Upcoming events

Switch to Calendar View

• Chemists Celebrate Earth Day 2024 at Discovery Green

  • When
    20 Apr 2024
  •  
    12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Discovery Green - Jones Lawn

  Celebrating Earth Day at Discovery Green!
  

  
  

  Join the Greater Houston Section of the American Chemical Society for a free Chemists Celebrate Earth Week event as part of the 2024 Green Mountain Energy Earth Day at Discovery Green. Learn about this year’s theme, Get a Charge out of Chemistry, with exciting hands-on activities and celebrate the importance of chemistry in everyday life!

  Saturday, April 20, 2024

  12:00 - 5:00 pm

  Discovery Green - Jones Lawn
  

  1500 McKinney St.

  Houston, TX
  

  We need volunteers to help staff the booth. Interested parties should contact us at acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org with their name, phone number and indicate how much time they can commit to the booth.

  Show details
• Chemists Celebrate Earth Week

  • Start
    21 Apr 2024
  • End
    27 Apr 2024

  
  

  Show details
• 2024 ACS-GHS Chemistry Scholarship Examination

  • When
    27 Apr 2024
  •  
    9:15 AM
  • Location
    Science and Engineering Classroom Building, University of Houston

  ACS-GHS Chemistry Scholarship Examination
  

  The ACS-GHS is once again holding our annual chemistry scholarship examinations! Three scholarships will be awarded at each level (1st year and 2nd year). The awards will be $2500, $1500, and $1000 for first, second, and third places, respectively.
  

  The registration fee is $2.00/student. This fee should be given to the teacher, and the teacher will pay all their students' fees at once via PayPal. Students who are not pre-registered for the exam will be seated only if extra tests are available. Teachers may register their students using our online form.

  Saturday, April 27, 2024
  

  Check-In - 9:15 am

  Exam - 10:00 am

  Science and Engineering Classroom Building

  University of Houston

  3487 Cullen Blvd.

  Houston, TX  77204

  Pre-registration closes April 22. Students who are not pre-registered can register on-site if there are extra tests available.
  

  Rules, eligibility requirements, and venue/parking directions

  Registration form for teachers with PayPal link
  

  Show details
• Seminar - Jaime Grunlan

  • When
    30 Apr 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  Seminar - Dr. Jaime Grunlan
  

  
  

  ACS Fellow (2023) and PMSE Fellow (2024)

  Leland T. Jordan ’29 Chair of Mechanical Engineering

  at Texas A&M University

  
  

  Tuesday, April 30th

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  via Zoom

  Zoom meeting link will be sent to registered participants by email.

  Seminar Flyer

  Event Poster
  

  Protective Nanocoatings from Polyelectrolytes: Flame Retardancy, Super Gas Barrier, and High Voltage Insulation

  Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is a conformal coating “platform” technology capable of imparting a multiplicity of functionalities on nearly any type of surface in a relatively environmentally friendly way. At its core, LbL is a solution deposition technique in which layers of cationic and anionic materials (e.g. nanoparticles, polymers and even biological molecules) are built up via electrostatic attractions in an alternating fashion, while controlling process variables such as pH, coating time, and concentration. Here we are producing nanocomposite multilayers (50 – 1000 nm thick), having 10 – 96 wt% clay, that can be completely transparent, stop gas permeation, impart extreme heat shielding to carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. Similar films exhibit very high dielectric breakdown strength. In an effort to impart flame retardant behavior to fabric using fewer processing steps, a water-soluble polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) was developed. This nanocoating is comprised of polyethylenimine and poly(sodium phosphate) and imparts self-extinguishing behavior to cotton fabric in just a single coating step. Adding a melamine solution to the coating procedure as a second step renders nylon-cotton blends self-extinguishing. A PEC of PEI and polyacrylic acid is able to achieve an oxygen transmission rate below 0.005 cm³/m²/day at 100%RH and a thickness of just 2 mm. These coating techniques can be deposited using roll-to-roll processing (e.g., flexographic printing, dip-coating, or spray-coating). Opportunities and challenges will be discussed. Our work in these areas has been highlighted in C&EN, ScienceNews, Nature, Smithsonian Magazine, Chemistry World and various scientific news outlets worldwide.  For more information, please visit my website: http://nanocomposites.tamu.edu

  Biography: Dr. Jaime Grunlan is the Leland T. Jordan ’29 Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he has worked for more than 20 years. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on thermal and transport properties of polymer nanocomposites. He is a world leader in organic thermoelectric materials, super gas barrier layers, and environmentally-benign, flame retardant nanocoatings. He holds 16 issued U.S. patents and several EU patents. He has published more than 200 journal papers, with more than 26,000 citations. Dr. Grunlan has graduated 29 PhD students and has mentored more than 50 undergraduate students in his research laboratory. His work has been highlighted in Smithsonian Magazine, Nature, and the New York Times. He is an Editor of the Journal of Materials Science and Progress in Organic Coatings, and Associate Editor of Green Materials. In 2018, Prof. Grunlan became a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and was awarded a doctorate honoris causa (i.e. honorary doctorate) from the University of South Brittany (Lorient, France). In 2019, he became a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). In 2023, he became a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). In 2024, he became a Fellow of the American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE).

  Show details
• Deadline - Excellence in High School Chemistry Teaching Award Nominations

  • When
    01 May 2024

  Nominations Deadline for the 2024 Excellence in High School Chemistry Teaching Award

  Do you know an awesome high school chemistry teacher? Maybe YOU are an amazing high school chemistry teacher? We want to know about it! The Greater Houston local section of the American Chemical Society recognizes one high school teacher each year with an Excellence in High School Chemistry Teaching award in the form of a plaque and an honorarium. Nominate a deserving teacher today and help them get the recognition they deserve!

  Submit all nomination packets by May 1, 2024

  to acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org
  

  Additional award details, including eligibility rules, nomination requirements, and scoring criteria are available on the HS Chem Teaching Award Page.

  Show details
• Spring 2024 SPE Energy Professionals Hiring Event

  • When
    09 May 2024
  •  
    10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  • Location
    NRG Center

  SPE Energy Professionals Hiring Event

  

  The SPE Energy Professionals Hiring Event at the 2024 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) for job seekers and employers is scheduled in-person on:

  Thursday, May 9, 2024

  10:00 am - 2:00 pm

  NRG Center

  1 Fannin St.

  Houston, TX  77054

  • Job seeker registration is open, members of the SPE, ACS-GHS, and other collaborating organizations can register closer to the event date.
  • Employers looking to meet interested job seekers should register here.

  More information available on the SPE-GCS Event Page
  

  • It provides job seekers with opportunities to meet with energy industry hiring companies in upstream, midstream oil and gas, & renewables.

  • It provides employers a platform to meet and engage with experienced energy professionals, discuss career opportunities, and network.

  
  

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    20 May 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend.

  Monday, May 20th

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details
• Seminar - Mary K. Carroll

  • When
    22 May 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  May Seminar - Dr. Mary K. Carroll
  

  

  2024 President of the American Chemical Society

  Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Chemistry, Union College (Schenectady, NY) 
  

  
  

  Wednesday, May 22, 2024
  

  6:30 - 8:00 pm CT
  

  via Zoom

  Zoom meeting link will be sent to registered participants by email.

  Agenda:
  

  6:30 pm CT - Networking

  7:00 pm CT - Seminar
  

  Seminar Flyer

  Event Poster
  

  Aerogel Materials: A Journey from Research to Commercialization

  Aerogels are porous materials with unusually high surface areas and low densities that give them simply remarkable properties. Silica aerogel materials, in particular, are of interest for window applications. They are thermal, electrical and acoustic insulators, and can be fabricated in monolithic forms that are translucent or even transparent in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Invention and development of a rapid supercritical extraction (RSCE) method has allowed an interdisciplinary team of undergraduate students and faculty members to make substantive contributions to the scientific literature, and facilitated productive internal and external collaborations. In this presentation I will introduce the Union College RSCE method for fabricating aerogel monoliths, provide an overview of research enabled by the RSCE method, and describe the progress of a start-up company, SunThru LLC, founded to bring that technology from the lab to the marketplace.

  Biography: Mary K. Carroll is the Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Chemistry at Union College (in Schenectady, NY) and the 2024 President of the American Chemical Society. Mary earned a BS in chemistry from Union College, a PhD in analytical chemistry from Indiana University, Bloomington, and performed postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. At Union College, she teaches courses in introductory and analytical chemistry and mentors undergraduate research students. She co-directs the Union College Aerogel Lab, a vibrant and productive interdisciplinary research group. In addition to fundamental studies, the group investigates applications of aerogels in sustainable buildings, chemical sensing, drag reduction, and automotive pollution mitigation. Mary co-founded SunThru LLC to commercialize the aerogel technology developed at Union. Mary has been a member of ACS since 1986 and an ACS volunteer leader since 1993. She served as Councilor of the ENY ACS section from 1998-2022, representing the section at Council meetings and participating in ENY Executive Committee meetings. At the national level, she has served on the ACS Committee on Science (COMSCI), the ACS Leadership Advisory Board (LAB) and served and held leadership positions on the ACS Council Policy Committee (CPC), the ACS Society Committee on Education (SOCED), the ACS Women Chemists Committee (WCC), and numerous working groups and task forces. Based on her contributions to science and service to the ACS, she was selected for recognition as a member of the class of 2016 ACS Fellows.

  Show details
• Seminar - Raúl Hernández Sánchez

  • When
    12 Jun 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  Seminar - Dr. Raúl Hernández Sánchez

  

  Assistant Professor of Chemistry
  

  Rice University

  Wednesday, June 12, 2024
  

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  via Zoom

  Zoom meeting link will be sent to registered participants by email.

  Seminar Flyer

  Event Poster
  

  Non-Covalent Interactions as Design Principle for Novel Materials

  Macrocyclic arene compounds have played a fundamental role in the development of supramolecular chemistry. Research on these systems have laid the foundations to explore and establish non-covalent interactions, e.g., hydrogen bonding, π···π stacking, C–H···π interactions. My research group has taken the basic principles of macrocyclic arenes to design architectures enforcing metal–metal interactions towards the activation of small molecules, scaffolds capable of tubularly contorting aromatic systems, and frameworks able to bind anionic species for environmental remediation, all while retaining the intrinsic non-covalent interaction properties of these systems. In this seminar, I will abound in our progress in each of these areas constantly crossing the boundaries between organic-inorganic synthesis and materials chemistry.

  Biography: Raúl joined the Chemistry faculty at Rice in the summer of 2022 and is the Norman Hackerman Welch Young Investigator Junior Chair. Prior to joining Rice, Raúl was an Assistant Professor from 2018 to 2022 in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. He was born in Chihuahua, México. During his undergraduate years Raúl worked intermittently with Prof. Sossina Haile (Caltech, summers of 2007-09, and spring of 2008), Prof. Beate Klösgen (Southern University of Denmark, spring of 2009), and with Prof. Jesús Angel Valencia (ITESM Campus Monterrey, undergraduate thesis, B.Sc. in Chemistry 2010). He then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Harvard from 2010 to 2015 under the mentorship of Prof. Ted Betley. Later, he started a Columbia Nano Initiative Postdoctoral Fellowship with Prof. Colin Nuckolls (Columbia University). At Rice University, his group's research interests lie at the interface between synthetic organic and inorganic chemistry to create novel functional materials and catalysts capable of activating small molecules at polynuclear reaction sites, the creation of novel contorted aromatics, and the design of anion receptors for the removal of toxic chemicals from our environment.

  

  Dr. Raúl Hernández Sánchez was recognized as one of C&EN’s Talented 12 - Class of 2023

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    17 Jun 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend.

  Monday, June 17th

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details
• Seminar - Ravindra Aglave

  • When
    26 Jun 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  June Seminar - Dr. Ravindra Aglave

  

  Director, Energy/Process/Ind. Machinery/CP&R

  Siemens Digital Industries Software

  Wednesday, June 26, 2024

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  via Zoom

  Zoom meeting link will be sent to registered participants by email.

  Seminar Flyer

  Event Poster
  

  Towards Digital Materials Engineering for Development of Advanced Materials

  Large technological advancements are almost always dependent on the creation (or discovery) of novel materials. Revolutionary developments in material science enable the next generation of technological advancement. The full exploitation of those technologies (by engineers) will often require further investment into the evolutionary development of those materials.  Advanced materials with novel properties hold the key to innovation for organizations across industries. As the transition to clean energy gathers pace, there’s increased pressure on design engineers and researchers to develop innovative materials for sustainable energy solutions. However, the path from initial discovery of new materials to production can be costly and fraught with many challenges. This paper examines how simulation can be an effective way for organizations to discover and develop new materials faster to solve their complex engineering challenges. In this talk we will speak about the entire value chain of materials: from discovery to performance assessment to production processes as well as post-production processing. We will also identify the current gaps in this workflow as well as our activities to close those gaps. The Siemens solution consists of an end-to-end workflow based on the digital twin concept with four main steps: materials discovery, materials performance analysis, process design and engineering, and materials processing. The talk will include examples of these phases to weave a digital thread through the solution as well as the tools that are involved both for simulation as well as the backbone (material lifecycle management) platform for digital engineering.

  Biography: As the Director of Simcenter Portfolio for Process Industries at Siemens Digital Industries Software, Ravindra leads the development and delivery of innovative simulation solutions that solve problems from the molecular scale to plant scale for various sectors, such as food and beverage, consumer products, and pharmaceuticals. He has over 20 years of research and engineering experience in academia and industry and a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences from Heidelberg University. His core competencies include simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), flow sheet simulation, mixing, and reaction engineering, combustion and reaction kinetics, digital twins, and materials modeling. He works closely with research organizations and universities to advance the state-of-the-art in these fields and to create value for our customers and partners. His mission is to enable the digital transformation of process industries and to enhance their efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness.

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    15 Jul 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend.

  Monday, July 15th

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details
• ACS 2024 Fall Meeting

  • Start
    18 Aug 2024
  • End
    22 Aug 2024
  • Location
    Denver, CO & Hybrid

  
  

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    26 Aug 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend. This month's meeting date has been moved to accommodate the ACS Fall Meeting.
  

  Monday, August 26th

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    16 Sep 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend.

  Monday, September 16th

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details
• National Chemistry Week 2024

  • Start
    20 Oct 2024
  • End
    26 Oct 2024

  
  

  Show details
• 2024 Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM)

  • Start
    20 Oct 2024
  • End
    23 Oct 2024
  • Location
    Waco, TX

  2024 ACS Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM)

  

  https://swrm.org/
  

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    21 Oct 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend.

  Monday, October 21st
  

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details
• NCW - Picture Perfect Chemistry

  • When
    26 Oct 2024
  •  
    9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Children's Museum Houston

  NCW 2024 - Picture Perfect Chemistry

  
  

  Save the date! The Theme of this year's National Chemistry Week is Picture Perfect Chemistry . Join us at the Children's Museum Houston for a celebration of the central science!
  

  Saturday, October 26, 2024
  

  9:00 am - 3:00 pm
  

  Children's Museum Houston

  1500 Binz St.

  Houston, TX 77004

  Show details
• ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  • When
    18 Nov 2024
  •  
    6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  ACS-GHS Monthly Board Meeting

  ACS-GHS executive board meetings are scheduled on the third Monday of every month and are open to any members of the ACS-GHS that wish to attend.

  Monday, November 18th
  

  Zoom

  6:30 - 7:30 pm

  Members are welcome to participate in the meeting. Please register for the meeting to receive the Zoom meeting link, or email acs-ghs@acs-ghs.org prior to the scheduled meeting date to be added to the meeting invitation.

  Show details