Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham faculty member, Dr. Sreekala C. O., Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Amritapuri, participated in a five day, intensive workshop, from 18th to 22nd July, 2017, conducted by the American Chemical Society Global Chemists’ Code of Ethics Science & Technology Leadership Institutes Program (ACS GCCE STLIP). Dr. Sreekala was one among the three members from India.
The programme was conducted in Hotel Crowne Plaza, Melboure, Australia. ACS international activities and the U.S Department of State offered full financial support to the participants to attend the event. “The costs covered were the round trip, economy class airfare from Cochin to Melbourne, accommodation in the event hotel, per diem costs for meals, visa costs, travel insurance and a minigrant of up to $300 USD to facilitate a mandatory workshop in Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,” Dr. Sreekala explained.
There were 20 participants, three from India, four from Indonesia, one from Jordan, four from Malaysia, five from Pakisthan and three from the Philippines. All the participants were eminent scientists and academicians from famous universities in different parts of Asia. There were group discussions and presentations and the participants were left with skills needed to teach Code, as well as related workshops on the topics like publishing research, grant writing, communicating science and chemical safety and security.
On the first day, programmes started with the introduction of Ethics and the GCCE by Ms.Lori Brown from ACS. Dr.Kabrena Rodda, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, discussed leadership and logistics. She also addressed chemical lab safety, which is essential for running a successful and efficient lab. Dr.Ellene Tratras Contis, ACS, presented the topic, “Publishing Your Research”. Dr.Bradley Miller, ACS, discussed the module “Communicating Science with the Public”. Dr.Tim Brown, Chemical Security Program, U.S. Department of State, explained the funding opportunities available with the American Chemical Society. All the participants presented their individual proposal plans, to be conducted in their parent University.
On the last day of the programme, everyone got a chance to mingle with leadership from the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS). The five day ACS workshop ended with great hopes of international collaboration between the different universities.
