On September 29th we held our 4th annual Flavors of Chemistry event, with great success, with nearly 90 attendees. Members from several sections came together to honor award winners and learn about the chemistry of beer and cheese flavor. ACS Sacramento Section Chair Marc Foster opened the event by presenting awards to the Sacramento Section honorees.
Three of the section’s long-time members were in attendance. Each long-time member also has a newsletter article celebrating their career path and time in ACS.
ACS 50-year member Dr. Paul Norton Noble worked as a professor at CSUS for many years, before moving on to administrative roles. After retiring in 2006, Dr. Noble has stayed active in scholarly activity, written a book, been active in his neighborhood, and traveled in the US and abroad.
ACS 50-year member Janan (Jan) Hayes has also been serving the ACS Sacramento section for many years as a member of the executive committee and holding many positions through the years. Jan Hayes taught high school chemistry at Fortuna CA high school before receiving her Ph.D. and joining the teaching faculty at American River College. Jan went on to try diverse rolls before retiring in 2005. Jan has “failed at retirement”, staying actively involved in research and outreach projects.
ACS 60-year member Dr. Donald Wedegaertner began a 42 year career teaching for the University of the Pacific after receiving his Ph.D., serving six terms as chair and introducing new aspects to the organic chemistry curriculum. Dr. Wedegaertner has also served on the ACS Sacramento section’s executive board in several roles.
The namesake for our section’s high school teacher award, Janan Hayes, presented Arlene Laurison with the ACS Sacramento Section 2018 Jan Hayes High School Teacher Award. Ms. Laurison worked in industry for 10 years before going on to teach high school chemistry, bringing her expertise to the new role. Her teaching ability is reflected in her being chosen as the “Most Influential Teacher” at Sheldon High School (SHS) seven times in 18 years. In addition to teaching, Ms. Laurison is active in two programs that work with high school science teachers to improve their teaching skills.
Cindy Castronovo was honored as this year’s ACS Sacramento Section Volunteer of the Year for her dedication and long commitment to the section. Cindy has been a long-time active member of the ACS Sacramento local section, both holding positions on the executive committee and eagerly pursuing outreach activities.
Our first invited speaker was Charlie Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at UC Davis. He gave a talk titled “Looks good, tastes good, does you good: Beer”. Attendees got the chance to sample four beers – a hefeweizen, an IPA, a stout, and a sour – in a tasting led by Prof. Bamforth.
Following Prof. Bamforth’s talk, Prof. David Everett, Leprino Food Endowed Professor and Director of the Dairy Innovation Institute at Cal Poly, gave a talk titles “Cheese: From Rotting Milk to a Connoisseurs Delight”. Prof. Everett led a tasting of 5 cheeses – an English cheddar, a goat’s milk gouda, a swiss, a camembert, and a French washed rind cheese.
Thank you to our sponsors, Agilent Technologies and Reaxys, to our photographer Lucas Souza, to all of those from the Sacramento Section who volunteered to help, and to all of the attendees who made this event a success.
