This was a public forum involving panelists that 
included the Vanderburgh County ozone officer, 
officers from two local environmental organizations, 
and two university professors (one in Chemistry the 
other Sociology). This event was coordinated by a 
collaborative effort with the Student Affiliates and 
the local environmental group, Ohio Valley Common 
Ground.  Over 70 people attended the event, filling 
the room to capacity.  These included college 
students, university faculty and staff, and members 
of the community.  The presentations were well 
received and many questions were addressed by the 
panelists.

The section worked with the Vanderburgh County 
Science Supervisor to sponsor two workshops for 
middle school teachers.  These workshops were in 
addition to workshops included in a cooperative grant 
involving the school system and the University of 
Southern Indiana.  These workshops were devoted to 
helping the teachers with the new standards.  Another 
thrust of the workshops was to remind the teachers of 
the materials and kits that had been provided to the 
fourth grade teachers through a 3-year grant program 
that used Kids and Chemistry Kits and television to 
help the teachers present a number of chemical 
concepts.

Regional high schools sent teams of three students 
to participate in a chemistry competition.  Most of 
the teachers brought their advanced chemistry classes 
to observe the competition and to enjoy the tours of 
the chemistry department and the chemical 
demonstrations.  One teacher brought her first-year 
students to observe and requested that we have a 
competition for first-year students as well.  The 
section plans to provide such an opportunity this 
spring.

One of the members has modified the slides prepared 
by ACS a number of years ago to give a PowerPoint 
presentation on Green Chemistry.  One might be 
surprised to find that some of the people in nursing 
homes are still interested in learning about 
environmental problems and solutions.

Our visits to the Boys and Girls Club continue to 
be a highlight in their programming.  We are now 
visiting them in the spring, summer and fall and 
providing chemical demonstrations and hands-on 
activities to underprivileged children in the area.  
Experiments are selected from past NCW magazines.  
Students from the University of Southern Indiana help 
make this project possible because the activity takes 
place during the work day.

The section continues to provide opportunities for 
college students to benefit from mock interviews.  
Each interview is videotaped and the interviewer 
immediately reviews the tape with the student.  They 
discuss possible improvements in the interview 
process.  Prior to the interviews, resumes and cover 
letters or personal statements were critiqued and 
provided to the interviewer.  Students planning to 
attend graduate school completed resumes and wrote 
personal statements where were also critiqued.  These 
students attend a mock graduate school visitation and 
interview.

This annual event promotes women in science.  More 
than 70 girls attended this year's event at the 
University of Southern Indiana and earned 3 merit 
badges.  The scouts performed many, many experiments, 
were fingerprinted, and were entertained with 
informative chemical demonstrations.  Without the 
help of the students at the University of Southern 
Indiana, the section could not hold this event!

More than 20 Boy Scouts earned their chemistry 
merit badge by competing more than 40 experiments 
during the annual Boy Scout Day on February 20.  The 
local section and the USI Student Affiliates joined 
forces to provide these activities.  Many of the 
activities are taken from past NCW week magazines.  
Chemical demonstrations provide fun and excitement - 
the boys like the explosions best!

Our traditional activities include chemical 
demonstrations and a variety of hands-on activities.  
These demonstations and activities are conducted at 
the Evansville Museum and Hands-on Discovery in 
Washington Square Mall each year.  Both academic and 
industrial members of the Indiana/Kentucky Border 
section join forces with the USI Student Affiliates 
to assemble the materials and provide the activities 
each year.  The number of man-hours needed to provide 
this service is phenonmenal for a section our size!

The section joined with other organizations to 
provide entertainment and career information at one 
of the middle schools in Indianapolis. This is a new 
activity for the section.  We have been involved in 
the AAUW Expanding Your Horizons that focuses on 
young women in the Evansville area for a number of 
years, but this is the first time that we have 
extended our outreach to Indianapolis.  We were 
called and asked to participate.  Young women were 
encouraged to take science and math classes in high 
school to prepare for college and beyond.

Our group holds a variety of events for the public 
and chemists alike.  We hold monthly chemistry 
seminars for members in addition to our outreach 
events. Four tour speakers were arranged for 
presentations to section members and college 
students.  Undergraduate students were provided an 
opportunity to present their research at a local 
poster session.

We participate in major events, such as NCW and Earth 
Day, and demonstrations and seminars are provided for 
high school and K-8 students thoughout the year.  
Several members volunteer as judges for the local Tri-
State Science and Engineering Fair and the section 
provides monetary awards to the top junior and senior 
presentations.  In addition the section provides 
monetary awards to the top sophmore and senior 
students in the areas four universities and colleges.

We continue to look for new activities to involve 
members of the community.  This year the new 
environmental forum during NCW was a big success.  
The joint event where chemistry students challenged 
engineering students to a paper airplane contest was 
a very entertaining event.  We also were involved in 
a middle school teacher developement workshop and a 
career program for middle school students as new 
events this year.

1) Increase participation of industrial members. 
(somewhat successful)

  2) Increase member attendance at meetings. 
(somewhat successful)

  3) Find new NCW activities. (successful)

  4) Continue outreach efforts (successful)

1) Increase participation of industrial members. 
(somewhat successful)

  2) Find new NCW activities. (successful)

  3) Build involvement in the YCC. (not successful)

  4) Continue promoting chemistry to the public. 
(successful)

  5) Mentor high school students to increase interest 
in the sciences. (successful)

1) Increase participation of industrial members.

  2) Increase member attendance at meetings.

  3) Find new NCW activities. 

  4) Continue outreach efforts.

1) Improve local section communication (news 
letters, web page, meeting announcement).

  2) Increase participation of industrial members.

  3) Increase membership of young chemists.