UPT Chemistry Club Honored at 229th ACS National Meeting

UPT Chemistry Club Honored at 229^th ACS National Meeting

	Devin Beers, Tom Krupa, and Christan Martone share their favorite outreach demonstrations with others at the 229^th San Diego National Meeting.
Christan Martone receives the UPT Student Chapter’s Outstanding Award.
	Tom Krupa and Devin Beers present the Chemvention project.

TITUSVILLE, PA, Apr. 13 – The University of Pittsburgh at Titusville received an Outstanding Award at the 229^th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting held recently in San Diego. The award is given to the top two percent of over 950 undergraduate student chapters nationwide.

Ping Furlan, associate professor of chemistry and Chemistry Club advisor at UPT, attended the National Meeting with students Tom Krupa of Bentleyville, Devin Beers of Meadville, and Christan Martone of Erie.

During the Awards Ceremony, UPT was one of the top ten chapters featured in the ACS Outstanding Student Affiliates Video Presentation.

In addition, UPT was recognized for its outstanding achievement in the 2004 Chemvention Competition where they were named one of the top five national finalists from two- and four-year universities. Chemvention is a team competition in which ACS student affiliate chapters of 2- and 4-year universities nationwide compete against each other to solve a common problem.

At the Meeting, the students presented a workshop entitled “ChemDemo Exchange Using Household Materials.” Martone presented the Chapter poster, “Exploring Science and Sharing Chemistry Excitement with Others through Volunteering and Education.” Krupa and Beers presented their Chemvention Project, “Albumin in Aqueous Solution of Powdered Egg Whites Using Biuret Reaction.” (Participants Jenna Banner of Lucinda and Matt Sutley of Cranberry were unable to attend.)

Furlan says, “The Chemvention project is intended to provide the involved members with a chance to develop one of the most valuable abilities students can acquire during their college years – the ability to add new knowledge to existing knowledge through information searching, creativity, careful planning and problem solving.”

Travel for to the National Meeting was made possible through a National Meeting Travel Grant, awarded to the UPT Chapter by the ACS Division of Education and the Society Committee on Education.

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