Meeting Minutes: April 28, 2009

The semester is coming to an end, so it's a busy time for everyone. Here's what happened at the last meeting:

1. Constitution

   The latest draft of the constitution was ratified unanimously. Malia is working on making it official with the RSO.

2. Officer Elections

   Elections for all positions ended in landslides since everyone ran unopposed. Officers for next year are as follows: Mike Faille – President, Jon Rymasz – Vice President, John Beale – Secretary, and Amber Cantin – Treasurer.

3. Solutia Tour

   The tour is this Friday, May 8th. The time has been moved up from 3 pm to 2 pm so that we could spend more time at the facility. On the agenda are a South Butvar tour, a Saflex tour, and a general technology tour. A technology presentation was also scheduled, but since we must go through a safety training before we can do the tours and we were not told to budget in that extra time, the technology presentation was cancelled and the tours were extended.

   Fourteen people are going, including Prof. Auerbach and three of his GenChem students. Jon sent out separate e-mails to those going, but as a reminder, we can't wear open-toed shoes or heels. We've also been told to wear long sleeves and long pants, but nothing that drags or can easily catch on objects. We will be returning around 6 pm. This will be fun!

4. West Experiment Station Tour

   As it turns out, the station is too busy now to do a tour now, so we'll ask them again next semester.

5. Minigolf

   Those interested in playing minigolf will meet at the club at noon this Sunday and go to Belchertown from there. Everyone is invited to join.

The next meeting will be the last one before the barbecue, so we'll plan out the details then.

Meeting Minutes: April 21, 2009

The next meeting will be rather important, so try your best to be there. Here's what we talked about last and what's about to happen next:

1. Constitution

   Previously undiscussed membership-related concerns were brought up, so no vote on the new constitution was possible at the last meeting. Since then, Article II has been modified, and the revised draft can be viewed here. Provided no further changes are necessary, the ratification vote will occur at the next meeting.

2. Officer Elections

   It's that time of the year again! Officer elections will take place at the next meeting, following the ratification vote. Nominations are currently open on the board.

3. Solutia Tour

   The trip date has been set for Friday, May 8th at 3 pm. That's the time when we would be leaving the campus in order to arrive at Solutia by 4. Jon has e-mailed the contact at Solutia who will confirm the date. Although we have met the minimum number of people required for the tour, we have 3-4 open spots, so those who are not in the club who are interested in attending are welcome to join us on the trip. Anyone who did not receive the Meeting Wizard invite but would like to go can e-mail Jon to be added to the tour list.

4. Spring Barbecue

   Amber is taking care of the P.O. for the grill, which should be ready by Friday. Jon is about to get a P.O. for the food. Mike will contact Coke to get us the soda at a super – sponsored free rate.

5. West Experiment Station Tour

   Amber has found out who we need to talk to in order to set up this tour and will do so on Thursday. Since this would be a quick, mid-afternoon tour, and since a few people had trouble getting out of labs to make the glassblowing tour at 11, Amber will propose the tour for Tuesday, May 5th at noon.

We are getting close to the end of the semester, so organizing these events will make it a wrap. See you at the next meeting so we can make it happen!

Meeting Minutes: April 15, 2009

The last meeting was short since everyone was swamped by the second wave of midterms, so there was no progress on most pending events to report. Discussed were the following:

1. Spring Barbecue

   It was guessed that Environmental Health & Safety is the most likely source of food waivers, so Mike will check with EH&S on that front.

2. Laser Tag

   The event happened and fun was had by all. More fun would have been had if more people could have attended... C'est la vie.

Since the meeting, Malia finished drafting the new club constitution. If any minor changes (e.g. in wording) are necessary, they will be made at the next meeting. Assuming no major changes are requested, we will vote to ratify the constitution at the next meeting which shall take place at the usual time and place.

Meeting Minutes: April 8, 2009

1. Glassblowing Tour

   Everyone who went on the tour agreed that it was amazing. Sadly, not everyone who wanted to go could make it, so we've decided that it would be good to come back next semester.

2. West Experiment Station Tour

   Now that the glassblowing tour happened, we can start planning the next tour. As discussed previously, the West Experiment Station is our next target. Those who have seen it before report that it has a plenty of old glassware and equipment at which to marvel. Since everyone is still interested in going, Mike and Amber will find out when tours are available so we can make this happen.

3. Laser Tag

   On Mondays and Tuesdays, Laser Storm at Hampshire Mall has "Fire Till You Tire", which is 3 hours of laser tag for $10. Since this takes place 6:30-9:30, those interested will meet at the club at 6 pm next Tuesday and go from there. Everyone is invited.

4. Solutia Tour

   As it turns out, the department in which our contact works is shut down during the dates that we had tentatively set. Jon sent out yet another Meeting Wizard e-mail asking for everyone's availabilities during Thursday and Friday on the first week of May...

5. Spring Barbecue

   Everyone is working on something. Amber will rent the grill this weekend.

6. GenChem Poster Session

   We have been invited to grade the Chem 122 poster session. The session is from 7 to 9 pm on Wednesday, April 15 – but even those who can only stay for a part of the session are welcome to come. Pizza will be served at 6 pm, at which time, Prof. Fermann and Auerbach will go over the grading guidelines. Members who have graded in the past describe the experience as fun. Anyone interested in grading should contact Prof. Fermann.

7. Chemistry Demos

   Mike has discussed the proposed experiments with Prof. Fermann. The only experiment on the list that is not feasible is the potassium chlorate gummy bear. Everything else has passed! However, Prof. Fermann wants us to find out the chemistry behind the secret message experiment.

   Prof. Fermann will order the materials and will talk to Tom Whalen and Prof. Sommerfeld about the bench space, so we should be able to start testing the demos in a couple of weeks.

8. Constitution Party

   The constitution party took place past Friday in order to discuss the much–needed rewrite of our RSO constitution. It was delicious, fun, and productive all at the same time. Malia will prepare a draft of the new constitution to incorporate the agreed–upon changes.

9. Computers

   In anticipation of the new constitution, the Windows computer that is closest to the Linux computer has been set up with user accounts for active members. In addition, it will have a guest account until the new constitution is ratified. Those who do not yet have a user account can ask Cedar, Malia, or Jon to set one up.

Meeting Minutes: April 1, 2009

Below are the minutes for our last meeting. The next one will be at the usual time and place – Wednesday at 5:30 in Goessman 153.

1. Glassblowing Tour

   The glassblowing tour has been set for Tuesday April 7th at 11 am – that's tomorrow! We will meet at the club at 10:50 and walk over to the glassblower together.

2. Solutia Tour

   Jon has sent out another email through Meeting Wizard asking for everyone's availabilities. The tentative dates are for Thursday and Friday on the last week of April. If anyone needs another copy, please send Jon an email.

3. Chemistry Demos

   Most of the active members were in attendance at the meeting last Saturday. Amber will write up the proposed list of experiments to send to Prof. Fermann.

4. Spring Barbecue

   Mike has taken care of a lot of the physical details – permits, reserving the lawn, etc. However, we still need to get a food waiver, which we can ask about when we talk to UMass Dining Services about the food. We also need to order the food and rent the grill.

5. Computers

   Cedar has set up Linux on the computer that is in the back. Unlike some of the other computers, this computer has access to the printer. Also unlike the computers in the front, which currently have the same login shared by all the members, the back computer has individual user accounts for active members. Members who would like an account should ask Cedar to set one up. Eventually, computers in the front will also be transitioned to the multi–user system.

As a reminder - the constitution party will take place on Friday, April 3 at 9 pm. See you there!

Meeting Minutes: March 25, 2009

First meeting after spring break, hooray!

1. Chemistry Demos

   Prof. Fermann came to the meeting to update us on his side of the demos. Thai has agreed to fund this project, so when we need supplies, we should give a list to Prof. Fermann, and he will take care of the rest. Further, Prof. Sommerfeld has agreed to allow us to use the AChem/PChem lab room (ISB 355). However, since we would need special training in order to be alone in a lab, we will have to test the demos during scheduled hours of labs held in that room, which are Tuesday through Thursday 1:25–5:30.

   Prof. Fermann left us with a book of experiments that we can consider in planning these demos. Once our side is done, Prof. Fermann is generally available to stop by at the beginning of a meeting to answer any questions. Or, if we prefer, we can settle everything by email.

   Those interested in developing these demos will get together this Saturday at noon.

2. Constitution Party

   We had already set the date, but now we have the time! The constitution party will take place on Friday, April 3rd at 9 pm.

3. Textbook Library

   Prof. Auerbach has donated to us 7th ed. of Atkins & de Paula's Physical Chemistry, which is the textbook used in PChem, and 4th ed. of Atkins & Jones's Chemical Principles, which is the textbook used in majors' GenChem. In addition, Prof. Auerbach has donated to us issues of Chemical & Engineering News and Nature Methods through February 2009, and Prof. Maroney has donated issues of C&E News and Science covering 2007 and 2008.

4. Trip to Solutia

   We did not have a lot of responses to the email asking for people's availabilities, possibly because it went out over the break, so since now is too close to the tentative date planned for the trip to do anything about it, the trip will have to be postponed until a later date.

5. Theft

   As it turns out, the balance was not stolen. It was originally found by Sam and Joe, and it was Sam that took it. Luckily, this was just a misunderstanding.

Since some people had exams the night of the meeting, other topics were tabled until the next meeting.

Meeting Minutes: March 11, 2009

This was the last meeting before spring break. Once again, we had a guest – this time, Prof. Fermann.

1. Chemistry Demos

   Prof. Fermann is in charge of outreach at CREST and NCERN. As such, he receives a lot of demo requests that we can respond to. For each demo that we come up with, we will put together a box with all the materials and a write-up so that when a request comes in, anyone can take the box and perform the demo. We will have some bench space in the ISB to test the demos. Once they are ready, in addition to putting together the box, we will make videos to put up on the NCERN website, together with the write-ups, so that others can perform our demos as well. We will be able to reach people outside the Amherst area this way and also by tying demos into events that are held here throughout the year.

   Prof. Fermann will talk to Profs Sommerfeld and Thayumanavan ("Thai") to get them on board and will come back to the next meeting, alone or with the others, to fill in the details.

2. Safety Glasses

   We have sold almost all the safety glasses. We are ordering more, even though we probably will not sell them all this semester.

   In addition, we have a customer for infinity blues for next year! Each year, UMass hosts the Chemistry Olympiad for local high school students. Next year, UMass will buy infinity blues from us to give as a present to the kids participating in the Olympiad. Hooray!

3. Movies

   We have an update on university regulations about showing movies. The club can show any movie a copy of which is privately owned. (However, we cannot use club funds to pay for the movie.) Further, while we cannot charge money for any food, etc, sold for the movie, we can ask for donations. Now, we just need to secure space, and we'll have a movie night!

4. West Experiment Station Tour

   The West Experiment Station is a lab at umass that tests soil samples sent to it from all over the world. After we go on the glassblowing tour, Mike and Amber will talk to Prof. Lahti about doing a tour.

5. Spring Barbecue

   It is now time to start planning for our annual barbecue. The event takes place on the reading day which this year falls on Wednesday, May 13th. Mike will try to get in touch with Ed to find out what we need to do. Ashley volunteered to do the grilling for some of the time, and Jon will ask a friend to help out as well. We will talk about this more once we have some details on what we need to do, since none of the planning details have ever been written down.

6. Constitution Party

   The constitution rewriting party has been scheduled for Friday, April 3.

7. Theft

   A few nights ago, somebody stole our balance. A club member was here studying, and a person she had never seen before came and took it, saying that it belonged to him. However, the balance belonged to the club. This is another reason for changing the door code, which we've been discussing, once we amend the membership criteria in the constitution.

At the next meeting, we will talk more about demos and the other events, and also how we want to represent ourselves to the outside world.

Meeting Minutes: March 4, 2009

Today, Prof. Lahti showed us some of the new facilities which are now available to us for events. We discussed some of the options for future club space; however, our fate will not be determined until at least the end of the semester.

Meeting Minutes: February 25, 2009

Prof. Auerbach joined us for the last meeting to memorize (most of) our names and to answer some of the questions we've recently had. Here's what happened:

1. Elections

   Jon now holds the Vice Presidential post – hooray!

2. Trip to Solutia

   Prof. Auerbach's contact at Solutia is a UMass alumni. He needs an advance notice of only about a week to set up the trip. We want to get there at 3, so we should leave UMass at 2 in case there's traffic. Ideally, we should have 6-12 people for this trip. Jon will send out an e-mail through Meeting Wizard for March 23rd-27th to get people's availabilities.

3. Chemistry Demos

   The demos that we are interested in doing can be classified as outreach which is already done through the Center for Fueling the Future. Prof. Auerbach brought up the valid point that if we try to do demos independently, people might panic, so it was agreed that we should do the demos through this center. Prof. Fermann, who works with the Fuel Cell Center, will come to our next meeting to talk to us about how this would be done.

4. Textbook Library

   Prof. Auerbach confirmed that the rumors about free textbooks are true. He will e-mail other professors to ask them for evaluation copies of books that are currently used in classes. He will contact Marie Whalen as well to see what she can do.

   According to Prof. Auerbach, good magazines for us to have are Nature, C&E News, and Science. He will ask other professors to donate to us semi-recent copies of magazines that they no longer want.

5. Money

   Amber went to an SGA budget meeting and learned that we are not qualified to get money from the SGA. However, Prof. Auerbach told us that we may be able to get some money from the department. To do that, we need to put together a list of where the money that we raise has been going over the past year. (This is for accounting purposes, in the event of an audit.) In addition, we can keep the department in mind for any special events that we plan.

6. Safety Glasses

   The safety glasses that we ordered at the last meeting have finally arrived. Jon and others are selling them Thursday, Friday, and next week.

7. Glassblowing Tour

   The glassblower is available to show us around his place on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Since Tuesday works best for most people, Cedar will ask Prof. Lahti to set up the tour for a Tuesday after spring break at 11 am.

8. Recruitment

   We talked to only three GenChem classes at the beginning of the semester. However, if we try to get to the rest now, we will look silly, so we have to table recruitment until fall.

Coming next week is a tour of the ISB with everyone's favorite Prof. Lahti. We will meet at the club at the usual time and will walk over together to the ISB.

Meeting Minutes: February 18, 2009

The last meeting was the longest that we had in a long time, but it was also the funest. It was cut shorter than it could have otherwise been by some members' 7 pm midterms, so there's still some excitement left over for the next meeting on Wednesday, February 25 – and you could be there!

1. Elections

   Although Artem gave a moving speech, Mike won the presidential election in a landslide. The vice presidential post is now vacant and nominations are open on the board. The VP election will take place at the next meeting.

2. Our Constitution

   Frustration with our constitution has been reiterated as a result of its lack of provisions for speedy elections in the event of a resignation. We have decided to have a pizzalicious constitution reconstruction night some time on a Friday after the first wave of midterms.

3. Trip to Solutia

   Since Prof. Auerbach is coming to our next meeting, everyone who wants their schedule taken into account for the trip should either come to the meeting or give their schedule to someone who will be at the meeting.

4. Integrated Science Building

   The meeting at the ISB with Prof. Lahti will take place in two weeks, on Wednesday, March 4th.

5. Safety Glasses

   At the time of the meeting, we had only 18 pairs of glasses left – hooray! Since they have still been selling fast, and since starting next week, Tom Whalen is going to make GenChem students buy their own glasses (instead of giving them the loaners), we have ordered another case of glasses. This time, we ordered three styles rather than one, including the style that goes over the regular glasses. We will wait outside GenChem labs and intercept goggleless students on their way to the UStore to make the sales.

6. T–Shirts

   Cedar is working with a friend on a t–shirt design, which should be ready by the next meeting. Those who were at the meeting found out what the design is; those who weren't are left in suspense...

7. Glassblowing Tour

   Cedar talked to Prof. Lahti who talked to the glassblower who makes specialty glassware and does repairs. The glassblower agreed to show us around his place (in LGRT) sometime in the morning. Most people were interested in going on the tour, so this is happening. We will let Prof. Lahti know to proceed. Prof. Lahti will also invite the sophomore seminar on the tour.

8. Fun Activities

   Last year, we did some activities (e.g. bowling) where members could hang out outside the club. (They were not sponsored by the club.) Interest was expressed in resuming such activities.

   One free activity that we talked about organizing is a movie night in Peters Auditorium. However, in order for a movie to be shown on campus, the university must have permission from the copyright owner to do so, or we risk a $5000 fine. Rosie will get us a list of movies that can be shown on campus and we'll talk more about this once we see it.

9. Chemistry Demos

   We talked more about doing some fun chemistry stuff with kids (elementary school, boy/girl scouts, etc.). Members have expressed interest in putting together some demos, so we have enough volunteers in that regard. Since organizations like the idea of promoting science to impressionable children, we should be able to either get the chemicals from the department or find someone to pay for them so this doesn't actually cost us. We will resume this conversation when Prof. Auerbach comes to the next meeting.

10. Textbook Library

    It's been rumored that professors can request free copies of textbooks from publishers. If this is so, we can try to convince professors to get books for our library which is open to everyone who stops by the club. We will ask Prof. Auerbach about this at the next meeting.

More elections and excitement await at the next meeting, so be there or be square.

Meeting Minutes: February 12, 2009

Much has happened over the past week, so do read the following minutes even if you normally only skim them.

1. Meeting Day and Time

   At the previous meeting, it was realized that Thursdays at 5:30 were not a good time for a good number of people. Since then, Mike has talked to many of those who came to meetings last semester and who were notably absent from this semester's meetings and concluded that Wednesdays at 5:30 appears to be a more agreeable time. Meetings for the semester are, therefore, moved to Wednesdays at 5:30.

2. Elections

   Last week, Joe resigned from his position as President of Chem Club. In accord with our constitution, nominations have opened and emergency elections will take place at the next meeting, Wednesday, February 18th. Nominations can be entered on the board any time before the election.

   Among those running is Mike, the club's current Vice President. If he wins, nominations for Vice President will open immediately after the presidential election and the vice presidential election will take place on Wednesday, February 25th.

3. Our Constitution

   Since many of us have revisited our club constitution in the aftermath of Joe's resignation, we have remembered/realized how nonsensical and poorly written our constitution is. (Those interested in witnessing the horror for themselves can do so here.) We have agreed to rewrite it some time after the election(s).

4. Pizza Sale

   Since we now have an election next week, we are postponing the pizza sale from the next week to after the election(s).

5. Safety Glasses

   We've been selling glasses every day between Monday and Thursday and have sold more than half of what we bought. This means that we've made at least some money, despite having started two weeks into the semester, after many of the labs have begun. Provided that we place the order earlier than we did this time, glasses sales should be a good way to raise money next semester.

6. Trip to Solutia

   Mike and Amber talked to Prof. Auerbach, our club advisor. He will come to the meeting on Wednesday, February 25th and will take down schedules of everyone interested in the trip to Solutia in order to find a time that's agreeable to everybody.

7. New Ideas

   Prof. Auerbach has suggested Pizza & Prof nights (similar to what ComCol has, but cooler) coupled with lab tours that we talked about last semester. The department would cover the pizza. Everyone liked this idea, so we will talk more about it after the election(s), when Prof. Auerbach comes to our meeting.

To reiterate, the next meeting is on Wednesday, February 18th in Goessman 153. Presidential elections will take place, so we'll see you there!

Meeting Minutes: February 5, 2009

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, February 12 at 5:30 and it will take place in our club room, Goessman 153. Here's what we talked about at the last meeting:

1. Meeting Day and Time

   Since Thursday at 5:30 worked for most people at the previous meeting and since Joe had not heard from anyone with alternative preferences, we had planned to set this semester's meetings for Thursdays. However, since attendance at this meeting was sparse, we will have to change the meeting day to some other one at the next meeting. In the meantime, if you have a preference between Monday and Wednesday, email Joe or just tell him the next time you see him.

2. Next Meeting

   We had previously planned to have the third meeting of the semester at the ISB. However, since Joe did not have a chance to talk to Prof. Lahti on Friday after the meeting, the meeting at the ISB is tabled until after the glasses sales and the pizza sale. (Since we have not yet been told when we would need to move, this is not currently a priority.)

3. Trip to Solutia

   It looks like this trip may be happening after all, despite what we assumed at the last meeting! Since we are unable to go on February 10th, Prof. Auerbach's contact asked us for a new date in March. We've decided on a tentative date of Friday, March 27th because this contact is unavailable to give us the tour between March 7th and 14th. In addition, if this doesn't work out again, as it didn't in the fall, Yeva can ask Dawn Eriksen about her contact at Solutia.

4. Safety Glasses

   The safety glasses that we ordered at the last meeting will be at the club on Monday morning. Since UStore sells safety glasses for $5 (rather than $7, as we previously thought), we will be selling ours for $4. Our marketing plan is:

   • Malia will send an email through Marie Whalen to all the undergrads to whom she has access,
   • Malia will put up flyers in Goessman, and
   • We will be outside GenChem labs before they start start (M–Th at 2:30) in order to sell to those people who forgot to buy safety glasses. Amber will send an email to those who volunteered to help with the sales. If anyone who wasn't at the meeting can help out, particularly on Thursday, email Amber or just come to the club around 2:15. Also, since this announcement is going out late – those who can help sell on Monday should meet in the club at 2:15 unless you hear from Amber otherwise.
5. Pizza Sale

   Our next pizza sale will take place on Tuesday, February 17th. Although February 16th is off for Presidents' Day, we've made sure that Tuesday follows regular Tuesday schedule. The start time has not been set because classes get out at 10:45, but last semester, Antonio's did not want to start making pizza before 10:30. (This problem did not exist during prior semesters.) Joe and Mike will go down to Antonio's before the next meeting to see if they can fix this problem.

This wraps up the meeting. See you on Thursday!

Meeting Minutes: January 29, 2009

Last Thursday, January 29th, Chem Club had its first meeting of the semester. The next meeting will take place on Thursday, February 5th, at 5:30 and at the usual place – Goessman 153. Following is a summary of the topics that were discussed at the last meeting.

1. Meeting Day and Time

   A new semester means a new day for our weekly meetings. If you would like to come to the meetings and have a preference (between Monday and Thursday) of the day on which our meetings should fall, either tell Joe when you see him or send him an email.

2. Integrated Science Building

   Now that the ISB is complete, all the undergraduate science activities are moving – and eventually, so will we. While we don't have to move in the near future, we will have to do it eventually since there are plans to renovate our room and to turn it into a lab. Unfortunately, due to an oversight, no club space was planned during the design of the ISB, so we will have to take something over if we are to continue having a club room. Tentatively next week, we will have a meeting at the ISB and will look around with Prof. Lahti in search of potential takeover candidates.

3. Trip to Solutia

   Last semester, through his contact at Solutia, our club advisor Prof. Auerbach had arranged for us to go on a tour of Solutia. Unfortunately, the date for the tour was set for us (i.e., without our input) for February 10th – which falls on a Tuesday. Since all the core ChemE classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and since this tour was of interest primarily to ChemEs, we do not have enough people who want to and who can go on this trip. As a result, the trip is cancelled.

   From the email sent to Joe by Prof. Auerbach, it appears that if we want to go on a different date, we have to figure it out ourselves. We are not sure how we would do that since this was Prof. Auerbach's contact. However, some of us heard that Dawn Eriksen at ISPE had arranged ISPE's trips to Solutia. Joe will try to contact Dawn (if she is still at UMass) and see if he can find out who her contact at Solutia is.

4. Recruitment

   We will soon have several people go to GenChem classes and recruit freshmen. Joe will contact those who expressed interest in doing that this semester regarding their availabilities. Anyone else who is interested should contact Joe. Once we know who can come to each class, Joe will contact GenChem professors to find out when we can come.

5. Safety Glasses

   We have ordered a case of safety glasses which should arrive this week. They look cool and are more comfortable than the ones that UStore sells for $7 – and, we can make money by selling these for $5. They should arrive next week, so we should be able to start selling them before most people buy glasses for their labs. Joe will talk to Profs Whalen and Sommerfeld about advertising them in labs. We can also mention them at the GenChem recruitment sessions (if we do the sessions quickly enough). We will talk more about the logistics of selling the glasses at the next meeting.

6. Future Pizza Sales

   Tuesday and Thursday mornings work for people who were at the meeting, so our future pizza sales will be on those days. We will wait to have the first pizza sale until three weeks from now since we will be working on selling the safety glasses in the meantime.

7. Other Activities

   Are there any activities that people would be interested in doing? If so, talk to or email Mike.

   We used to go to high schools to teach chemistry to kids. Those at the meeting expressed interest in doing that again, so Mike will look into that.

This wraps up the meeting minutes. In addition, new toner for the printer had arrived, so the printer is again working. Hope to see you on Thursday!

Hooray for New Website!

After years of disuse, the Chem Club website is back – and better than ever! If you'd like to read about what the club did in 2006 or to see photos of people who have long graduated, the club's former website has been archived for safekeeping. Are you more interested in what's been going on last semester? Then read right on!

• Summer 2008: Secured donations of three new computers, two from OIT and one from Amfax/ParentREACH. Over September, set up said computers.
• Oct 18 2008: Fall Open House. Talked enthusiastically about the major to prospective UMass chemistry students and herded said students to tours of the Tyson and Schnarr labs as well as various Goessman facilities (e.g. the Peter's Auditorium). Foiled Admissions' attempts to interfere with said herding.
• Oct 29 2008: Represented Chemistry at the Majors Fair. Promoted the department to prospective chem majors.
• Nov 20 2008: Sold ~300 cupcakes which we baked the previous night at our club's annual cupcake sale. What do cupcakes have to do with chemistry? Check the picture gallery and you'll see for yourself.
• Nov 25 2008: Sorted our library in the front of the room, keeping the books that are either potentially relevant or historic and recycling the remainder. (Books in the back are still awaiting their fate.)
• Dec 13 2008: Held the club's annual end–of–the–fall–semester party.

• Pizza Sales: Raised money for our operations through 3 pizza sales. Encountered problems with the new (mis)management of Antonio's, the legendary pizza place that is our supplier. Sold and ate their pizza regardless.
• Maintained the Chemistry grad school bulletin board.
• Lab Tours: Started talking about setting up a program that involves touring a different lab each month in order to help chem majors find a lab in which to do research.
• Solutia: Planned to tour Solutia in November. Did not go when our contact became unavailable as a result of inter–departmental transfer. Had the tour date assigned to February 10th without our input.
• ISB: Trembled at the prospect of no longer having our own room once the ISB is complete. Plotted to take over other science clubs to avoid sharing space.