Meetings & Events

Upcoming Events
(click anywhere on the calendar image above to view the latest event information from the LVACS Calendar)

HAPPY ACS 150TH ANNIVERSARY FROM THE LEHIGH VALLEY SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY!
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October 2026

Witches and Wizards Members Night
Saturday, October 10th, 2026, 6-8 pm
Da Vinci Science Center
PPL Pavilion, Allentown, PA
"Potion-making with LVACS"
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

CONTACT: Nigel Sanders, nigel53.sanders@gmail.com
 
October Section Meeting
Thursday, October 15th, 2026, 5:30-8:30 pm
Lafayette College
730 High St, Easton, PA 18042
Speaker: Elizabeth (Liz) Sterner, Lebanon Valley College
"Upcycling Food Waste for Compostable Food Handling Plastics and Reusable Adhesives"
Social Hour/Dinner (5:30-7:00): Marquis Hall, Clay Ketcham Room
Meeting/Talk (7:00-8:30): Hugel Science Center, Room 205
Cost: $25/$15 for students/retirees/unemployed
Registration
Directions/Campus Map
Parking

CONTACT: Jess Mickno, micknoje@lafayette.edu
 
November 2026

2026 LVACS Women Chemists Committee Fall Event 
Thursday, November 5th, 2026, 1-4 pm
Painting with a Twist
3650 Nazareth Pike, Unit 4
Bethlehem, PA 18020
"Beyond the Lab: Painting Your Career in Science"
Post Flyer everywhere!
The event is Free! Register

CONTACT: Yi Du, LVACS WCC Chair, duyidoit@gmail.com

November Section Meeting
Tuesday, November 17th, 2026 (NOTE NEW DATE!)
Lehigh University, Mountaintop Campus
111 Research Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Annual Ned D. Heindel Lecture
Speaker: Nicholas A. Meanwell, Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, 2026 Ned D. Heindel Lecturer

CONTACT: Lisa Fredin, laf218@lehigh.edu

YEARLY MEETING AND EVENT SCHEDULE
The section holds regular meetings about 8 times per academic year, September-November and January-May. There are also special events scheduled throughout the year such as celebrations around National Chemistry Week (incorporating Mole Day, October 23) and Chemists Celebrate Earth Week (incorporating Earth Day, April 22). Recurring meeting themes include: student poster session, careers night, industry tours, high school teachers night and awards night. LVACS participates in many local Science Fairs throughout the year. Family events typically take in local sports (LV Iron Pigs AAA baseball) or tour/sample at wineries/microbreweries.

Keep watching this page for timely announcements of our next events! 
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Ed Boscola, Director of the Water and Sewer Resources Department of the City of Bethlehem, PA, was our January 2026 meeting speaker. His talk, “City of Bethlehem Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems,” offered a history and overview of the City’s drinking water and wastewater systems.
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January 25th Section Meeting at Moravian University Explored AI and Chemistry
https://youtu.be/MN5hxD3d7MM
Wolfram|Alpha's Jason Sonnenberg's talk with LVACS in January 2024 "Chemical Superpowers with ChatGPT + Wolfram" explored how ChatGPT is a much smarter “chemistry assistant” when given access to Wolfram|Alpha and Wolfram Language. The resulting Wolfram GPT can generate chemical structures in two- and three-dimensions which the ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4 can not. Additionally it can also pull from expert-curated chemical data and propagate experimental uncertainty in chemical conversions and computations. Wolfram|Alpha & ChatGPT 3.5 are both free resources, while Wolfram GPT & ChatGPT 4 require a subscription from OpenAI.
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A lecture by Lauren Zarzar of Penn State University given at the LVACS meeting on March 19, 2022 entitled “Color from Colorless Materials.” Lauren is an assistant professor of chemistry and an affiliate of the Materials Research Institute. The Zarzar Lab studies stimuli-responsive materials, the behavior of active matter, and laser fabrication methods to synthesize and pattern both inorganic and organic materials. https://www.zarzarlab.com/. In this lecture, Lauren explained why interference (structural) color can arise from even microscale structures (~ 100 microns) by Total Internal Reflection, such as when water droplets of different sizes form by condensation on a clean, low energy surface.

Like to Post or Suggest Future Meetings?

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or an idea for a future LVACS section meeting or event?
Please submit the event information to the webmaster on
the attached form or simply let us know your idea!

Newsletter Editor and Webmaster

Nigel Sanders, webmaster@lvacs.org
+1 (610) 597-5645
Program Chair / Chair-elect

Heidi Hendrickson, hendrihe@lafayette.edu
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LEHIGH VALLEY SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

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