The Chemistry Club at UC Davis had a lot of fun over winter quarter. We were able to include fifteen members in our first ever soap project that included a procedure and wet lab synthesis designed by our vice president Ben Wigman and one of our most active members Matthew Cheung. The event allowed for a hands-on experience with the process of saponification. The excess soap has been packaged and is now being sold in order to raise funds for club activities.
Making Soap
The Sacramento County District Laboratory of Forensic Services was gracious enough to provide the club with a tour of their facility. The event was so popular that the tour was given twice in one week accommodating over twenty of our members. The tour included the chemistry division, genetics division, and the fire arms division. This event was a great opportunity for students interested in the forensic sciences to get a behind the scenes look into an active forensics laboratory.
Forensics Tour
In order to help students prepare for finals week the club hosted a final review study session in collaboration with the peer tutoring program. Tutors were available for inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry classes.
The club was able to partner with the chemistry departments outreach committee to help perform chemistry demos for the public at Pioneer elementary, Peregrine Elementary, River City Elementary, and Esparto Elementary. In addition, we helped host the Pleasant Hill Adventist Academy event during which high school seniors toured labs within the department and were able to ask questions of a panel consisting of undergraduate students and graduate students. Community outreach is always a great way for our members to help spark the love of science in younger generations.
Spring quarter is off to a quick start. Picnic Day was April 16th and the club and outreach committee helped to host our annual chemistry show. The theme for this year’s show was to explain the science behind each demo while connecting the science to current research going on within our chemistry department. This was done by compiling a slide show presentation of research lab pictures and a brief description of research being conducted in order to give a visual connection for the audience to prevalent scientific inquiry happening now. The show was MC’d by the president, Anna Johnston, and the vice president, Ben Wigman, of our club.
Picnic Day 2016
