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2015 Physical Chemistry Symposium Workshop
for Undergraduate Chemistry Majors

American Chemical Society National Meeting
Boston, MA
August 16 - 20, 2015

Following on a history of very successful undergraduate workshops on Physical Chemistry Symposia at fall ACS meetings, Carol Parish (University of Richmond) will be organizing a Workshop for Undergraduate Chemistry Majors at the Fall ACS meeting in Boston. The focus audience is current junior chemistry majors who will be seniors at the time of the Boston meeting. Applications are due February 9, 2015.

Up to 25 outstanding undergraduate chemistry students will be selected for a series of undergraduate-focused talks and social events during the Boston meeting. The 2015 program chair for the Division of Physical Chemistry, Professor Ned Sibert (University of Wisconsin), has assembled a dynamic program that touches on many of the most exciting areas in physical chemistry. In order for this program to be more accessible to undergraduate students:

  • The Division of Physical Chemistry will organize a series of introductory talks for the undergraduates by symposia organizers or speakers to provide background content and additional context on the symposium topics,
  • The Division will schedule a dinner with selected speakers so that students and faculty can discuss science and graduate education issues informally, and
  • Student participants are invited and strongly encouraged to present their research results as part of the Division of Physical Chemistry poster session on Wednesday evening August 19, 2015.

With the financial support of the Division we are able to pay for the student registration fee for the 25 undergraduate participants. We are not able, however, to support transportation, housing or meal costs (except for one dinner with symposium speakers and organizers). We therefore ask that as part of the nomination process, your institution commit the funds needed to make student participation possible. Selected recipients must be members of the ACS before attending the meeting.

Ideal candidates for participation in this program will be chemistry majors (or in a chemically related field) who meet most or all of the following criteria: they have completed at least one semester of physical chemistry, are planning to spend next summer engaged in undergraduate research, will be seniors at the time of the Boston ACS meeting, and are considering graduate school in a chemistry-related field.

Application Instructions

A complete application consists of:

  1. The one-page application form (pdf, doc) to be completed by the student nominee,
  2. A copy of the student's undergraduate transcript (an unofficial copy is adequate),
  3. The institutional commitment form completed by department chair or relevant official (included with the application form), and
  4. One letter of recommendation from a faculty member who knows well the nominee.

Applications will start being processed on a rolling basis on Monday, February 9th.

All materials must be sent or emailed to:

Professor Carol A. Parish
ACS PHYS Undergraduate Workshop
Department of Chemistry
University of Richmond
Gottwald Center for the Sciences
Richmond, VA 23227
Email: PHYSworkshop@richmond.edu

Nominees will be notified of the status of their applications in early March. The deadline for submitting poster abstracts is March 27th, 2015.

Questions? Contact Carol Parish at PHYSworkshop@richmond.edu.