our YouTube channel!

The ACS-GHS Scholarship Exam for high school students was held on April 27, 2024, at the University of Houston. The exam was organized by Dr. Tai-Yen Chen, Associate Professor of Chemistry at UH. Thanks to all the teachers and students who participated in this year's exam and congratulations to this year's Scholarship Award winners!

2024 Winners - 1st Year

1st Place – Krish Jha

Carnegie Vanguard High School, Teacher Joshua Garcia

2nd Place – Alan Yao

Glenda Dawson High School, Teacher Andrea Buchelli

3rd Place – Krishna Harish

Elkins High School, Teacher Rolf S. Arvidson

Honorable Mention – Leetyan Chen

St. John’s School, Teacher Sarwat Jafry

Honorable Mention – Boone Roeser

St. John’s School, Teacher Roxie Allen

Honorable Mention – Kevin Hu

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber

2024 Winners - 2nd Year

1st Place (Tie) – Cosmo Wu

Dulles High School, Teacher Katherine Coleman

1st Place (Tie) – Richard Zhang

Seven Lakes High School, Teacher Mayra Colombani-Acosta

2nd Place (Tie) – Benjamin Bian

Seven Lakes High School, Teacher Mayra Colombani-Acosta

2nd Place (Tie) – Vishal Sundaram

Elkins High School, Teacher Christopher Nguyen

3rd Place (Tie) – Charles Anstead

DeBakey High School for Health Professionals, Teacher Dina Adam

3rd Place (Tie) – Antonio Yu

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber

Interested in taking the exam next year? Learn more about the Scholarship Exam on our awards page.

The annual Engineering Council of Houston (ECH)/Science and Engineering Fair Houston (SEFH) Banquet was held Monday, May 20 from 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm at the University of Houston. Students were honored for their scientific achievements state- and nation-wide over the 2023-2024 academic year. The keynote speaker for the event was Dr. Alan Rossiter, Executive Director of External Relations and Educational Program Development at UH Energy, University of Houston.

ECH/SEFH award recipients with Dr. Lionnel Ronduen (UH STEM Center, left) and Dr. Heather Domjan, Executive Director of the UH STEM Center (right).

Did you miss our May seminar with 2024 ACS President Dr. Mary K. Carroll? You can still hear Dr. Carroll talk about about her experiences with commercialization of aerogel materials. See what you missed on our YouTube Channel!

ACS Greater Houston Chapter had a successful time at the Discovery Green Earth Day in Downtown Houston! With over 400 visitors, we were able to share and demonstrate information on this year's theme of batteries. Visitors learned about how indispensable they are in our society and how they can accept energy from alternative energy sources such as such as solar, wind, and hydro power, then store it in chemical bonds. Huge shout out and thanks to University of St. Thomas ACS Student Chapter and Rice Fun with Chemistry for helping make this a phenomenal event!

This year, more than 300 students from 35 schools in Greater Houston participated in the Chemistry Olympiad local competition in March. Among the top section-wide performers, 13 students were nominated and joined the 3-part national competition held at the University of Houston on April 15.

Mr. Anantshri Asthana from Dulles High School (who also participated in in the 2022 and 2023 UNSCO Study Camps) has just been selected among the top 20 finalists nationwide to enter the 2024 Study Camp. Anant, congratulations on your achievement!

The Greater Houston Section continues having representation in the top 20 nationwide finalists since 2020. We are pleased to see rising students' great interest in chemical education. We welcome more high school students to take part in this annual event.

We wish all the UNSCO attendees well as they participate in the Chemistry Olympiad Study Camp at the University of Maryland at College Park from June 3 - 15, 2024.

For a full list of the top 20 finalists, see the ACS posting here.

The Greater Houston section kicked off its 2024 technical seminar series featuring local talent with ACS & PMSE Fellow, Dr. Jaime Grunlan of Texas A&M. Thank you to those who joined us for our first seminar. For those who missed it, a recording has been posted to our YouTube channel.

We have an exceptional lineup of speakers this year and hope to see you at the next one!