Chi Epsilon Mu - XEM

"APSU STUDENT AFFILIATES OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY"

Who are you ?   It sounds Greek to me.  No, we are not a new Greek fraternity or sorority, but if you are interested in chemistry, we are interested in you!! Our purposes are:

• To provide an opportunity for you to become better acquainted with other students in chemistry and related fields
• To sponsor extracurricular activities which will expand your knowledge of chemistry and associated careers
• To involve you in service to our school and community
• To give you an understanding of career opportunities in chemistry and related fields

What have we done?

We have been selected as  the top APSU student organization for 8 of the past 10 years.  (Two years we won the award for community service!).

We have been selected by ACS as an Outstanding Chapter for 5 of the last 7 years.  (This means we were one of the top 30 of the 950 national chemistry clubs.)  In the other years and previous 6 years we were rated as either Commendable or Honorable Mention. 

See pictures of some of our 2005-2006 activities. 

To achieve this recognition during the last several years we:

• Worked over 30 hours a year in Montgomery County classrooms doing chemistry demonstrations in "Kids and Chemistry"
• Helped do "hands on" activities with over 200 elementary kids in the "Fun with Science Day" at Governor's Square Mall
• Sponsored club meetings with liquid nitrogen homemade ice cream (check out the cartoon) and outside speakers from the chemistry, medicine, and chemistry related areas
• Sponsored an annual Pre-Professional Health Career Seminar 
• Published an XEM Newsletter
• Participated in GHOST, a Trick or Treat program, sponsored by the Student Government Association
• Raised funds with a T-shirt sale, food sales and membership drive
• Built a float for APSU Homecoming!
• Toured various facilities including those of Eastman Chemical , the Vanderbilt Clinical Research Center, the Clarksville zinc plant
• Traveled to various cities e.g. St Louis and visited Washington University
• Attended regional ACS meetings: Research Triangle Park for the Southeast Regional ACS Meeting
• Attended national ACS meetings: Dallas (1998), New Orleans (1999), San Diego (2000), Orlando (2002), New Orleans (2003) , Atlanta (2005)
• Participated in the APSU Science ExpOlympics
• Judged science fair projects and helped with the Montgomery County Science Fair and the Middle TN Science and Engineering Fair.
• Started a high school research competition modeled after the collegiate division of the TN Academy of Science

What will we continue to do?

This year we will:

• Continue with "Kids and Chemistry" doing demos in elementary, middle, and high schools
• Have fund raisers including food sales and membership drives
• Help with the Middle TN Science and Engineering Fair, the Montgomery County Science Fair, and Science Expolympics
• Venture on more exciting field trips - the ACS national convention ?
• Host several faculty from other Universities in seminar presentations
• Participate in the GHOST sponsored by the Student Government Association
• Continue to offer FREE TUTORING for struggling Gen Chem students through the tutoring center
• In general continue all the stuff above from previous years and do even more!

This sounds like fun.  How do I Sign up?

We have several levels of participation:

• For $10  you can be an associate member and participate in most activities except hold an office
• If you are really interested, fork out a total of $30  and join up with the national ACS as well. For $40 you can thrill to the weekly exploits of Chem & Engineering News. With any national membership you can start a scientific journal subscription; access career resources and helps from the ACS office through the Internet; and attend regional and national meetings. And you can even start your political base by holding a club office!

 Dr. Carrie Brennan and Dr. Lisa Sullivan are the faculty advisors for 2008-09. You may also see Dr. Ron Robertson from time to time.