The American Chemical Society is sponsoring a workshop to help educate graduate students and other interested academic lab workers about lab safety culture and opportunities for promoting safety in their schools. Thanks to the overwhelming response from the academic community for the virtual version of this workshop, the August 16th workshop is full. Luckily, we will be holding this workshop again in virtual form on Thursday, November 12, 3 PM to 6 PM EDT. Participants will be awarded a certificate that can be noted on their resumes.
This 3-hour workshop is primarily directed at researchers in academic institutions that may include graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and undergraduate students. Faculty and safety staff are also very much encouraged to participate.
Workshop goals are to:
Educateparticipants about key technical resources to expand their ability to think systematically about safety.
Guideparticipants to identify everyone’s responsibility for laboratory safety in the hierarchy at their institutions.
Empowerparticipants to strengthen the safety culture at their institutions through expanding their safety networks and developing laboratory safety teams.
The workshop will take place on November 12, 2020 at 3 PM to 6 PM EDT (please remember to adjust for your time zone) via Zoom. It will be facilitated by Sarah Zinn of the University of Chicago (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-zinn/) and Jessica DeYoung from the University of Iowa (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-deyoung/), graduate students actively involved in their universities’ Laboratory Safety Teams (LSTs).
The overall design and organization of this workshop is done by the Workshop Leader Jessica A. Martin (current graduate student at the University of Connecticut) and the CHAS Coordinator Kali A. Millerof ACS Publications (formerly of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Please contact them if you have any questions about this workshop and future workshops at lstworkshop@dchas.org.
This workshop is sponsored by the ACS Safety Programs and the ACS Office of Graduate Education, with technical support provided by the leadership of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety.
This workshop now has full registration. If you are interested in hearing about future offerings, please contact us at membership@dchas.org
The American Chemical Society is sponsoring a workshop to help educate graduate students and other interested academic lab workers about lab safety culture and opportunities for promoting safety in their schools. Thanks to the overwhelming response from the academic community for the virtual version of this workshop, the August 16th workshop is full. Luckily, we will be holding this workshop again in virtual form on Thursday, November 12, 3 PM to 6 PM EDT. Participants will be awarded a certificate that can be noted on their resumes.
This 3-hour workshop is primarily directed at researchers in academic institutions that may include graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and undergraduate students. Faculty and safety staff are also very much encouraged to participate.
Workshop goals are to:
Educateparticipants about key technical resources to expand their ability to think systematically about safety.
Guideparticipants to identify everyone’s responsibility for laboratory safety in the hierarchy at their institutions.
Empowerparticipants to strengthen the safety culture at their institutions through expanding their safety networks and developing laboratory safety teams.
The workshop will take place on November 12, 2020 at 3 PM to 6 PM EDT (please remember to adjust for your time zone) via Zoom. It will be facilitated by Sarah Zinn of the University of Chicago (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-zinn/) and Jessica DeYoung from the University of Iowa (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-deyoung/), graduate students actively involved in their universities’ Laboratory Safety Teams (LSTs).
The overall design and organization of this workshop is done by the Workshop Leader Jessica A. Martin (current graduate student at the University of Connecticut) and the CHAS Coordinator Kali A. Millerof ACS Publications (formerly of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Please contact them if you have any questions about this workshop and future workshops at lstworkshop@dchas.org.
This workshop is sponsored by the ACS Safety Programs and the ACS Office of Graduate Education, with technical support provided by the leadership of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety.
July 1 2020 Note:We have reached the 40 person cap for registration for the August 2020 workshop. We will offer this workshop again in the fall; if you would like to know about this opportunity, let us know by e-mail at membership@dchas.org for we’ll let you know as our plans firm up.
One person may register for multiple workshops on a single Registration form. If you have more than one person to register using the same credit card or billing method or if you need help with the registration process, please contact Russ Phifer at 610-322-0657 or rphifer@wcenvironmental.com You will receive a confirmation that your registration has been submitted immediately upon registering. You will be sent a confirmation of registration email as soon as your registration is reviewed. Please contact 610-322-0657 if you do not receive the confirmation within four working days.
Conditions and Cancellation/Refund Policy
Upon verified registration, information will be sent to each participant containing specific location information of the workshop. Registrants may send substitutes are necessary. Full refund available for cancellations up to three (3) weeks prior to workshop date. 50% refund up to one (1) week prior to workshop. Cancellations made less than seven (7) days prior to workshop start date will be charged, but an 80% credit may be applied toward a future program. No-shows receive no credit and will be billed.
On June 18, CHAS hosted its first interactive discussion for its membership. Over 130 people attended to hear about plans for reopening academic labs in light of the Covid 19 Pandemic. Discussion primarily focused on protocols for social distancing, community protective equipment, and disinfection practices in the research lab setting, although the challenges of the teaching labin the “new normal”were raised as well. Future discussions will address the teaching lab setting more explicitly.
I am pleased to introduce two new ways to connect with the DCHAS community:
VIRTUAL DISCUSSIONS
Each month, we will feature a new discussion topic and moderator. Using Zoom, DCHAS members will have an opportunity to engage in conversation, share ideas and best practices, and build community. These will not be webinars – other than a short introduction of the topic, there will not be a formal presentation. The focus is on the discussion.
To kick this off, in June, I will lead a discussion on social distancing strategies in laboratories.
VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
The membership of DCHAS has a diversity of backgrounds and professional expertise: safety professionals, educators, lab managers, consultants in a variety of settings: academia, government laboratories, industrial labs, manufacturing, the arts, and more.
Sometimes, it’s nice to share war stories, commiserate, and learn from people with similar interests and circumstances. As a benefit to our members, we would like to build virtual communities of people with common interests. We will facilitate quarterly Zoom meetings for each of these virtual communities.
Examples of Virtual Communities include embedded Safety Professionals, Chemical Educators, K-12 Community, Consultants, Academic Research Safety, Art Safety, or any common interest (related to chemical health and safety, of course).
LET’S GET STARTED
Interested? First, we need to know a little more about what timing you prefer (e.g., during the work day, in the evenings, on the weekend, etc.), which topics you’d like to discuss in the coming months, and which communities interest you.
I will schedule the first virtual meeting (on social distancing strategies) based on the feedback on timing. We will identify four virtual communities and schedule a meeting for each.
I look forward to seeing you (if you decide to enable video, which is not necessary) very soon.
Stay well, Robin
Robin M. Izzo, M.S. Executive Director
2020 Chair, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
To highlight recent work related to laboratory design issues, the journal ACS Chemical Health & Safety has decided to publish a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) titled “Laboratory Design to Enable Safe, Secure, and Sustainable Research.”
The guest editors for this issue, listed below, wish to invite you or someone you suggest to participate as an author of a manuscript. If you choose to accept this invitation, please let us know so that we may send an invite from ACS Paragon Plus with Author’s instructions.
The manuscript submission deadline has been set for August 1, 2020, with a projected issue date of December 2020. Manuscripts may include scholarly discussions, original research, critical examinations of safety incidents, or reviews on topics and methodologies that advance chemical health and safety knowledge. More information about the journal can be found online at pubs.acs.org/ACSCHAS.
What is a Virtual Special Issue? Each paper will first be published in a regular issue shortly after it is accepted for publication. Once all papers have been accepted, they will be collected on a single webpage, giving additional exposure to each author’s work. This website will be announced in another regular issue that includes an editorial coordinated by the guest editors.
We hope that you will be able to contribute to what promises to be a very stimulating and valuable Virtual Special Issue. Please reach out to any of us with any questions.
The CHAS Awards Committee announces the winners of the 2020 ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety (CHAS) Awards. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations and suggestions, and to the Awards Selection Subcommittee members for evaluating the nominees!
The 2020 CHAS elections will take place in May this year. The slate of candidates for this year’s election is provided below.
Candidate for Chair Elect
Chris Incarvito
Candidate for Secretary
Monique Wilhelm
Candidates for Councilor (highest number of votes)
Alternate Councilor (second highest number of votes)
Brandon Chance
Frankie Wood-Black
Joe Pickel
Candidates for Member at Large
Kendra Denlinger
Joseph Crockett
Candidate for Chair Elect
Christopher Incarvito, PhD, Associate Provost for Science Initiatives Yale University
Dr. Incarvito joined Yale University in 2002 and currently serves as the Associate Provost for Science Initiatives. In this role he has broad responsibility for strategic planning and programmatic development in support of Yale’s Science Strategy – an ambitious prioritization of interdisciplinary and integrative initiatives that will catalyze new research programming and supplement existing research excellence.
He serves on a multitude of university committees including the EHS Laboratory Safety Committee and has worked collaboratively with Yale EHS on projects ranging from campus-wide chemical inventory systems, new safety policy development, and safety-driven laboratory renovations and retrofits.
The balance of his portfolio is in overseeing research operations and strategic scientific development of Yale West Campus, where he is responsible for the quality and creation of new research programming and facilities through collaborative work with faculty, directors, deans, department chairs, and other university leadership. He also spearheads an ambitious program of laboratory modernization across West Campus, delivering a significant expansion of Yale’s science and engineering capacity, and manages strategic capital investments, deployment of high-value shared research instrumentation laboratories, and collaborations with global scientific research organizations.
Dr. Incarvito has been a member of D-CHAS for eight years and has served as the division’s Development Chair for the last two. He was also named a CHAS Fellow in 2018.
He earned a PhD in inorganic chemistry from the University of Delaware in 2002 and his continued research interests include the application of orthogonal analytical instrumentation to complex chemical and biological problems. His current professional interests are in modern laboratory design, specifically in the creation of spaces that support interdisciplinary research efforts, shared resources, and safety-driven design.
Secretary
Monique Wilhelm, M.S., NRCC Certified CHO Laboratory Manager, Adjunct Lecturer, Chemistry Club Advisor Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry|University of Michigan-Flint
ACS CHAS Secretary|2017 CERM E. Ann Nalley Award Recipient
Monique Wilhelm is the Laboratory Manager in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Michigan-Flint. Her work involves all business and operations within the chemistry labs including maintenance of instrumentation and all functions related to laboratory safety. She has an M.S. in Chemistry, HAZWOPER Specialist certification, and is an NRCC Certified Chemical Hygiene Officer. She was the 2018-2020 secretary for the executive board of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Health and Safety, is a member of the Safety Committee within the ACS Division of Chemical Education, and is an advocate for science literacy and the improvement of the popular view of chemistry.
Councilor (highest number of votes)
Alternate Councilor (second highest number of votes)
Brandon S. Chance, MS, CCHO Director of Environmental Health and Safety Southern Methodist University
Brandon holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry with an emphasis on polymer and organic chemistry from Texas Lutheran University and Texas A&M University and has been an ACS member for 13 years. After serving as a bench chemist and researcher in academia and industry for four years, Brandon transitioned a role in environmental health and safety in 2008.
Over the last decade he has held various positions at Texas A&M University at Qatar, Princeton University, and most recently at Southern Methodist University, where he is currently the Director of Environmental Health and Safety. Brandon routinely gives talks at both Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) and American Chemical Society (ACS) national meetings.
He currently sits on the Executive Committee of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety (DCHAS) as an Alternate Councilor and Liaison to the Division of International Activities and is also on the conference education committee for CSHEMA and is a co-organizer for the 2020 CSHEMA Safety Symposium on Safety Culture. Brandon is an ACS-DCHAS Fellow and an ACS ChemLuminary Award recipient for Global Engagement. In addition to national talks, Brandon has also served as an invited speaker and panelist at various ACS International events including events in Malaysia and Qatar that focus on laboratory safety and security in conflict regions and international settings.
Frankie Wood-Black, Ph.D., REM, MBA Principal – Sophic Pursuits
Dr. Frankie Wood-Black has been a member of the Division since the early 1990’s. She has been active in Divisional Activities throughout this time and has held a number of roles in the Division including the Chair and Counselor. While representing the Division, she has been a member of a number of ACS committees and has participated in many governance activities, and currently is a member of the Nominations and Elections Committee for the ACS. In addition, to her ACS activities, Dr. Wood-Black was an industrial scientist working in the areas of environmental compliance, sustainability, and chemical management. In 2014, she left industry to return to academia and is currently the Division Chair for the Engineering, Physical Science, and Process Technology at Northern Oklahoma College, in Tonkawa, OK.
Joseph (Joe) M. Pickel, Ph.D., CCHO
Joe received his B.S. in Chemistry from Villanova University in 1998 and his Ph. D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Akron in 2003. After graduate school, he began working as a postdoctoral researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and soon after became a Research and Operations Staff member at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences serving as chemical inventory manager, environmental protection officer, and work control coordinator for this division. In 2012 he became the Research Support Group Leader for the Chemical Sciences Division, responsible for coordinating all aspects of ESH, quality and operational activities within the division. He is also responsible for the Work Planning and Control process for all R&D at ORNL.
He joined ACS in 1996 and has been a member of CHAS since 2007. Joe has also been a member of the Division of Polymer Chemistry and the Division of Chemical Information. As a member of CHAS, Joe has organized numerous symposia including several Presidential symposia and given presentations in the area safety of nanomaterials, chemical management, research facility design, and other topics. He has been an active volunteer in CHAS serving as Chair (2018) Membership Chair, Alternate Councilor and co-chair of the Programming Committee. He has been a Certified Chemical Hygiene Officer with the National Registry of Certified Chemists since 2007 and serves on its Board of Directors.
Member at Large
Kendra Leahy Denlinger, Ph.D. Teaching Professor of Chemistry Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH
I am a Teaching Professor of Chemistry at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH, where I started working in the fall of 2017 after earning my Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. During my last year of graduate school, I participated in a 6-week internship with ACS in Washington, D.C., and I have been involved with the chemical safety community ever since. During this internship, I developed a presentation about the ACS website Hazard Assessment in Research Laboratories, which I presented at my graduate institution as well as at Keene State College, Harvard University, and MIT.
My graduate research background is in green chemistry, which is why I was drawn to the area of chemical safety. Chemical safety and green chemistry complement each other, and I believe there are many benefits to closer collaboration between the two. I have been involved with the ACS Committee on Chemical Safety since fall of 2018 and am currently serving as an associate member. I am a member of the Division of Chemical Health and Safety, and am currently working on a project with the division funded by an ACS Innovative Project Grant. We are designing an electronic tool to help guide undergraduate chemistry laboratory students through the RAMP process.
I have enjoyed working with the chemical safety community and learning from them, so I am excited to get more involved with the division in serving as a Member-at-Large!
Joseph M Crockett A LeRoy and Wanda H Baker Chair of Science Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Bridgewater College
I am the A Leroy and Wanda H Baker Professor of Science and Professor of Chemistry at Bridgewater College (retiring this year after 43 years teaching). I have been involved with lab safety in different aspects for my entire career. I instituted the lab safety program at Bridgewater, one level for freshmen and sophomores and an upper level for Chemistry majors. I have chaired the safety committee for the Virginia Section ACS, I have been a member of CHAS for 27+ years, I am a member of the Committee on Chemical Safety ACS, and I have worked on several project including the writing of the new ACS test on Chemical Health and Safety.
