News
ACS 2024 U.S. Chemistry Olympiad
We are pleased to announce that the San Gorgonio Local Section of the American Chemical Society will be participating in the 2024 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO). The primary goals of this program are to stimulate interest and achievement among high school chemistry students and to provide recognition of outstanding students, teachers, and schools in our Section. Students in AP or IB chemistry are encouraged to participate.
We have the privilege of nominating ten qualified students to represent the San Gorgonio Local Section in the National Chemistry Olympiad exam. The Local Section exam will be used to identify these students. The results of this exam will also be used to select students who will receive San Gorgonio Section scholarships of up to $1,200 that can be used for college expenses.
The twenty students nationwide with the highest scores on the National exam will be invited to attend a two-week study camp in June. At the end of camp, four students will be selected based on a combination of objective and subjective evaluations as the United States team to participate at the International Chemistry Olympiad. Here is the schedule for this year’s program:
January 19 Deadline to register students
March 10-16 Local Exam
April 13-21, 2024 National Exam
June 2-14, 2024 Study Camp
July 22-31, 2024 International Chemistry Olympiad
Students from our Section who are nominated to participate in the U. S. National Chemistry Olympiad and as San Gorgonio Section scholarship winners will be honored in May, along with their teachers. The student from each participating school who attains the highest score on the Local Section exam together with his or her teacher will also be honored.
If you wish to register students for the 2024 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad program, please do these 2 things:
1) Contact Eileem DiMauro via email (edimauro@mtsac.edu), that you wish to have your students participate.
2) Register your students by clicking this link. The deadline to register students is January 19, 2024.
For more information about the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad program and for past exams, click here. For information about the San Gorgonio local exam, email Dennis Pederson (dennis.pederson@gmail.com) or Eileen DiMauro (edimauro@mtsac.edu), the San Gorgonio section Chemistry Olympiad Co-Coordinators.
ACS SGS Travel Grants
ACS San Gorgonio Section Travel Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to undergraduate students who have had an abstract accepted for a presentation at a national ACS meeting. A maximum of $750 may be awarded per student. The Travel Grant may be used to cover expenses such as hotel costs, airfare or mileage, and registration fees for presenting at in-person or virtual conferences.
This award is a reimbursement award only; you arrange and purchase your registration and travel prior to the conference, and the Travel Grant reimburses you after the conference.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for a Travel Grant, please submit the abstract you submitted to the ACS meeting together with the acceptance confirmation via email to abahamon@ucr.edu. The application for a travel grant for the 2024 Spring ACS meeting is now open and must be submitted before February 15.
ACS Travel Grants
ACS has several travel grants available for individuals attending conferences/meetings. For more infromation or to apply for a grant, click on the following links below:
Women Chemists Committee/Eli Lilly Travel Award - Deadline June 1, 2024
Volunteer of the Year 2023
Please join us in congratulating the ACS San Gorgonio Section 2023 Outreach Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Michael Nalbandian!
As chair of the San Gorgonio Section's Environmental Improvement Committee, Dr. Michael J. Nalbandian planned the Chemists Celebrate Earth Week community outreach event for the Local Section. Through the efforts of Dr. Nalbandian and that committee, over 190 people enjoyed various bug-themed demos and activities and guided tours of a local botanical garden. In addition to this successful event, Dr. Nalbandian is a consistent outreach volunteer for the section, and he is also a primary contributor to NCW and Olympiad outreach events. He has been a section volunteer since 2019. We appreciate the outreach work he has done for the section over the years!
Volunteer of the Year 2022
Please join us in congratulating the ACS San Gorgonio Section 2022 Outreach Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Ana Bahamonde!
Dr. Ana Bahamonde is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UCR. She attended our College & University Professor Mixer in the fall of 2021 and immediately got involved with Section activities. She was instrumental in recruiting over 20 UCR grad students to host several demo tables during our 2021 National Chemistry Week Celebration. Her efforts helped to make the outreach event a massive success, where we were able to show 250 K-8 students, teachers, and parents how fun chemistry can be. Dr. Bahamonde is on the executive board as Alternate Councilor and is the chair of the Women Chemists' Committee for the Section. Thank you, Dr. Bahamonde! We appreciate all you have done for the Section in such a short time, and we look forward to working with you for many years to come!
