SitemapYoungstown State University’s student chapter of the American Chemical Society is celebrating its 70th anniversary and National Chemistry Week with the theme “Chemistry is Out of This World.”
The ACS is a nonprofit organization and the world’s largest scientific society with over 158,000 members at all degree levels and fields of chemistry. “The general topic for National Chemistry Week this year is outer space, and each year a different theme is designated at the national level by the ACS,” Saidah Yusuf, a junior biology major said. “Last year’s theme was ‘Chemistry Rocks,’ which focused on geochemistry.” Yusuf has been a member of YSU’s ACS since she was a freshman and is the historian for the organization this year. She takes pride in educating the community about chemistry with the group. “Chemistry is important because it is everywhere and is branched out in all aspects of life,” she said. “Chemistry is involved in food, exercise, outer space — just name it, and there is chemistry involved.” Yusuf takes pride in reaching out to the community with the hands-on experiments YSU’s ACS hosts at different schools in the Youngstown area. She said the demonstrations are a great way to show children how important chemistry is to everyday life. Michael Serra, the adviser of YSU’s ACS for the past six years, said he is proud of the way students in the organization, like Yusuf, promote chemistry on campus and in the community. “The YSU ACS is an active organization that does multiple chemistry shows and presentations throughout the year,” Serra said. “[The ACS] has volunteered for Silly Science Sunday, since it first started and hosts demonstrations at the Canfield Fair that draw sizable crowds.” Along with the presentations and experiments, the organization also volunteers at Penguin Preview Day, the Rescue Mission and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. To read the full story from The Jambar, click here.