Winner: 2024 Inspirational Committee Award
RSC USA East Coast Local Section
RSC USA East Coast Local Section
For the diversification of their activities to engage a wider audience of chemists and non-chemists.
The RSC USA East Coast Section has been established since the mid-60s. Its committee includes two educators, one pharmaceutical scientist, and one well-published author/consultant chemist, along with occasional support from past presidents. They meet around three times a year. Most of the section’s members reside in the Northeastern states. However, the demographics and diversity of their membership have grown following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many more members were able to join their meetings remotely from as far as California, Chicago and Hawaii. The hybrid format of their events has engaged a greater number of college-level students, varying in age and background, as well as those with limited mobility. The section’s engagement with the wider community continues to be strong: sometimes, around half of its event attendees have a non-chemistry or science background. Its event programme is diverse and includes scientific presentations as well as creative activities, like tea-tasting, making lip balm with older adults at senior centres, historic garden parties, and ‘speak to a chemist’ book-signing events at bookstores. Since 2009, the section has held nearly 42 meetings, engaged around a thousand attendees, and impacted over 300 students and around 400 non-scientists. It continues to attract high school to graduate-level educators, industrial scientists, consultants and governmental scientists to its meetings.
Biography
The RSC USA East Coast Section represents the RSC in the United States and around 2,000 RSC members. The committee includes two educators, one pharmaceutical scientist, and one well-published author/consultant chemist, along with occasional support from past presidents. They are passionate about chemistry and engaging the wider community through a diverse programme of activities.
Kishore K Bagga, President, RSC USA East Coast Section: Even at this stage of my career, I love engaging students or members of the public and giving back through the RSC! I am proud to be part of our RSC!
RSC USA East Coast Local Section
Q&A with RSC USA East Coast Local Section
Kishore K Bagga, President, RSC USA East Coast Section: The RSC is a society which I had joined as a student after being inspired by my mentors, especially the late Mr A J S Williams (University of Wales-Aberystwyth).
He was very passionate about the subject, and fond of sharing about the RSC and would invite me to the meetings. Furthermore, I would go with him on Saturday mornings to local schools and assist him in his lecture demonstrations on energy. I thoroughly enjoyed being his assistant and noted how much joy it would bring him, as well as myself when communicating the various concepts with middle and high school students. Even at this stage of my career, I love engaging students or members of the public and giving back through the RSC! I am proud to be part of our RSC!
Stephen Cohen: Within the past five years, I have begun publicizing and discussing interesting historical vignettes and chemists.
Bringing chemistry's story of its development to experts and the public is most important for giving people a positive view of chemistry. Talking to the US Section about Alexander Borodin, a man "trying to hunt two hares" at the same time in both chemistry and music, in December 2023 at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia helped to enlighten scientists and students that chemistry evolved over time, and didn't just spring into being, magically.
Stephen Cohen: I would love to see more attention paid in the networks and among chemists themselves that making connections between chemistry and other fields (art, music, literature, politics) is important.
It shows that chemistry is a product of its times, and directly contributed to history and these other fields.