Eastern New York Section

Welcome to our website

We are a local section of the American Chemical Society located in the Capital District of New York State, which includes the cities of Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Rensselaer, and Saratoga Springs. Our organization promotes public awareness of chemistry by involvement in outreach programs in our community, and works with students to encourage an interest in the chemical sciences.

ACS President - Support Science Education & Join National Lab Day

Dear ACS Member,

On Nov. 23, President Barack Obama announced the establishment of National Lab Day, an effort supported by ACS and more than 200 other organizations representing more than 6.5 million science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals. The first National Lab Day is tentatively set for early May 2010 and will be part of a large, ongoing STEM initiative called "Educate to Innovate."

I invite you to join me and other ACS members in providing high quality, hands-on, discovery-based lab experiences to middle and high school students in our local communities.

Visit the National Lab Day website at www.nationallabday.org to join in this exciting new initiative.

National Lab Day is more than just a day. It's teachers working with volunteers from their communities. It's communities of volunteers rallying around their teachers. It's all of us working together to give our kids access to well-equipped labs and to the STEM professionals who can inspire them.

ACS members are critical to the success of National Lab Day. We will need the help of chemists, chemical engineers, university students, scientists, medical professionals and, more broadly, members of the community. Volunteers will engage in activities to strengthen laboratory experiences in their local communities or in outreach to other high-need schools. There are many ways for you to be involved. You might, for example:

install software or identify useful Web resources from the ACS Education Division and other sources
find, donate, or repair equipment
implement hands-on projects
start a fund-raising effort to buy needed supplies
help with science fairs
mentor a student
chaperone field trips
provide internship opportunities
donate materials
help with lesson plans
or be an advisor for an after-school program like ACS ChemClubs

Your commitment could be as little as a few hours, though our hope is that for many volunteers, National Lab Day will be just the first step - or the next step - in an on-going involvement with local schools and teachers. To register as a volunteer and describe your ideas for participating in National Lab Day, please visit the National Lab Day website at www.nationallabday.org. Once you sign up, you'll receive another e-mail from us with many suggestions and resources to help you plan your own participation.

We need your help in this important effort! I am proud to be a chemist and I know you are as well!
Thanks for joining me as a Chemistry Ambassador in supporting National Lab Day.

Best regards,

Thomas H. Lane
ACS President