SWRMing like Bees: Hosting the Undergraduate Programming at the 2008 ACS Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM)
Getting Involved
The 2008 ACS Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM) planning committee approached our student chapter to plan the undergraduate programming for the meeting held at The Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, AR. Our university is 35 minutes away from the meeting site, and our student chapter has previously attended national and regional meetings. Even so, we were apprehensive about planning the event. Were we ready for this? Our chapter had been dormant and re-activated only a few years ago. We are still building members and yearly activities. Could we do this?
Our department chair and two faculty advisors assured us that they would help, and we were enthusiastic after attending a national meeting in Chicago. We had lots of ideas about events that we could organize to provide useful information and opportunities for ourselves and other undergraduate students. This could be fun, right?
One of the issues was that the officers of our chapter were all seniors. One group of students planned the initial events and wrote the Undergraduate Programming at a Regional Meeting grant proposal, which was submitted in the summer of 2007. Another group carried out the proposal and volunteered to run the meeting held in 2008. To provide continuity, we added a SWRM coordinator as one of our officer positions this past year. In addition, we had several socials with officers from both years to discuss the regional meeting.
Planning the Events: Technical Program
One of the most important and exciting parts of an ACS meeting is the opportunity for students to present their research. We originally expected to have only one poster session and a half-day oral session. This estimate grew to two undergraduate posters sessions with 98 total posters, plus one half-day oral session and one full-day oral session with 23 students presenting talks. Many students benefit from presenting research through oral seminars, so the more spots available for this, the better. These high participation numbers were exciting but caused some last-minute changes in event locations and times. We learned that you had to be flexible and communicate frequently with the meeting chairs. We were honored to have Dr. Keith Pannell, an inorganic professor at University of Texas at El Paso and recipient of the 2004 ACS Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution, deliver a plenary lecture to open the undergraduate sessions.
Planning the Events: Graduate School Expo & Breakfast
We were also very proud to have 21 graduate schools attend our Graduate School Expo & Breakfast. We began contacting schools in May for the meeting in October. We found it easier to assign each student as a contact person for each state. A good place to start looking is the Directory of Graduate Research. We then set up a contact list and sent mass emails out to all schools inviting them to the Expo & Breakfast. We also asked Lori Betsock to send out invitations to graduate schools on her mailing list that she uses for the national meetings.
With more graduate schools participating, interest in attending the meeting grew among the students. In addition, we received a portion of the booth registration fee from the expo to cover the costs of our breakfast and luncheon events. This event is huge for undergraduates because it provides students with the opportunity to talk to many regional graduate programs in a single day. The Graduate School Recruiting Breakfast provided attendees with another opportunity to interact with the graduate schools. Events with food always encourage participation. This event was ideal for a student who already has a specific graduate program in mind.
Planning the Events: Careers in Chemistry Luncheon
The Careers in Chemistry Panel Luncheon aimed to encompass jobs in industry, pharmaceuticals, forensic science, national laboratories, and academics. Two students emceed the event by walking around with a cordless microphone within the audience. Unfortunately, because of some planning mistakes we had to put together a panel at the last minute. We were grateful for those who volunteered for the panel, but our variety of careers could have been wider. The participant feedback was positive and everyone really enjoyed the event.
In retrospect, we have a few ideas to help organize a panel: (1) Start planning early. The first people you invite may not be available for the event. (2) Make a list of different people from each branch of chemistry. This way, if the first industrial chemist you invite cannot attend, you have a list of other industrial chemists as backup. (3) Contact the panel members a week or two before the event to confirm. Make sure they are ready to attend the event and that they know what time the event takes place. (4) Make sure to have a moderator with questions ready at the event. If the audience doesn’t ask questions, someone needs to.
Planning the Events: Spreading the Word: Emails Galore for Publicity
We wanted to have as many undergraduates from as many schools attend the meeting. We sent email invitations to undergraduate students and faculty advisors in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas to spread the information. The deadline for students to submit abstracts should be earlier than the meeting, so it is good to get those emails out early and often. In addition, we tried to keep the meeting website up-to-date with event details, including which graduate schools were attending the Expo & Breakfast as well as dates and times for the technical program. This strategy worked well, and we had 208 undergraduate attendees (32% of total attendees).
Planning the Events: Opportunities
If you decide to plan the next regional meeting in your area, you will have lots of fun. If your ACS chapter comes up with an original idea, don’t be afraid to try it. Just remember that the undergraduate program exists to expose undergraduates to research and career options. Ask yourself, what events you would like to attend. We weren’t so sure when we agreed to host the undergraduate programming, but we had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat. We highly recommend it as a way to inject life into your chapter!
Lessons Learned
- Be flexible: High participation numbers were exciting but caused date and location changes for certain events.
- Advertise: Send several email reminders and update your website weekly. Email lists are available from the National ACS Office.
- Grad School Expo: If a large number of schools are participating, keep them separate from industrial vendors and place them close to undergraduate events.
- Not just for officers: Get everyone in your local chapter involved in planning, it takes a lot of time and effort.
- Summer meetings: Many of us were on campus working in a research lab during the summer months. We held weekly meetings and assigned specific tasks to each person attending.
- If you feed them, they will come: Providing food at events promotes undergraduate presence.
- Travel $$: Offer travel awards to out-of-state students. We had three travel award winners of $300 each.
- Visit the meeting site before hand: We encountered a noisy door into the oral session meeting room.
- Avoid Procrastination: It will make your life a lot more stressful in the long run.