Section News & Happenings

Please join the Pittsburgh Section for our annual “On the Road” meeting! This year, we have guest speaker, Jay Herman, who will share the Chemistry of a Pint (from Barley to Bubbles). Click here to register for the event. The meeting is open to all ACS members!

The Pittsburgh Award and Distinguished Service Award are two of the Pittsburgh Local Section’s highest honors. If you have someone you feel is deserving of these awards, please consider nominating them! Visit our Pittsburgh Award and Distinguished Service Award pages for more details.

Participate in the annual CCEW Illustrated Poetry Contest! Please send your entries by April 26!

Join us for the ACS Pittsburgh Student Communities Panel, Lunch, and Poster Session at the Hilton Garden Inn – Pittsburgh University Place.

Join us for the 2025 for the Fall 2025 ACS Annual Award Banquet featuring all of the amazing award winners! Click here for registration.

Check out the upcoming environmental lecture given by Dr. Rainer Lohmann on the “The STEEP challenge of PFAS”. Click Here to register and keep reading for more information!

Several per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substance (PFAS) have become of global concern due to their persistence, long-range transport, bioaccumulation and adverse effects. Recent regulatory decisions have resulted in maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in drinking water in the lower ppt range. While federal actions are difficult to predict, many states have taken their own actions with extensive testing, product bans and rule making on PFAS in different media. As part of the URI-based Superfund Research Center on PFAS (Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFAS), we have conducted research into the health effects of legacy and emerging PFAS, and ways to measure and possibly predict the biological uptake of PFAS by wildlife, such as fishes and marine birds. While legacy PFAS are declining, impacts on environmental and human health are ongoing, and newer PFAS continue to be detected.

Dr. Rainer Lohmann is a Professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. He obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering and a Doctorate in Environmental Science. He is Director of the URI-led Superfund Research Program Center on the Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFAS (STEEP). His research focuses on the detection, bioaccumulation, transport and fate of anthropogenic pollutants in the environment, often relying on passive samplers in the process. Since 2000, he has published > 200 publications and book chapters. Dr. Lohmann was a member of the U.S. EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors (2017-2023), and serves as Editor of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship as part of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative III in 2020, and an Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellowship in 2011.

Join us for National Chemistry Week at the Kamin Science Center! The theme of The Hidden Life of Spices will celebrate how spices change our lives. If interested fill out the National Chemistry Week Participation Interest Form.

Ever wonder how Pittsburgh maintains clean water? Join ACS ENVR on a tour through a local water treatment plant on June 20th! RSVP by June 18th, spots are limited.

For more information visit https://www.pgh2o.com/water-treatment-plant-tour-information.

Join us on Sunday, May 18 at 3 PM for a tour of Velum Fermentation in the South Side and stay for trivia and food with friends!

RSVP here for a $5 fee. The fee is refundable if you or a trivia teammate is an ACS member!

We are pleased to provide the May 2025 Issue of the Crucible! If you have something you would like included in future issues, please email our Crucible editors, Hailee and Fred, at [email protected].