Tuesday, October 12, 2010

New Chapter Honors Excellence in Chemistry


CHESTERTOWN—Washington College will be home to the newest chapter of a prestigious honor society for chemistry students. Anne Marteel-Parrish, chair of the Department of Chemistry, says the National Chemistry Honor Society Executive Council unanimously approved the application to establish a chapter of Gamma Sigma Epsilon on the Chestertown campus.

Gamma Sigma Epsilon has more than 50 active chapters in 20 states and has inducted more than 13,500 members since its inception in 1919 at Davidson College. Its purpose, as described by founding father Malcolm Ray Doubles, is to “unite those men [and women] with a high scholastic grade in Chemistry, in Class A colleges, in order to foster a more comprehensive and cooperative study of that great branch of Science and its immediately allied studies.”

Candidates for membership must complete at least 20 hours of chemistry courses and maintain minimum grade-point averages of 3.3 in chemistry and 3.2 overall.

Marteel-Parrish says it is an honor having Gamma Sigma Epsilon on campus. “There was no National Chemistry Honor Society when I started [teaching at Washington College] seven years ago,” she recalls. “It became annoying to the students and myself. Last year two highly motivated chemistry majors, Samantha DeCarlo '10 and Sarah Macht '10, worked with me to write the constitution and complete the application procedure. Now everything is in place for the students to be recognized in their efforts to do well in chemistry.”

The new chapter will be known as the Gamma Eta Chapter and will induct its first members in the spring. For more information, contact Dr. Marteel-Parrish at amarteel2@washcoll.edu.

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