Welcome

Intercollegiate Students Chemists (ISC) Convention

THE ISCC'S CORNERSTONE IDEAL IS THE ABILITY TO CONDUCT, RECOGNIZE, AND
REWARD MEANINGFUL UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN THE CHEMICAL SCIENCES.
 

2012 76th ISC Convention at Bloomsburg University -April 14, 2012

Abstract Submission, Registration, and Information at

http://www.bloomu.edu/isc_convention

Recent Conventions

A Short History of the Intercollegiate Student Chemists Convention
by
Charles D. Schaeffer and Claude Yoder

 

THE ISC CONVENTION APPEARS TO BE THE OLDEST, CONTINUOUSLY MEETING ANNUAL CONVENTION OF ITS TYPE IN THE USA.

The inaugural Intercollegiate Student Chemists (ISC) Convention was held on April 18, 1936 under the guidance of Professor William Buel Meldrum of Haverford College. Eleven charter member institutions participated in the first convention: Bryn Mawr College, Dickinson College, Drexel Institute of Technology, Gettysburg College, Haverford College, Johns Hopkins University, Lafayette College, Swarthmore College, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania and Ursinus College. Since then, many more institutions have joined the organization. Undergraduate students from institutions in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania have met for the past three-quarters of a century (with a brief interruption during World War II) to discuss their original research in chemistry.

The convention format has gradually evolved into a "mini-ACS"-style meeting, with oral presentations judged in the traditional subdisciplines of chemistry: analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, organic, and physical. . A plaque is awarded to the top two student presentations in each division. A plenary speaker, chosen to represent a broad spectrum of the group's academic and industrial interests, highlights the afternoon program, along with a luncheon and public recognition of the awardees. Representative past speakers include Hubert N. Alyea, Ernest L. Eliel, Henry A. Bent, Calvin A. Van der Werf, Paul von Ragué Schleyer, Alan G. MacDiarmid, Gordon G. Hammes, Alfred R. Bader, Harry Alcock, James E. Huheey, Harold W. Heine, John J. Eisch, Jerrold Meinwald, Ronald Breslow, Charles M. Lieber and Joseph DeSimone.

Except for supervision of research, there is probably no closer collaboration between undergraduate chemistry students and faculty than in organizing and hosting an annual ISC Convention. A large number of chemistry faculty have worked to ensure the continuity of the convention during the seven decades of its existence, particularly those serving as Executive Secretary. Past secretaries include Roger P. Staiger, John L. Burmeister, Neil H. Potter, Ray K. Schultz, Wayne P. Anderson, Fred A. Snavely, James N. Spencer, Charles D. Schaeffer and Victor J. Tortorelli.

  Constitution and Bylaws (1977)

ISC Convention Keynote Address Speakers

ISC Convention Student Award Winners

ISC Convention Officers

            Current historian:         Professor Kristi A. Kneas; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Elizabethtown College; Elizabethtown, PA  17022
                                     

    Executive Secretary:    Professor Victor J. Tortorelli; Chemistry Department; Ursinus College; Collegeville, PA 19426
                                              You may direct messages and comments to my e-mail account, vtortorelli@ursinus.edu

 

page revised 02/17/12