Teaching and learning chemistry in the context of our world is a hallmark of the resources, services and products produced by ACS. Students and educators know that the ACS is synonymous with quality. ACS continues to be a leader in science education – to inspire students to seek knowledge and careers in science and prepare them for the realities of the global marketplace.
In 2011, we reached out to thousands of eager, young elementary and secondary school students in new and innovative ways. We provided a new generation of undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities to learn skills they will need to compete and succeed as they move forward with their careers.
One of our most successful efforts, the ACS Scholars Program, continues to help underrepresented minority students achieve their dreams of degrees and careers in a broad range of chemical sciences. In all, nearly 2,500 African-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students have participated in the program since 1995. Of those, nearly 1,140 have earned bachelor’s degrees in a chemical science and 37 percent have entered the chemical science workforce. More than 100 of these ACS Scholars have gone on to earn doctoral degrees in chemistry, chemical engineering or a related discipline.
The ACS Board of Directors voted to make the ACS Scholars Program a permanent program within the Society beginning January 1, 2012.
Another premier program, Project SEED, offers high school students the rare opportunity to work in academic, government or industrial research laboratories for an eight- to 10-week term. In 2011, the program placed 412 economically disadvantaged high school students in more than 145 research laboratories in 38 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, under the supervision of 410 volunteer scientific mentors and coordinators.
The Project SEED Scholarship Subcommittee awarded 29 Project SEED College Scholarships to former SEED students for their freshman year totaling $145,000. In addition, three new renewable Ciba Specialty Chemicals scholarships ($5,000/year) were awarded for the 2011 – 2014 academic years.
The ACS High School Chemistry Club (ChemClub) program grew from a modest number of 15 clubs in 2005-2006 to 462 clubs at the end of 2011 – with nearly 13,000 high school chemistry students participating. The average number of students in a club is 27; the largest club has 150 students. During IYC 2011, 74 ACS High School Chemistry Clubs participated in the Global Water Experiment.
More than 12,000 students representing 135 ACS local sections participated in the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO). At the 43rd International Chemistry Olympiad, U.S. students competed against 269 other students representing 69 countries in Ankara, Turkey. The U.S. was among 18 delegations who won medals, winning two gold and two silver medals. This was our best performance since the 2001 competition.
The Science Coaches Program, that matches a teacher with a science coach, had phenomenal growth in 2011 – growing from 32 in 2010 to 119 teacher-science coach pairs in 2011. The program has teacher-science coach pairs in over 33 states, Canada, and an American school in Mexico.