American Chemical Society at UC San Diego
UCSD ACS-SA has been around for six years and is essentially an all-in-one resource for UCSD chemistry students.
It provides a multitude of both social and academic events geared towards chemistry students. ACS-SA features weekly meetings typically
with a faculty or industry speaker who shares his/her experience in the chemistry field. We also put on social
events, such as movie nights or our quarterly student/faculty mixer, which lets students and professors mingle
in a fun, relaxed enviornment. ACS-SA also organizes tours to various chemistry related places, such as the NMR
Bubble, and provides resources to help students ace their classes or to find a job. We encourage anyone interested
in the field of chemistry to join and participate in ACS-SA events.
2009-2010 Officers of ACSSA
Jeffrey Sung (Co-President) Contact Me!
Jeffrey Sung was born in 1988. Jeff's favorite type of chemistry is the physical kind, and he currently does computational chemistry research, running endless numbers of simulations and wishing they looked as cool as simulations do on CSI. He enjoys long walks on the beach and his favorite element is Helium. Note that the picture is of Maxwell's Demon, not Jeff.
Elena Coupal (Co-President) Contact Me!
Elena is a second year Biochemistry major and Lit Writing minor. She is thrilled to be a part of the ACSSA officer team and to start undergraduate lab work in the Thiemens lab this fall. Her favorite molecule is C7H8N4O2, and her interests outside of chemistry include swimming, water polo, reading, lifeguarding, piano, teaching swim lessons, tutoring, theatre, and driving really nice cars that she’ll never be able to afford. She had a blast in Prof. Brydges’ Chem 6 series and is looking forward to O-chem with Prof. Ternansky! .
Kristy Elbel (VP of External Affairs) Contact Me!
Kristy Elbel is a fourth yeah Chemistry Major in Thurgood Marshall
College. She is currently doing research with Professor Molinski in the
area of Synthetic Organic Chemistry. Her favorite chemistry class at UCSD
so far has been Chem 143AH where she discovered her love for o-chem lab!
Outside of school, Kristy is also involved in the Greater San Diego
Science and Engineering Fair for San Diego students grades 7-12. She also
enjoys reading, surfing, and simply hanging out with friends. Kristy is
currently considering Graduate School in the area of Organic Chemistry.
Natalie Mira Elder (VP of Internal Affairs) Contact Me!
Natalie Mira Elder was born in Israel and grew up in South Africa and Canada. Natalie served in the Israeli army, studied in China, and voluteered in El Salvador with American Jewish World Service and Hillel. A chemistry major, Natalie is has worked on kinetics and mathematical modeling of the CMV virus.
Natalie is involved with campus groups such as Hillel, American Chemical Society Student Association, and the Provost Student Advisory Council. In addition, she's a Student Orientation Coordinator and Transfer Orientation Leader for Warren College and the Warren College Community Coordinator for the 2009 - 2010 school year.
Natalie has also participated in the ETS Public Speaking Seminar and ADVANCE! Leadership Program. For fun she enjoys surfing, swimming, volleyball, and sushi.
Dina is a second year biochem chem major in Revelle College. In addition to ACSSA, chemistry classes, and working in a lab, Dina is also involved in Revelle Community Outreach and the San Diego hip hop dance community. Her other interest include photography, contemporary dance, and baking.
Rebecca Ou (Treasurer) Contact Me!
Rebecca Ou is a second year straight chemistry major from Sixth college. Because she is a mere lowly sophomore, she has only taken general chemistry classes, though she's starting O-chem and is actually in the process of finding a lab job! Her favorite class (so far) is most definitely CHEM 6BH (though physics 2A was pretty cool too). Additionally, she likes listening to Chinese music (while studying chemistry!) and writing stories (not necessarily during lectures), reading (fiction) and drawing (in class). She does not like those few hours before an assignment is due when she realizes that she shouldn't be procrastinating on quitting procrastination. Rebecca is currently considering going to graduate school, but seeing as she's a mere lowly sophomore, is uncertain of exactly what path she will take in the future (though in the immediate future, she sees a great deal of reimbursements that need to be taken care of!).
Darwin is a fourth year double majoring in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry/Chemistry, not to mention your awesome webmaster. He enjoys playing basketball/football and cheering on his odd collection of favorite teams (Go Suns and Go Ravens and Go Cal!). He also loves playing trivia and strategy games (Starcraft!) in his spare time. Darwin's favorite chemistry class at UCSD is Chem 105A/B, because it gives you so much time to talk with your fellow chemists and it sure beats sitting in a classroom with 200 other people.
Our Great Faculty Advisers
Dr. Judy Kim
Schooling: B.S. MIT, M.S. MIT, Ph.D. UC Berkeley
Level: La Jefe
Contact: judyk@ucsd.edu
Hometown: San Gabriel, CA
Favorite Class: Observing Stars and Planets (12.S23 at MIT)
Favorite Book: East of Eden
Favorite Movies: Walk the Line, About a Boy, Rear Window, Amélie
Favorite Foods: Korean cold noodles, Baskin Robbins Rocky Road ice cream
Dr. Stacey Brydges