The IL-IA ACS Local Section is a professional organization of chemists in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. We are the local branch of the national ACS, which is the world's largest scientific society and one of the world's leading sources of authoritative scientific information.
Nominations are open for our elections! All positions are up for election this year. Serving on the Executive Committee is a great opportunity to gain leadership experience and network with local chemists. We hope you will consider running for one of the Executive Committee positions. The Chair-Elect is a great starting point with the group, as it gives a year to transition through the Chair cycle.
Please submit nominations by October 31!
Position Descriptions:
Chair - Lead Section meetings and perform administrative duties for the section, including organizing Executive Committee meetings.
Chair-Elect - The Chair-Elect assists the Chair in administration of the Section and prepares to succeed the Chair in the following year. Duties generally include planning an event while Chair-Elect and presiding at meetings in the absence of the Chair.
Secretary - The Secretary maintains meeting minutes and event records for the Section. Additionally, the Secretary is responsible for communicating with the Section and preparing reports for ACS National.
Treasurer - The Treasurer maintains the Section's finances, disburses money for the Section, and prepares the Financial portion of the Section's Annual Report for ACS National.
Councilor - The Councilor represents the Section on the National Council, communicates ACS governance information to the Section, and serves on a Committee.
Alternate Councilor - The Alternate Councilor represents the Section in the absence of the Councilor.
Professor of Chemistry Audra Goach and Professor of English David Wright
Join us at 6 pm on October 22 at Monmouth College or on Zoom for this interdisciplinary talk looking at how chemistry and literature were combined in a class!
Whether it’s the stories of Sherlock Holmes or endless episodes of procedurals like CSI, mysteries and their telling are often cited by students as one of the many reasons they are attracted to the study of Forensic Science. During a three-week summer research program for incoming undergraduates at Monmouth College—SOfIA (Summer Opportunities for Intellectual Activity)— a Chemistry faculty member and an English faculty member guided first-year students and their student mentors through the process of conceiving, designing, building and implementing an original escape room that included Forensics Science and storytelling clues. To exit the escape room, participants had to solve puzzles involving fingerprint analysis, microscope techniques for identifying animal versus human hair, footprint identification, handwriting analysis, blood typing, word games, and music. The game-designing process produced an engaging and challenging activity for the rest of the students involved in this all-campus program, as well as for faculty, staff, and parents. Rather than utilizing an instructor designed escape room to teach various investigative forensics and mystery writing concepts, this project utilized a learning by design pedagogy. This student-centered approach required SOfIA students to collaborate both within their group as well as between groups. SOfIA, and this project, were designed to immerse new college students in the academic expectations of collegiate work, but we believe this escape room project in particular could be adapted for high school students. Our talk will discuss the process of conceiving and designing the project, the project’s pedagogical approaches and lessons, and will include pictures and videos of the escape room experience for both makers and participants.