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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

 Carolyn Burnley, Greater Houston Project Seed Area Coordinator

Dr. Gina Chiarelli, Prairie View University, Greater Houston Project Seed Area Co-Coordinator

Four high school fellows participated in the 2023 ACS-GHS summer Project SEED fellowship program. The program started on June 12^th and ended on August 3^rd. Three valued mentors located at the Prairie View University participated in the 2023 ACS-GHS summer Project SEED fellowship program. All four fellows served as Project SEED interns at Prairie View University.

The GHS Project SEED program is in the Houston, Texas area and due to the lack of mass transportation, many students must commute via car for at least 45 minutes to their work sites.  Despite this extraordinary commute, the fellows are in attendance for 8 weeks.

Despite the commute challenges, the program has sustained itself through the support of dedicated mentors, parents, and the local section.

The 2023 Project SEED Fellows and mentors and their Projects are as follows:

1. Impact of organic pollutants– Mentor: Dr. Yingchun Li and Fellow: Myles Richardson -Atascocita High School
2. Preparation and instrumental studies of transition metal complexes with organic ligands – Mentor: Dr. Gina Chiarelli and Fellows: Jeremiah Frasier – Harmony High School and Bralon Wilson – Hightower High School
3. Molecular modeling of metal amino acid interactions – Mentor: Dr. Harshica Fernando and Fellow:  Donovan Miller – Harmony High School

Jeremiah Frasier, Myles Richardson, Bralon Wilson, Donovan Miller

A Project SEED Poster Session featuring the four fellows was held on August 3, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart – Hutcheson Fine Arts Lobby, 10202 Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77024.  The fellows successfully presented the data and results of their research projects.

On Thursday August 3rd the Greater Houston Section held its Pre-College Recognition event at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart. The students being celebrated included those who participated in Project Seed, those who earned scholarships from the exam given in May, and those who had participated in the study camp/competition for the US National Chemistry Olympiad. The evening started with light bites and conversation and then at 7:00 we adjourned to the small theatre for the Project Seed presentations and the awards.

Jeremiah Frasier, Myles Richardson, Bralon Wilson, Donovan Miller

Four high school fellows participated in the 2023 ACS-GHS summer Project Seed fellowship program. The program started on June 12th and ended on August 3rd. All four fellows served as Project Seed interns at Prairie View University. The audience was fully engaged during the presentations and the boys did an admirable job explaining their projects.

The 2023 Project SEED Fellows and mentors and their Projects are as follows:

1. Impact of organic pollutants – Mentor: Dr. Yingchun Li and Fellow: Myles Richardson -Atascocita High School 
2. Preparation and instrumental studies of transition metal complexes with organic ligands – Mentor: Dr. Gina Chiarelli and Fellows: Jeremiah Frasier – Harmony High School and Bralon Wilson – Hightower High School
3. Molecular modeling of metal amino acid interactions – Mentor: Dr. Harshica Fernando and Fellow: Donovan Miller – Harmony High School
   

We're thrilled to share that the Greater Houston Local Section received three ChemLuminary Awards at the 2023 Fall ACS Meeting! Thanks to all our volunteers for organizing award-winning events, and to our members and the chemical community in Greater Houston for sharing the wonder of chemistry!

Left to right: IChO Team USA 2023, with their medals. Anurag Sodhi, Mingwen Duan, Phoenix Wu and Alice Liu. (Photo credit: Lily Raines, ACS)

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is excited to announce that Team USA earned two gold and two silver medals at the 55th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), held in Zurich on July 16 to 25.

Pictured above are gold medalists Anurag Sodhi (Maryland) and Phoenix Wu (Seven Lakes High School, Katy, Texas), and silver medalists Mingwen Duan (Connecticut) and Alice Liu (Missouri).

“This was my fourth and final opportunity, as a senior. It was such a uniquely difficult experience,” Wu says. “I would say the in-person experience is unparalleled.” The three prior events he participated in were online only, as a result of pandemic restrictions.

Left to right: Sebastian Kumar, Mingwen Duan, Alice Liu, Anurag Sodhi and Phoenix Wu (Photo credit: Sri Balasubramanian, ACS Staff)

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced the team that will represent the U.S. at the 55th International Chemistry Olympiad on July 16 to 25 in Zurich, Switzerland.

The members of 2023 Team USA are:

• Mingwen Duan, East Lyme High School, CT.
• Alice Liu, Marquette High School, MO.
• Anurag Sodhi, Centennial High School, MD.
• Phoenix Wu, Seven Lakes High School, TX.

The first and second alternate are:

• 1^st Sebastian Kumar, Tesla STEM High School, WA.

• 2^nd Brian Li, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, MA

The ACS Greater Houston is proud of Mr. Phoenix Wu of Seven Lakes High School, who has been selected as a member of Team USA for the second year in a row. Congratulations, Phoenix! We wish you best of luck in the international competition!

Fourteen high school students were nominated from the Greater Houston Section to participate in person at the the National Chemistry Olympiad competition on the University of Houston Main Campus. We are proud to share that three students from the Greater Houston area are among the twenty finalists nationwide to join the Study Camp for the International Chemistry Olympiad. More impressively, this is the fourth consecutive year that more than one student was selected from our section.

Great job and congratulations to:

Anantshri Asthana and Viraj Negandhi

Dulles High School

Phoenix Wu

Seven Lakes High School

We wish them well as they participate in the Chemistry Olympiad Study Camp at the University of Maryland College Park this month! Please see here for the full announcement of the top 20 finalists. Students who received High Honors and Honors in the national competition can be found here.

The ACS-GHS Scholarship Exam returned this year after a 3 year hiatus. Thanks to all the teachers and students who participated in this year's exam, and congratulations to our 2023 Scholarship Award winners!

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

First Year

1st Place – Yale Zhang

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber

2nd Place – Kevin Chen

DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Teacher Dina Adam

3rd Place (Tie) – Eric Pan

DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Teacher Dina Adam

3rd Place (Tie) – Aryan Singh

High School, Teacher TBA

Honorable Mention – Surya Mothilal Reddy

Jordan High School, Teacher Marie White

Honorable Mention – Bill Sun

Seven Lakes High School, Teacher Tanya Jensen

Honorable Mention – Justin Xu

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber

 Second Year

1st Place – Anant Asthana

Dulles High School, Teacher Katherine Coleman

2nd Place (Tie) – Aryan Bora

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber

2nd Place (Tie) – Viraj Neghandi

Dulles High School, Teacher Katherine Coleman

3rd Place – Owen Dong

Seven Lakes High School, Teacher Mayra Colombani-Acosta

Honorable Mention – Evan Zhang

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber

Honorable Mention – Jeffrey Qi

Carnegie Vanguard High School, Teacher Joshua Garcia

Honorable Mention – Alex Bao

Clements High School, Teacher Caitlin Zuber