ACSSA@CMU

We hope everyone is having a good semester. As usual we have a lot to discuss, so if you plan on reading this entire e-mail, we would suggest a bathroom beak beforehand.

1. The next general meeting will be held tomorrow, Monday February 20th at 5:00pm in the second floor Dow chemistry library. Pizza and Pop will be served. Most importantly, we will be holding elections for the fall 2006 e-board. Candidates who were nominated last meeting will be asked to stand and speak briefly about why they believe they are the best person for the job. Voting and announcements of the winners will then follow. Additionally, we be discussing upcoming events and activities including the rescheduling of the Saginaw-Chippewa Academy demos, the CMU pre-school demos, the Spring BBQ and the Relay for Life, just to name a few. Finally, if you know anyone who is interested in chemistry, and has never been to a meeting, encourage him or her to come!

2. The group was scheduled to do chemistry demonstrations for the Saginaw-Chippewa Academy last Friday. However, due to inclement weather classes at the academy were cancelled. We will be rescheduling the event and as soon as additional information becomes available Leo will be sure to inform you.

3. We will be sponsoring a night out at the Riverwood Resort Bowling Alley this Friday, Feb. 24th at 6:00pm. We will be serving pop and pizza, and of course all faculty, staff and students are invited. Students; this is a great opportunity to get out and have a good time with other students and professors. We had a great time last semester; this semester should be even better!

4. The annual American Cancer Society event, the Relay for Life, will be held on Saturday and Sunday April 8th and 9th from 12:00pm-12:00pm at the Finch Fieldhouse. Moreover, the committee director Nicole Salinas will be providing a wealth of information at tomorrows meeting. If you signed up for the event, or are interested in participating in fundraising, Nicole asks that you please stay a few minutes after the general meeting tomorrow.

5. The faculty awards ceremony will again be combined with the annual spring BBQ. We will be looking for volunteers to organize both the ceremony and BBQ. The event will be held at Island Park on Thursday, April 27th at 12:00pm. Like most of our events, this is an excellent opportunity to talk with friends and professors, and to take some time to relax before finals weeks.

6. The ACSSA will be hosting a spring golf outing at the Pleasant Hills Golf Course. This event is obviously strictly weather permitting, and is still very much in the early planning stages. If you are interested in partaking in the golf outing (all students faculty and staff are welcome to participate) please attend tomorrows meeting for additional information and to sign up. You need not be an avid golfer to play!

7. We will be doing chemistry demos for the CMU Pre-School students. Although no firm date has been decided (either Friday March 3rd or Friday March 17th), it will be held at 10:00am. The location of the event is still unknown, but will be on campus. Additional information will be provided at tomorrows meeting.

9. Jordan Cepela has graciously volunteered to handle all tutoring requests. If you are a student of chemistry and you are interested in being tutored by a member of the ACSSA please contact us at acssa@cmich.edu. Please make the subject of the e-mail "Tutoring" and provide us with the following information:

1. Your Name

2. E-mail and phone number you can be reached at

3. The Class(es) for which you wish to receive tutoring

4. The times you can meet to receive tutoring

5. A preferred tutoring location

6. A preferred monetary rate for the service

Once we receive this information, our tutoring representative will match you with someone from the ACSSA and have them contact you immediately to discuss any additional details.

10. Finally, Chris will be publishing the spring ACSSA newsletter in the next week. If you have written a story, please submit it in Microsoft Word (or other compatible word processor format) to acssa2003@yahoo.com, or provide Chris with the story on a piece of media (flash drive, CD-R, etc..) If you would like the article to contain a picture, please DO NOT submit the picture inside the word processor document, instead please provide Chris with the actual image in .jpg or .gif format.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful spring semester. Keep up the good work and we hope to see you at tomorrows meeting!

We hope everyone is having a good semester so far. We have a lot to discuss, so grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich and read on.

1. The next general meeting will be held tomorrow, Monday February 6th at 5:00pm in the second floor Dow chemistry library. We be signing up for upcoming events and activities including the Saginaw-Chippewa Academy demos, Bowling at Riverwood, and the Relay for Life, just to name a few. We will also be nominating people to be voted upon for the Fall 2006 E-board positions. If you want to be on the future executive board, now is your chance. Finally, if you know anyone who is interested in chemistry, and has never been to a meeting, encourage him or her to come!

2. The group will be doing chemistry demonstrations for the Saginaw-Chippewa Academy on Friday, February 17th at 1:30pm. There will be approximately 40 - 50, 4th and 5th graders. The academy has welcomed us numerous times in the past, and we always put on a great show. This is an excellent opportunity to get some hands on experience in doing chemistry demos. You need not have any prior knowledge of the demos to perform them, only a safety-conscious mind.

3. We will be sponsoring a night out at the Riverwood Resort Bowling Alley on Friday Feb. 24th at 6:00pm. We will be serving pop and pizza, and of course all faculty, staff and students are invited. Students, this is a great opportunity to get out and have a good time with other students and professors. We had a great time last semester, this semester should be even better!

4. The annual American Cancer Society event, the Relay for Life, will be held on Saturday and Sunday April 8th and 9th from 12:00pm - 12:00pm at the Finch Fieldhouse. Additional information will be provided at the general meeting as well.

6. We will be doing chemistry demos for the CMU Pre-School students. This event is still being planned, but promises to be great fun! Please attend tomorrows meeting to receive more information and sign-up to participate!

7. We will be ordering both t-shirts and professional (polo-like) shirts for doing specialized events such as meetings and chemistry demos. If you are interested in purchasing either of these items, please attend tomorrows meeting for a cost breakdown and additional purchasing information.

8. As many of the E-board members are set to graduate this spring, now is the time to begin the search for potential replacements. At the meeting tomorrow, we will be nominating people for ALL executive board positions. If you wish to be nominated for a position on the Fall 2006 E-board, you need to be present at tomorrows meeting. At subsequent meetings, all nominees will be called upon to describe to the group why they think they are the best person for that particular position. The group will then vote for each position. Of course, things like meeting attendance and group participation in community service and other events as well as previous leadership experience is looked upon favorably, but is not necessarily required for election to a position. We encourage anyone who thinks they are up to the task to nominate themselves.

9. An additional service we are considering is a compilation of chemistry tutors. If you are interested in tutoring chemistry, please send us an e-mail outlining when you would be available to tutor, and what subjects you would be able to tutor. If you are interested in being tutored, please send us an e-mail, and let us know what subject you would like tutoring in, and when you would be available to receive tutoring. It is absolutely critical that you attend the general meetings if you want to be placed with a tutor. If you are unable to make the meetings, please inform us, and we will work out a meeting accordingly.

10. Finally, we are requesting stories for the upcoming spring 2006 ACSSA newsletter. If you would like to tell of your experiences at an event that you have attended, or you would like to comment on the current status quo of Chemistry at CMU, please send your Word Processed stories attached to an e-mail to this account. The last newsletter was a tremendous success, and the next one will be even better! Publication of the newsletter will begin in approximately two weeks, so get your stories in now!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful spring semester. Keep up the good work and we hope to see you at tomorrows meeting!

We hope everyone is starting to get settled in for the semester. The e-board has been working hard to improve the quality and quantity of the ACSSA’s events and activities for the spring 2006 semester.

One of our major goals this semester is to improve our involvement with the chemistry department faculty members. Too often we have events where faculty members, who are a very large and important part of the chemistry community, do not quite get the necessary information for some events in a timely manner. This is, of course, a major responsibility of the communications director to ensure they receive this information, however, regardless of the e-mails and the mailbox letters, some enjoy a personal, person-to-person invite. So, we ask you, the members of the ACSSA, to please take the time to get to know your professors and invite/remind them of the upcoming meetings, events and activities for the spring 2006 semester and beyond.

1. The next general meeting will be held tomorrow, Monday January 23rd at 5:00pm in the second floor Dow chemistry library. We will be serving food and beverages and taking some quality time to get to know and interact with our perspective members and veteran members alike. We will also be signing up for upcoming events and activities including this week’s RSO Fair, and the Relay for Life. If you know someone who is interested in chemistry, and has never been to a meeting, encourage them to come!

2. The winter RSO Fair will be held on Thursday, January 26th from 8:30pm to 10:30pm in the Carey Hall Residential Restaurant. We will be working a booth to promote our organization by meeting with prospective members and doing some chemistry demos! There will also be awards given to the organization with the most involved and interactive booths. We are confident that with a large turnout, we can not only win these awards, but also greatly increase the reputation and presence of the ACSSA at CMU. We hope to see everyone there. Additional information will be provided at tomorrows general meeting.

Information about Dr. Jagodzinski and
his research can be found here.

And information concerning upcoming
chemistry seminars can be found here.

Additional information will be provided at Monday's general meeting.

3. Every semester the department of chemistry hosts many guest speakers at department seminars. These seminars take place every Monday at 4:00pm in Dow 175. The first speaker will be Dr. Paul W. Jagodzinski of the School of Mines Colorado. Dr. Jagodzinski will be speaking about his research and experiences and will also be looking for prospective graduate students. We encourage all members to attend this and every seminar, as this is an excellent opportunity to interact with CMU faculty members, network with potential graduate schools and their professors and to further extend your knowledge in the field of chemistry.

4. After the seminar, Dr. Jagodzinski will be speaking to the members of the ACSSA concerning graduate schools and the opportunities that the School of Mines offers. Again, we encourage all members to attend. We will also be serving food and beverages. Additional information will be provided at tomorrows general meeting.

Additional information about relay for life can be found here

Additional information will be provided at Monday's meeting.

5. The annual American Cancer Society event, the Relay for Life, will be held on Saturday and Sunday April 9th and 10th from 12:00pm -12:00pm at the Finch Fieldhouse.

6. We will be sponsoring a night out at the Riverwood Resort Bowling Alley. This event is sill in the works, and as soon as additional information becomes available, it will be passed along.

7. The faculty awards ceremony will again be combined with the annual spring BBQ. We will be looking for volunteers to organize this event. Currently the date and location are still to be announced, stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

8. As many of the E-board members are set to graduate this spring, now is the time to begin the search for potential replacements. If anyone is seriously interested in running for a position on e-board for the Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 semester, please let the e-board know as soon as possible. We need to begin having potential e-board members shadow current e-board members in order to help smooth the transition in the fall. Additional information will be provided at tomorrows general meeting.

9. We currently have posted a new web page with all kinds of information including minutes, the newsletter, photos, calendars and information about your e-board. We would like to thank Mark for all of his hard work in designing and setting up the page, we couldn’t have done it without him! Please check it out. If you have any ideas or suggestions concerning the web page layout or content please let us know.

10. As part of our service to the chemistry community at CMU, we often invite various speakers to CMU to talk about their jobs and experiences with chemistry. Past speakers have included a Crime Scene Investigator, a Graduate Student from Clemson, a Hazmat team from the Michigan National Guard, numerous faculty members, and many others. These events are always well attended, and definitely serve to bridge the gap between academia and the outside world. If you have an idea for a speaker, please let us know and we will try to get them to come to CMU and talk to you!

11. An additional service we are considering is a compilation of chemistry tutors. If you are interested in tutoring chemistry, please send us an e-mail outlining when you would be available to tutor, and what subjects you would be able to tutor. If you are interested in being tutored, please send us an e-mail, and let us know what subject you would like tutoring in, and when you would be available to receive tutoring. It is absolutely critical that you attend the general meetings if you want to be placed with a tutor. If you are unable to make the meetings, please inform us, and we will work out a meeting accordingly.

12. Finally, we are requesting stories for the upcoming spring 2006 ACSSA newsletter. If you would like to tell of your experiences at an event that you have attended, or you would like to comment on the current status quo of Chemistry at CMU, please send your Word Processed stories attached to an e-mail to this account. The last newsletter was a tremendous success, and the next one will be even better!