Chemistry Club wins a national award from ACS
The Chemistry Club won the Commendable award from the American Chemical Society for its activities during the 2005-2006 academic year.
The win marks the sixth consecutive award the chapter, which is the longest winning streak in the club’s history.
The club will by recognized in a ceremony in March 2007.
A detailed report must be filed each year to ACS on activities accomplished in order to remain an active student affiliate’s chapter.
The reports are evaluated for outstanding work, with three levels of awards given to the best chapters.
The award categories consist of Outstanding, Commendable and Honorable Mention.
Since 1968, the club has won 11 national awards including three Outstanding awards, four Commendable and being recognized with Honorable Mention four times.
“ Of the 980 or more current chapters, 34 were Outstanding, 56 were Commendable, and 75 were Honorable Mention awards given this year,” Seth Rasmussen, a chemistry professor, said.
The Chemistry Club’s main activities include supporting and encouraging students to study chemistry and the sciences. They also educate K-12 students and society about science.
The club also holds regular visits or demonstrations at area schools or the Children’s Museum at Yunker Farm in Fargo, Rasmussen said.
“ Undergraduate research with professors in the departments of chemistry and molecular biology, pharmacy and coatings and polymeric materials is also popular,” Rassumessen said.
The Chemistry Club was founded in November 1897 with the help of the senior class that year and Professor Edwin Ladd.
At the time, it was known as the Chemical and Conversational Club.
The club remained a local NDSU club until 1968, when it became the NDSU student affiliate’s chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.
A national ACS meeting is held in the spring where the students in the Chemistry Club can meet other scientists from around the world and present their work.
Rasmussen said the next ACS meeting will be held in Chicago in March 2007.
The Chemistry Club has produced more than 50 national presentations on NDSU research by undergrads over the last six years.
Large amounts of fundraising are required to support this, along with school demonstrations and yearly travel.
“ The club does a large amount of fundraising each year,” Rasmussen said. “The $9,000 we raised came from selling lab goggles required in all lab classes, study packets for Chemistry 121 and 122 and working at the Fargodome.”
NDSU’s chapter will be recognized in two nationally distributed publications, including “Chemical and Engineering News,” the society’s official weekly magazine, and “In Chemistry,” a bimonthly magazine for ACS student affiliates, Rasmussen said.
“ Award-winning chapters will also be recognized at an awards ceremony during the national meeting in March, where we will receive another plaque for the wall of the chemistry undergraduate lounge,” Rasmussen said.
Receiving the Commendable award places the club in the top 10 percent of all chapters.
“ This is something the Chemistry Club members and NDSU can really be proud of,” Rasmussen said.