Pittcon Funds Approx. $1 Million Toward Science Education and Outreach

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Year after year, Pittcon distributes approximately $1 million toward its mission to sponsor and sustain educational and charitable activities for the advancement and benefit of scientific endeavor.

Proceeds from Pittcon are distributed by its sponsoring societies, the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP) and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh (SSP).

When asked to comment on this year’s distribution, 2018 president Adrian Michael said, “As a professor of chemistry, I respect and appreciate that the mission of Pittcon is to support science education.” He added, “I admire Pittcon and its two stakeholder organizations, the SACP and the SSP, for their use of the proceeds of the annual conference and exposition in the generous support of a wide range of awards, scholarships, and grants to students, schools, colleges, universities, libraries, and museums nationwide."

This year the societies awarded $40,000 to 22 area schools via the Elementary School Science Olympiad Program. This program provides information, manuals, training, and grant money for teachers and administrators to promote Science Olympiad programs in their schools or districts.

Approximately $25,000 was distributed through the High School Equipment Grant, which provides science equipment to regional high schools to help enhance their science curriculum.

Two $40,000 Starter Grants were awarded to beginning chemistry professors to encourage high-quality, innovative research. One award was in the area of analytical chemistry and the other in spectroscopy. The goal of the grants is to promote the training and development of graduate students in the fields of spectroscopy and analytical chemistry.

The Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grant awarded a total of $116,956 to 13 colleges across the country based on predetermined selection criteria and guidelines. The following are the 2018 recipients:

Alverno College
Dominican University
Keystone College
LaGrange College
Marian University of Wisconsin
McPherson College
Millikin University
Nebraska Wesleyan University
North Park University
Northcentral Technical College
Penn State Beaver
Regis University
Roanoke College

Additionally, these funds support lecture series for children and adults, continuing education opportunities, scholarships, museums, libraries, science fairs, and festivals, and much more.