The 2020 Middle Atlantic Regional Chemagination Competition will be held on Saturday, June 13 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm at St. John’s University, Queens, NY, following the 48th Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, MARM 2020 at CUNY on June 12. It will consist of a poster session and judging, followed by a presentation or other activity for the students and the award ceremony.

We encourage local sections to participate in this 2020 MARM Chemagination, the regional competition for all ACS local sections in the Middle Atlantic Region.

For this event, high school students are asked to imagine that they are living 25 years in the future and have been invited to write an article for ChemMatters, a magazine for high school students that focuses on the role of chemistry in everyday life.  Students are also asked to design the magazine cover.  The subject of the article is: “Describe a recent breakthrough or innovation in chemistry (and/or its applications) that has improved the quality of people’s lives today.”  The article must be written to fit in one of four categories: Alternative Energy, Environment, Medicine/Health, or New Materials.  

First Place category winners from ACS Local Sections’ Chemagination competitions are eligible to compete on the regional level. If this team cannot participate for any reason, the Second Place winner or other team can serve as alternate.  In addition, in lieu of holding their own formal Chemagination competition, a Local Section can choose to submit one team per category directly to the MARM 2020 competition using an alternate selection process.

Refer to the 2020 MARM Chemagination Competition Description & Rules for more details.  

 Chemagination is a great learning experience for students. In addition to increasing their knowledge of science and chemistry, they can improve their creative, teamwork and public speaking skills.  Such skills will serve them well in their future careers. 

Isn’t it time you offered your high school students a chance to exercise their Chemagination?  If you have any questions about organizing a Local Section competition please contact us; we would be happy to help you get your own Chemagination started.

Sally B. Mitchell 

2020 MARM K-12 Programming Chairs