The Greater Houston delegates had an enriching experience at the 2023 ACS Leadership Institute, an annual invitation-only conference where ACS leaders come together to learn both management and leadership skills to enable them to be successful leaders. This year's event was held January 20th - 22nd in Atlanta, GA. As a 2022 ChemLuminary Award winner, our section was also invited to present a poster describing our award winning activity.

Pictured from left to right are Safia Mohamed (2023 Chair-Elect) and Lisa Houston (Director, District IV).

Congratulations to the Southwest Region Award winners from the Greater Houston Section! Mike Reynolds, Shell and Michael Wong & Pedro Alvarez, Rice University (not in attendance); Angel Martí, Rice University; and Jamie Flint, Spring Woods High School.

The Education Rainbow Challenge returned after a pandemic hiatus and was held at Northside High School in Houston on Saturday, November 5th. ACS-GHS volunteers at the Education Rainbow Challenge conducted chemistry demonstrations for ~400 HISD 3rd-5th graders as part of the annual Math and Science challenge event.

The ACS-GHS Awards Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Local Section Awards. The awards will be presented at our annual awards banquet in October.

L to R: Christy Landes, Joe W. Hightower Award; Thomas Senftle, Younger Chemist Award; Cindy Welch, Excellence in High School Teaching Award; Ana Sanchez, Two Year College Award; and Ann Cartwright, Mamie W. Moy Service Award

We are incredibly pleased to share that the ACS Greater Houston Section was awarded the ChemLuminary for Outstanding Local Section Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) at the 24th Annual ChemLuminary Awards held during ACS Fall 2022 in Chicago in recognition of our 2021 YCC events. A huge thank you to all our amazing members and volunteers who made this possible.

We were pleased to host Dr. Bridgett Rakestraw, Project Lead/Formulator at CPI Fluid Engineering in Midland, Michigan as our July seminar speaker. Dr. Rakestraw shared her personal career journey and the role that ACS's Project SEED had in starting her on the road to a rewarding career in chemistry, as well as the importance of giving back to the community. Bridgett attributed her success in chemistry to three recurring themes:

1. Perseverance - as her grandmother* said, "If you start something, you've gotta finish it!"
   
2. Representation - the importance of having mentors and role models that look like you
3. Networking...networking, networking!
   

The second portion of Dr. Rakestraw's presentation was a review of lubricants used in automotive air conditioning systems and how changes in government regulation of refrigerants has driven innovation in the lubricants industry. Thanks to Dr. Rakestraw for spending the evening with us and to all our seminar attendees!

*Ethel Johnson, one of the first professional black women wrestlers.

Did you miss this seminar or want to see it again? You can watch the recording below or check out our YouTube channel for this and other recordings!

Congratulations to Greater Houston Section members Dr. Catherine Faler (ExxonMobil), Dr. Megan Robertson (University of Houston), and Dr. Christy Landes (Rice University) for recently being named 2022 ACS Fellows for their outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession, and the Society.

Congratulations to Team USA for winning 1 gold & 3 silver medals at the 54th International Chemistry Olympiad hosted by China. Pictured left to right are members of the team, Jack Liu, silver medal, Nathan Yihe Ouyang, gold medal, Phoenix Wu (Seven Lakes High School, Katy, TX), silver medal, & Gideon Tzafriri, silver medal.

See here for the complete announcement.