Upcoming Events
(click anywhere on calendar image above to view the latest event information)
February 2025
Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences
Region 3 Meeting, Saturday, February 22nd
Northampton Community College
| 8:00 AM | Judges’ Check-In (Main Lobby) & Orientation (Large Cafeteria) |
| 9:10 AM | All 7th and 8th Grade Students in Rooms |
| 9:15 – 11:30 AM | Student Presentations (7th and 8th Grade) |
| 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Lunch (Large Cafeteria)* |
| 12:30 PM | Judges’ Orientation (Small Cafeteria) |
| 1:25 PM | All 9th – 12th Grade Students in Rooms |
| 1:30 – 3:30 PM | Student Presentations (9th – 12th Grades) |
JUDGES NEEDED!
REGISTER here
CONTACT: Danielle Sixsmith at mbasile@salisburysd.org
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LVACS Section Meeting Thursday, February 27th
Science Hall, Albright College
1650 Palm Street, Reading, PA 19604
"Mastering Particle Size Stabilization in Broadly Compatible Dispersions: Penn Color's Technical Expertise"
Kyle T. Smith, Group Leader, Energy Curables at Penn Color, Inc.
As Group Leader of Energy Curables at Penn Color based in Hatfield, PA, Kyle is responsible for directing the UV-cure and plasticizer dispersion research teams while providing technical & commercial support to current and new customers.
Abstract and Bio
5:30-6:15 appetizers
6:15-7:15 dinner
7:15 business meeting
7:30 seminar
Parking on Palm Street in front of Science Center: directions
Social Hour Menu: cheese, crackers, meats, veggies, fruit
Dinner Menu: Baby Arugula Salad Apple Shaved Parmesan Cheese Apple Vinaigrette Dressing, Roasted Chicken Breast with Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomatoes Pan Sauce Quinoa Pilaf Fresh Asparagus Dinner Rolls and Butter, Spiced Pears with Mixed Berry Compote w/ Toasted Bulgar Crumble Served Coffee.
Social/dinner $20/$10 students/retired/unemployed
RSVP: Pamela Artz, partz@albright.edu
DEADLINE: February 20th
CONTACT: Pamela Artz, partz@albright.edu
March 2025
LVACS Section Meeting Thursday, March 6th
Muhlenberg College
2400 Chew Street, Allentown, PA
"Invention of MK-7845, a novel SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease inhibitor"
Speaker: Valerie Shurtleff, Merck/West Point, PA
Dr. Valerie Shurtleff Principal Scientist in Discovery Chemistry at Merck, West Point, will be delivering the technical talk for the March LVACS meeting at Muhlenberg College. Valerie has done interesting COVID-19 vaccine development work, and she will also provide insights into her career journey.
Abstract and Bio
5:00 social hour / 6:00 dinner, Hoffman House, campus map #67
7:00 meeting/talk, Trumbower 130, campus map #5
Park in the student parking lot next to building #67, Campus Map
Social Hour Menu: Coconut chicken with orange dipping sauce, cool salmon canapes, red pepper hummus with pita chips
Dinner Menu: Garden Salad, bread and butter, chicken marsala, baked pasta with roasted vegetables and parmesan cream sauce, green beans and carrots, rice pilaf, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, assorted sodas and water.
Social/dinner $20/$10 students/retired/unemployed
RSVP to form
DEADLINE: February 25th
CONTACT: Sherri Young, sherriyoung@muhlenberg.edu
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Reading-Berks Science and Engineering Fair
Tuesday-Thursday, March 11-13th
Bollman Gymnasium, Albright College
Information
Judging Tuesday, March 11th
Registration
Public Viewing Wednesday, March 12th, 8am-9pm and Thursday, March 13th, 8am-4pm
JUDGES NEEDED!
CONTACT: https://rbsef.com/judging/
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Lehigh Valley Science and Engineering Fair
Friday-Saturday, March 14-15th
Rauch Field House, Lehigh University
Goodman Campus,123 Goodman Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Information
Public Viewing Friday, March 14th
Judging Saturday, March 15th
Registration
JUDGES NEEDED!
CONTACT: Jill Forrest, jsf212@lehigh.edu
April 2025
LVACS Section Meeting Tuesday, April 8th
University Center, DeSales University
Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium: POST Flyer EVERYWHERE!
**DEADLINE FOR POSTER ABSTRACTS IS MARCH 28, 2025**
Speaker: Jonathan Kuo, Penn State
Dr. Jonathan L. Kuo from Pennsylvania State University, Department of Chemistry will be presenting the evening’s featured talk. Dr. Kuo is interested in developing transition metal catalyzed processes that approach perfect atom economy. Examples include oxidations which use O2, or reductions which use H2. Many of these transformations involve careful consideration of how to choreograph the movement of protons and electrons around a transition metal ion in a controlled fashion.
4:30-6:00pm Poster Symposium: Trexler Room
6:00-9:00 Dinner, Meeting and Talk: Commonwealth Room
RSVP (to submit an abstract or just attend)
CONTACT: Sara Hayik, sara.hayik@desales.edu
Keep watching this page for timely announcements of our next events!
https://youtu.be/MN5hxD3d7MM
Wolfram|Alpha's Jason Sonnenberg's talk with LVACS in January 2024 "Chemical Superpowers with ChatGPT + Wolfram" explored how ChatGPT is a much smarter “chemistry assistant” when given access to Wolfram|Alpha and Wolfram Language. The resulting Wolfram GPT can generate chemical structures in two- and three-dimensions which the ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4 can not. Additionally it can also pull from expert-curated chemical data and propagate experimental uncertainty in chemical conversions and computations. Wolfram|Alpha & ChatGPT 3.5 are both free resources, while Wolfram GPT & ChatGPT 4 require a subscription from OpenAI.
A lecture by Lauren Zarzar of Penn State University entitled “Color from Colorless Materials.” Lauren is an assistant professor of chemistry and an affiliate of the Materials Research Institute. The Zarzar Lab studies stimuli-responsive materials, the behavior of active matter, and laser fabrication methods to synthesize and pattern both inorganic and organic materials. https://www.zarzarlab.com/. In this lecture, Lauren explained why interference (structural) color can arise from even microscale structures (~ 100 microns) by Total Internal Reflection, such as when water droplets of different sizes form by condensation on a clean, low energy surface.
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