2019 Midwest Regional Meeting

The 2019 Midwest Regional Meeting, hosted by the American Chemical Society Wichita Section, will take place Oct. 16–19 at the Wichita Marriott in Wichita, Kansas. The meeting theme is “Macromolecular Chemistry.” Details can be found at the meeting website, www.wichita.edu/mwrm2019.

Technical program. On Thursday, Oct. 17, Sir Fraser Stoddart, 2016 Nobel laureate in chemistry, will give a plenary lecture on molecular machines. The technical program includes 16 special symposia, 6 general symposia, and poster sessions. Special symposia will cover a range of macromolecular topics, including synthesis, characterization, and applications of various materials. Poster sessions will be scattered throughout the meeting. A special graduate student session will feature presentations by graduate students selected from each local section in the region. In addition, ACS will host a Career Pathways workshop on Thursday morning and résumé reviews on Thursday afternoon.

Undergraduate program. The undergraduate program will kick off with a welcoming social at noon on Thursday. Then, undergraduates will give oral presentations, followed by poster presentations in the evening. The oral presentations and posters will be judged, and the top three presenters from the talks and poster sessions will each receive two tickets to the awards banquet, where they will receive a certificate and a gift card. On Friday, there will be a K–12 workshop where participants will prepare an e-book with details on at least 10 chemical demonstrations appropriate for K–12 students. A chemical waste management workshop for undergraduate chemistry laboratories is planned for Saturday.

High school program. The K–12 teaching program will take place on Saturday. The morning symposium will include information on what the ACS Division of Chemical Education offers educators and teaching resources available from the American Association of Chemistry Teachers. After lunch, teachers will learn teaching strategies related to classroom activities, including how to prepare students for the US National Chemistry Olympiad.

Exposition. The exposition will be open from Wednesday evening through noon on Friday. Vendors will answer questions about their products, and academic institutions will have an opportunity to recruit graduate students. Applications for exhibitors are available at the meeting’s website.

Awards. Several awards for 2019 will be presented during the meeting. These include the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences; the ACS Division of Chemical Education Midwest Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching in Memory of John E. Bauman, Jr.; the E. Ann Nalley Midwest Region Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society; the ACS Midwest Regional Award; the ACS Award for Outstanding Achievements in Chemistry; the Partners for Progress and Prosperity Regional Award; the Graduate Student Research Awards; the MWRM Undergraduate Student Poster Competition awards; and the Graduate Inorganic Award Honoring Professor Paul R. Sharp. An awards banquet will be held on Friday evening.

Social events. Social activities will kick off with Sci-Mix on Wednesday evening and continue on Thursday and Friday with receptions for the plenary speakers. During the Friday reception, members of the ACS Board of Directors will be present to answer any questions related to ACS. A luncheon on Thursday will connect senior chemists with younger chemists and will include guest speaker Gregory Finnigan of Kansas State University, who will be speaking about CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

Lodging and registration. A block of rooms is available at the Wichita Marriott for early reservations at $125 per night. Reservations are being accepted at the 2019 MWRM website. Parking at the hotel is free. The Wichita Marriott offers free shuttle service to and from the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. Food trucks will be available on hotel grounds during the meeting.