Alpha Chi Sigma Fraternity Professional Representative Biannual Report 2014-2016 Mike Raffay, I’00 – Corpus Christi, TX It is true; everything is better in Texas Ok, well, almost everything One of the things that need improvement is the number of active professionals in Texas I was elected to the role of Professional Representative through the Fall 2014 solicitation and 2015 marked the first year of service as a PR In my PR statement, my main focus was to work on Professional Expansion in South Texas During December 2014 & January 2015, I contacted every Brother within 75 miles of Corpus Christi, TX This local solicitation requested their assistance as judges at the Coastal Bend Regional Science Fair in January 2015, and also was to gauge how involved the local Professional Brothers wanted to be Unfortunately, the National Office’s contact list contained less than 20 brothers living in this area, and of those twenty, only two brothers showed any interest; the majority of the responses received were from Brothers 70+ or from their widows There was also some interest for a Professional Group in the San Antonio area (2 ½ hours away) in December 2015, however this too has fizzled For years, the monthly PR Chat has been a text-based web chat This style of information exchange is inherently inefficient, as a long time can pass between posts and outside distractions easily pull peoples’ attention away from the (slow) group conversation Upon my election to PR, I proposed the idea of a teleconference-style monthly chat to Professional Representative Chair, Tim Deschaines The first chat of 2015 trialed the teleconference chat and it was a huge success Since that time, all subsequent monthly PR chats have been voice-based My largest contribution this biennium has been spurring discussions in the monthly PR Call on chemistry demonstration safety Over the past decade, the US chemical industry has had an increased focus on safety Unfortunately, it is becoming evident that academia is not keeping pace with the progress industry has made The US Chemical Safety Board* released a report in October 2011 documenting an explosion that occurred in a graduate student’s research lab The CSB investigation found “graduates of university chemistry programs are often only introduced to limited, basic safety training that may not be effective beyond “cookbook” laboratory work with well-understood and defined risks.” In October 2014, the CSB released another report documenting several incidents during chemistry demonstrations where audience members received significant, permanent debilitating injuries The single causal factor for these incidents was excessive amounts of flammable liquids (typically methanol) being used in these demonstrations Given the large number of chemistry demonstrations performed by Alpha Chi Sigma brothers and the CSB finding that universities may not be instilling a healthy safety culture, I, along with several other Professional Representatives feel this presents a risk that our Fraternity cannot ignore I have stepped up to lead a team of PRs who will conduct a forum at the 53rd Biennial Conclave focusing on Chemistry Demonstration Safety This team includes brothers with professions in academics as well as industry In addition to leading a forum at Conclave, I will recommend to the Grand Chapter that safety guidelines be developed for future Alpha Chi Sigma chemistry demonstrations These guidelines will ensure the safety of both the audience members and the demonstrators, while continuing to promote the Second Object of the Fraternity I plan to seek re-election this fall as PR and look forward to continuing to help improve the Fraternity’s expectations around chemistry demonstration safety, ensuring that neither brothers nor audience members are injured by an unexpected result at an Alpha Chi Sigma chemistry demonstration *The CSB is an independent federal agency typically charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents, identifying causal factors and recommending safeguards to prevent future similar events The graduate student laboratory explosion report along with additional information can be found at http://www.csb.gov/texas-tech-university-chemistry-lab-explosion/ , and the chemistry demonstration report and additional information can be found at http://www.csb.gov/key-lessons-for-preventingincidents-from-flammable-chemicals-in-educational-demonstrations/