Caroline Consoli, S’23, will share an inside look at her membership experience with the Northeastern University Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society on Instagram stories Thursday, Dec. 2. Follow along!
Q: What is your major, and when are you graduating?
A: I’m a chemistry major with a physics minor, graduating in May 2022! I’m interested in synthetic organic chemistry and am currently applying to PhD programs.
Q: What is the Northeastern University Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society?
A: Northeastern University Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (NUSAACS) is our school chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS), one of the world’s largest scientific organizations. Our purpose is to cultivate a close community where students who love chemistry can commune. We have weekly meetings, most of which are professional development or feature speakers, to expose our members to different subfields of chemistry. These meetings help them figure out all the possible career paths they could take with their degrees. We also have several fun meetings a semester, like our annual mafia game and trivia night, and go on occasional outings around Boston, like our annual Kimball Farms and snow tubing trips!
Q: Why did you decide to join NUSAACS?
A: NUSAACS has a robust mentorship program – every year, each incoming freshman chemistry major pairs with an upperclassman based on their interests (both chemistry and non-chemistry). I was introduced to NUSAACS through this program at orientation and came back for our annual Labor Day Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Social. This event was so much fun. The subsequent speaker meetings (specifically the medicinal chemistry and MFA Art & Chemistry talks) were so interesting that I decided to keep coming back! I’ve made some of my closest friends through this club. I’ve learned so much – it’s definitely one of the main highlights of my college experience.
Q: Tell us about your role as director of social media.
A: My primary role as the director of social media and historian (beyond just keeping our Instagram and website updated and taking pictures at events) is to reinforce the sense of community and belonging we try so hard to cultivate at NUSAACS. I make an effort to get to know each of our new members by name, learn about their interests in chemistry, and make sure they know they can ask us any questions, chemistry-related or not. One of my more significant projects falls during November, where each day on our Instagram, we celebrate a new chemist for our NUSAACS Chemist Appreciation Month! I have been in this position for two years, and I love getting to know all of our members so I can highlight each of them for a day and have the opportunity to flex my creative muscles by making graphics for our page.
Q: How can joining NUSAACS enhance a student’s experience at Northeastern?
A: Joining NUSAACS can give you a welcoming, wholesome, chemistry-loving community to relax and learn with every week! Honestly, by joining this club, you’re gaining a whole new group of friends, who you can also nerd out with on occasion. Through NUSAACS, I’ve gotten to know so many new people and learned more about the different fields of chemistry and future career opportunities. In addition, this club provides an essential community-building aspect for freshman members through our well-established mentorship program. If you’re a freshman chemistry major and haven’t been able to make it to many events yet, we’d love to see you at an upcoming one!
Q: Tell us about being recognized as an Outstanding Student Chapter by ACS and what it means.
A: We are so grateful to have received the Outstanding Student Chapter Award from the ACS this year. From the ACS website: “The Society Committee on Education (SOCED) selects ACS Student Chapters to receive special recognition on the basis of their programs and activities, as described in their chapter reports. Awards are classified as outstanding, commendable, and honorable mention.”
We were one of only a few clubs in New England to receive this award and one of 49 overall.
Q: What initiatives and events are upcoming this spring?
A: This spring, keep an eye out for our annual Futures in the Sciences event, in which, with other COS student organizations, we comprise a panel of esteemed scientists to come to talk to students about their fields, work, and career opportunities! We will host our annual Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Social (pushed back from the fall semester), so pop by and grab some ice cream crafted by your favorite chemists. We also plan to host weekly speaker meetings – some of the topics our speakers will be covering in the spring include food chemistry, forensics, photocatalysis, and green chemistry.
Q: How can students get involved?
A: There are several easy ways students can get involved. If you have a deep love for chemistry and want to learn more about it and the various subfields, come to one of our weekly speaker meetings! They are held every week in Chem Central (Hurtig Room 115) on Thursdays at 6:30 PM. Follow our Instagram (@nusaacs) to keep up-to-date on meetings and events, and, if you’re interested, reach out to us at [email protected], and we can add you to our mailing list!
