A pdf file of the March Detroit Chemist can
be obtained here
Contents
Join us at O’Mara’s Restaurant on St. Patrick’s Day for a convivial lunch with other members of the Section and concert by the Salt Miners. Kevin O’Mara is the red-headed Irishman whose name is on the popular O’Mara’s restaurant at 12 Mile Road and Coolidge. He took over the long-running Chuck Joseph’s Restaurant about 13 years ago. In fact, some of the favorite dishes of former Joseph’s customers, such as the petite filet mignon, are still served along with O’Mara’s interesting menu of Irish dishes, seafood, poultry and pasta. A chemist by trade and owner of Midwest Analytical in Ferndale, Kevin is also the Detroit ACS Section’s Government Affairs Committee chair. For more information about O’Mara’s and the Salt Miners, see their websites: www.omaras.net and www.saltminers.com We are also trying to negotiate an afternoon of bowling at Hartfield Lanes right after the O'Mara's get together on March 17th. Interested people can e-mail Mark Benvenuto at: benvenma@udmercy.edu.
The Detroit, Toledo and Huron Valley Local Sections welcome ACS members and non-members to attend a Professional Development Conference. Are you looking to network with other professionals in your similar field? This conference is aimed at chemists at any stage of their career. As mentioned above, there is no fee for this conference.
CONCURRENT MORNING SESSION I We are pleased to have Dr. Lisa Balbes as the conference's key presenter. Dr. Balbes will conduct a workshop entitled "Managing an Effective Job Search". The workshop will focus on three aspects of the job search: Targeting the Job Market, Resume Preparation, and Interviewing Techniques. The duration of each session will be approximately one hour.
CONCURRENT MORNING SESSION II Carole DePetro, Career Counselor and Life Coach, will host a workshop that focuses on how to overcome roadblocks in your career path. If you need help figuring out the best direction for you, whether you are just beginning your career, thinking about a job transition, or deciding what to do in your retirement, join this highly experimental, interactive presentation. This lecture will explore clues found in your personality, talents, and skills to help you develop a clearer sense of where to utilize your skill set. Ms. DePetro will lead the group through individual assessments and a brainstorming session. Fun, easy homework will be sent to you to bring to this session, so please remember to submit your e-mail address when you register, as materials will be sent to you.
LUNCHEON PROGRAM During lunch you may meet with other chemists who share similar interests with you. A pizza lunch including refreshments will be provided.
AFTERNOON SESSION Dr. Lisa Balbes will present a premiere new workshop describing how to make a successful career transition. Also presented during this workshop will be non-traditional careers that chemists have discovered.
RESUME REVIEW Half-hour, one-on-one, resume reviews will be provided throughout the day by ACS Career Coordinators Dr. Diana Phillips and Dr. Robin Hood. Space is limited, so send in your registration early! Available timeslots will be posted at the registration booth if openings are available. If your company would like to exhibit or donate door prizes, or if you would like to volunteer to help, please contact Megan Klein (e-mail below). PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. founded Balbes Consultants (formerly Osiris Consultants) in 1992. Balbes Consultants provides scientific writing services, including documentation for scientific software and medical devices for over 50 client companies. She was chair of the St. Louis Section of the American Chemical Society in 2002, receiving an Outstanding Local Section Achievement Award and a Salute to Excellence Award for her work there. She is also very involved in career development for chemists, has been a volunteer career consultant for ACS for 14 years, and is the author of "Nontraditional Careers for Chemists: New Formulas in Chemistry", published by Oxford University Press in 2006. Dr. Balbes obtained her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her undergraduate degrees in chemistry and psychology from Washington University in St Louis. Her company's web site is http://www.balbes.com/, and includes links to information about the book, as well as her blog on career development for chemists. Carole DePetro has utilized her background in teaching to build on her business and psychology degrees. She often lectures on finding your mission in life, changing careers, identifying personality and temperament types, and creating the life you want. REGISTRATION INFORMATION While there is no monetary charge for this event, we need your cooperation in registering in advance so that we can plan our food and room needs for the day. Accordingly, please download and complete the registration form found from the link on our Detroit-Section ACS website www.detroitsection-acs.org/dsacs37.htm
Submit your completed registration (preferably via E-mail, but FAX or mail
is OK) to Mary Kay Heidtke by Thursday, April 5th at: Magni Industries,
Inc.
The University of Detroit-Mercy's McNichols Campus is located in northwest
Detroit,
A CALL FOR NOMINATIONS Every year the Detroit Local Section of the American Chemical Society honors people that have gone above and beyond the call of duty. These volunteers have taken time and energy out of their busy schedules to provide assistance and resources to the field of chemistry in various roles. We like to recognize their efforts with a Salutes to Excellence award (description below). The awardees are honored at our May CIC meeting. Salutes to Excellence Salutes to Excellence is an award program that gives ACS members an opportunity to conduct an event within their communities that recognizes the positive impact on everyday life made by a product of chemistry, a practitioner of chemistry, or a place of importance in chemistry. A central part of the event is the presentation of a commemorative plaque, furnished by Office of Community Activities, for the honorees for the chemistry achievement being honored. If you know of an individual (or business) that deserves this recognition, please submit their name(s) to Mary Kay Heidtke, Recognition Chair, Detroit Local Section. Her email address is mkheidtke@aol.com Please submit your nominations no later than March 13, 2007. WCC STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM The Women Chemists Committee will present at talk on Wednesday April 25th from 6-7:30 pm by Mira Bakhle. She is a licensed practicing psycho-therapist since 1971, with a specialization in human development with additional specialization in the filed of early childhood education and social work. Please look for more details in the April issue of the Detroit Chemist. Submitted by Vauhini Telikapalli, WCC Section Co-Chair
This month Kevin O'Mara, the owner and founder of Midwest Analytical Services, will be our host. We will tour the MAS laboratories, and learn what is involved in operating a successful chemical analysis business. Over the past twenty years Midwest Analytical Services has become well known throughout the great lakes area and beyond for its environmental and analytical testing services. The technical work involves a wide variety of tests for everything from metal species to volatile organic vapors in headspace. The challenging array of samples includes recycled oil, wastewater, groundwater, air samples, soil, plastic resins, and many other industrial materials. While many tests are standard, the work can also entail emergency problem solving and methods research. The business aspects include interacting with regulatory agencies, manufacturing industries, municipal facilities and a host of other customers. Kevin began his career at Adrian College, where his entrepreneurial spirit took him in several different directions. Today he is a board member of the Michigan Environmental Laboratory Association and involved in the restaurant industry. Because the event includes a tour, please help us by reserving your place with Ed Havlena (havlena@detroitsection-acs.org) 0r by phone 313-393-3684 by March 19th. After the presentation, please join us for dinner at nearby O'Mara's Restaurant.
Stay informed: www.cermacs2007.org Abstract Submission is now open and runs through March 26, 2007, (see website for details). Oral & Poster presentations from all areas of Chemistry are welcome
Symposia & General Sessions & Student Programs: Chemical Education featuring the “Fantastic Four” Science Guys--Bassam Shakhashiri, David Katz, Al Hazari & John Fortman; Special Presentation by Dr. William Jensen, 2005 International Edelstein Awardee Illuminating Molecules” and “Chemical & Biological Sensors” will enlighten us with the newest in the art of “dazzling and sensing”—probing photochemistry, photophysics & sensors around the region Brewing Science & Art: Beer & Beyond” brought to you by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) · Including Topics: Forensics as a Chem Teaching Tool, Organic Chemistry using. Microwaves, Food Flavor: Small Chemical Business Seminar, Chiral Separations, Inorganic/Organometallic Chemistry Green Chemistry, Phosphorus Chemistry, HPLC Chemical Technicians Program , Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Computational Chemistry Bioinorganic Chemistry ,,Physical / Polymer Chemistry Mass Spectroscopy Chemical Informatics, Terahertz Spectroscopy, Atmospheric Chemistry Chemistry and Obesity, Initiatives in Chemical Education, Ab Initio Spectroscopy Biological NMR, Metallomics, Medical Chemistry / Biochemistry Targeting the Job Market: Workshop Interviewing SkillsWorkshop Going Somewhere?-Career Paths in Chemistry Resume Preparation Workshop: Individual Resume Reviews
Poster Sessions and Vendor Exhibition
Folks, when Kevin Perry stepped down from being Section Chairman, he was smart enough to send a questionnaire to the membership, along with the election for the next year. One of the things we learned from that was that the section membership wanted a more politically and environmentally active section. In 2006 we started giving that to you. Your section sent section member Gina Ludwig to Congress on Congressional Visit Day (one of only three sections in the ACS to do that!), and we produced a small pamphlet that raises awareness about the proper disposal and turn-in of old and used medicines (something no other section has done). This year, our Environment and Safety Committeeis already working on a similar effort to raise awareness about the proper recycling of old batteries, items that can be very poisonous if just thrown into landfills. But there’s even more, and this is where weneed some help. An excellent suggestion was made by member Galen Fisher, that we might want to explore how computers and cell phones are disposed of, and raise awareness of how to do this in an nvironmentally friendly way. Right now, the hidden costs of using computers and cell phones include over 4 kilos of waste for each silicon chip produced, and shipping old units to poorer countries where people working with no safety precautions “harvest” metal parts, while fouling their local soil and water. Not a pretty picture. We would love to have any interested members step up and help us determine the details of proper disposal for old computers or cell phones. The end result of such efforts will be distributed to the section and the general public in some way, whether it’s a pamphlet, like the used medicines pamphlet, or some other means. Here’s the two “don’ts:” First, DON’T feel that this will entail mountains of time, or commit you to a long round of meetings. We’re all volunteers, and are asking only for the time you can give. There are plenty of other people active in the section who can help. Plus, a great deal of the communication about this can be accomplished via e-mail. Second, DON’T feel restricted to simply the idea of computer and cell phone reclamation. This idea came up because we had one smart member suggest it. We have many more smart members than one. If you’d like to help with the Environment and Safety Committee in any way, we’d love to hear from you. If you are interested, please contact Section Chair Mark Benvenuto at: benvenma@udmercy.edu, and put “Computer and Cell Phones” in the subject line, or call 313-993-1184. Thanks.
On Saturday 10 February, the Detroit Local Section of the ACS Education Committee arranged for a tour of the beer- and cheese-making facilities at the Traffic Jam and Snug Restaurant in Detroit for members and affiliate high school teachers. The tour began with a walk through the circuitous passages in the back of this historic restaurant, leading to the area where beer and cheese alike are born. Master cheesemaker Scott Lowell detailed that the restaurant may have the only facility in the United States that processes beer and cheese using the same equipment – not at the same time, of course! Lowell went on to describe the beer brewing process, although this is not his specialty, from mashing and sparging to boiling and fermentation. Most batches start with a mash (starch) and water mixture that is broken down by enzymes into a fermentable sugar solution called wort. Sparging separates the wort from the mash solids. Boiling increases the concentration of the sugars by evaporating water while also adding flavors from other sources, the most popular of which is hops. Yeast is then added to the flavored wort and allowed to ferment the sugars present into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Interesting facts gleaned from this portion of the tour were that hops are only added for beer flavor, and are somewhat of a tradition only (they are not chemically part of the brewing process, but they imbue an antibiotic effect and balance bitter with sweet taste) and that the type of yeast and length of fermentation time control the type of beer that will be generated, from ale and lager to lambic and stout. Lowell’s talk then turned to cheesemaking. In reference to the point above, the mashing step of making beer and acidification step of making cheese can take place in the same stainless steel vessel. Milk is first curdled using bacteria that generate lactic acid to make curds and whey. The whey (liquid) is drained away and the cheeses are heated, flavored and salted. Often, during this step, huge snow shovel-like flippers are used to move the curds and help them condense into a solid mass (a process known as cheddaring). Local Section members were interested to learn that all cheese is white, due to the contents of cow’s milk, and that coloring is primarily used to tell batches of different cheeses apart. Traffic Jam gets its milk from local producers and makes all the cheese that it serves.
Lowell was a great host for our tour and answered many questions such as
“what did you study in college?” (film and finance) and “do
you need a license to make cheese in Michigan?” (yes). Lowell was
particularly adept at explaining why he got into cheesemaking and why he
continues to enjoy it – “You get to use both sides of your
brain,” he said. “Making cheese is certainly scientific –
mass, concentration, time – but there is an aesthetic side, too –
taste.” When the tour came to a close, members were treated to crackers,
three types of cheeses and a pitcher of beer.” However, this wasn’t
enough for many, who stayed and had lunch in the restaurant portion of the
building after the tour. All agreed it was the most delicious Local Section
program in recent memory!
Oral and Poster Presentations of Undergraduate Student Research from throughout
the Local Section Breakfast and Lunch included
Regular readers will notice changes in this issue: 1. The Detroit Chemist is now accepting paid advertisements. This has been implemented for several reasons; • The newsletter is one of the largest expenses of the section and costs are always increasing. Many sections have gone to web or email only newsletters, and we wish to continue to publish a paper copy as well.
• Several local businesses have expressed an interest in advertising
in
• The expected income will allow us to improve the size and , hopefully,
For more information on the merits of advertising, please see the article: “WHY ADVERTIZE IN THE DETROIT CHEMIST”. 2. The BUSINESS DIRECTORY has been added to collect small ads and the advertising index for each issue. 3. Several readers have asked for a Table of Contents and this has been added to the back cover with the Calendar. I hope these changes will make the Detroit Chemist more useful, and welcome any suggestions that you think will improve it. You can reach me at 248-577- 2217 or by email: jim.landis@us.henkel.com • Jim Landis, Editor
Dear fellow lovers of Chemistry. It is no secret that our state is having a difficult time adjusting to the new rules of a global economy and marketplace. If you are reading this you probably work somewhere or are retired from working somewhere or you are looking for a job! Regardless of your work status you are probably at least mildly concerned with how you might be able to increase your quality of life while reducing your overall revenue to support such a lifestyle. Our current leader, Governor Granholm, has sent a budget to be approved by the State Congress that totals $43.4 Billion, a 2.2% increase over the 2006 budget. The Governor has cut 4 Billion out of the budget during the last five years. The law allows for the taxes collected to actually be as high as $5 Billion or so higher than current levels. The ratio of maximum amount of taxes that can be collected as compared to income of the Sstate residents was worked out long ago but what to do about a situation such as this was not so well thought out. This problem of taxing at a higher rate has been a bit tough to get a handle on for myself. On the one hand, the State could charge up to $5.8 Billion more in taxes and still be within the ratio according to the State law. On the other hand, the State has cut $4 Billion out of the budget and is still providing what it feels are the essential services for the residents of Michigan. So why have an overall increase? Does the State need more? Do the residents and business need more relief? The purpose of this article is not to sway you in one direction or another. The purpose is to increase awareness and hopefully inspire you to contact your local officials and get the additional facts that you need, consider them and then let the elected officials know how you feel. The Michigan Chamber website has an excellent way for you to do just this. Type www.michamber.com and look to the middle left of the website and click on the “Legislative Action Center” icon. On the next page that comes up you can enter your zip code and get the contact information for all of the State Representatives in your area. You can also download a document from this site, which lists all of the current, and proposed tax rates for different types of service industries, you may find this valuable. There are currently many services that are required to pay a sales or use tax (such as car rentals and some hotels, etc). The service that many chemical testing laboratories currently provide do not have to charge a sales or use tax. I am of the opinion that the type of information obtained from such laboratories ought to be encouraged because it usually is involved in environmental protection or new land development. We need both of these to maintain a high standard of living and to create new better paying jobs. Whether you agree with me or not, contact your local State Reps get the facts and let them know that the science community is involved and let them know that you vote! The gambling services industry is already exempt from this potential new 2% tax, why not the chemical testing industry? It is still not to late to contact your local rep and gain information or comment on the direction that you would like to see this issue move towards. I hope you will participate in the ultimate “participatory sport”, the evolving of our society All the best,
Kevin J. O’Mara Chair, Detroit ACS Section
Companies, Universities and Hospitals advertise in American Chemical Society Section Newsletters because it is the lowest cost method of reaching this highly select audience of Chemists and Biochemists. They place ads to promote their products and services, to offer college courses and to recruit candidates for laboratory and teaching positions. It has been estimated that the ACS Detroit Section membership buys and influences more than $80,000,000 annually of equipment, supplies, consulting and educational services. Placing an advertisement in The Detroit Chemist is the lowest cost method of reaching our 1,600 ACS members. Vince Gale at MBO Services is our advertising manager. You can see The Detroit Chemist, the Rate Card and other advertising info at his web site at http://www.mboservices.net/r.php?i=78 If you want to place an advertisement in the Detroit Chemist, you can email Vince at: cust-svc@mboservices.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
March 17
March 21
March 23
April 14
May 20 -23
A Website for the Detroit ACS Section and ANACHEM, maintained by Ed Havlena
can be found at: in the body of the message.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Program Schedule | Awards | |||
| Detroit Chemist |
|