Chem Club has strong showing at national conference

Among the 19,000 people who attended the 2016 American Chemical Society national meeting in San Diego were eight ‘Berg students who took advantage of the great opportunity to network, practice their presentation skills, learn about areas of chemistry they never knew existed, accept awards and have a little fun.

Drs. Nate Beres and Aaron Roerdink accompanied Chemistry Club members Vicky Johnson, Kiera Malone, Ali Bauer, Allison Perry, Becca Webb, Dani Blum, Kevin Scrudders and Lily White to the annual conference March 12-16.

Several of the students presented poster sessions:

Kevin -- Antimicrobial Properties of Peppermint and Cinnamon Derivatives

Vicky and Dani -- Effects of Nitric Oxide on the Rate of Wound Healing in Rats

Allison and Ali -- Selective Digestion of Glyphosate and AMPA Using Flow Injection Analysis

Lily -- Chemistry in Action: The Heidelberg University Perspective

'Berg’s Chem Club was one of only 35 student chapters selected to participate in the Chemistry Demo Exchange; Kiera, Becca and Kevin chose the topic of chalk chromatography for their popular demo.

Several of the students were making a return trip to the conference. In a presentation on campus Wednesday, they spoke about their rising confidence and comfort levels, now that they are seasoned veterans.

“You learn a little bit more each year,” said Kevin, a sophomore. “Your eyes are opened to all of the (research) possibilities.” Ali added, “I felt much more confident and less intimidated this year. We were able to do a better job answering questions about our poster.

“Seeing my own progress along the way … it’s really important to go as a freshman and keep going. It gave me a direction I had never thought about.” This was Ali’s third year attending the conference.

Lily accepted the Outstanding Chapter Award and a Green Chemistry Award on behalf of Heidelberg’s chapter, and explained that the club hosted 24 events, seven off campus, and focused its activities on service, green chemistry, professional development and chapter development.

The students’ trip to San Diego coincided with an alumni event, attended by President Rob Huntington and Ashley Helmstetter. Allison said the group benefited from hearing from alumni what their Heidelberg education has meant to them. “They talked about their close relationships with professors and the great education they had here. That was very inspiring to hear,” she said.

The group also went on a whale-watching excursion and took a trip to the San Diego Zoo. They had the opportunity to have dinner with Dr. Alyssa (Thomas) Kuelling, ’04, who teaches chemistry at Utica College in New York.