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Making Connections

The PSU Chemistry faculty and staff work hard to share positive messages about chemistry. Here are some examples of the outreach we do to make connections in the community.

National Chemistry Week was celebrated at the local middle school!  Anil Waghe, Marguerite Crowell, Kim Duncan, and four undergraduates led hands-on activities with Mr. Helgerson's sixth graders.  Shannon Courcelle (chemistry education), AJ Dangelo and Jamie Reetz (physical science education), and David Ashley (chemistry) engaged students with investigations of pennies, silver, and copper and discussed the resulting reactions.  A rainbow connection demonstration provided a dramatic finale to the day.  "I was so impressed with Mr. Helgerson's students.  We asked them if they could give us an example of an element, and they easily named a dozen!"  M. Crowell.

Anil Waghe and Marguerite Crowell and four PSU undergrads, visited Plymouth Elementary School students for "Chemists Celebrate Earth Day".  Chemistry Education majors Patrick Gile, Shannon Courcelle, Ashley Maxner, and dual major in Chemistry/Meteorology Ian Axtell worked with students on activities exploring Green Chemistry.  A parent of one of the children commented on how excited her child was after the visit.  When her son arrived home, he immediately gathered materials he would need to reproduce one of the activities he learned on that day.  She said, "He was chattering and jumping around the whole time, saying he was going to sell this product (if he could get it to smell better).  He finally said, 'This is the find of the century!  I'm a chemist!  I made my first solution!' Looks like Chemistry Day was a big success!"

 High School seniors from Winnisquam Regional High School visited our campus this past November. Students toured campus and experimented with a forensic DNA profiling lab.

Shannon Courcelle, chemistry education undergraduate, Sarah Sanborn, 6th grade science teacher, Anil Waghe, Andrew Hornberger, chemistry education undergraduate, and Marguerite Crowell (not pictured) visit middle school students at Plymouth Elementary School as part of National Chemistry Week this fall. This year's theme was "Having a Ball--Chemistry and Sports".