December 11: Cookies and Cocoa with CPDO Organizers: Peter Goldberg, Danielle Zurcher Annual CPDO open house where we paired the rich flavors of hot cocoa with variety of holiday treats, including fresh baked cookies and homemade marshmallows.  The event will also featured several activities and games to work on exercise communication/team building skills and have a little fun. November 7: A Career in Patent Law Organizers: Taylor Johnson, Ian Pendleton Dr. Nadine Wong, a senior licensing specialist in physical sciences and engineering program here at The University of Michigan, as well as Dr. Joshua Ney, a pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industry patent litigation specialist working at Brinks, Gilson, & Lione in Ann Arbor spoke about their career in patent law. October 9: A Perspective on Six Sigma Organizers: Alina Borovika Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was developed by Motorola in 1986. Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization. The speaker talked about his work at Cytec Industries, a chemical company, and how Cytec Industries implemented six sigma into their manufacturing process. September 26: Outreach Information Session Organizers: Ben Klespser, Jessica Rabuck-Gibbons Six different organizations that were looking for volunteers were featured. The organizations featured were Science Olympiad, RELATE, Huron Valley ACS chapter, ACS Science Coach, FEMMES, and the Detroit Museums. For information click here. September 11: NSF Workshop Organizers: Emilia Groso, Ian Pendleton This event targeted 1st and 2nd year graduate students that are eligible for the NSF fellowship and went over how to apply for the grant. Examples of grants that won last year were provided. July 31: Lunch with a Primarily Undergraduate Institution Professor Organizers: Danielle Zurcher Andrea Geyer (University of St. Francis) discussed her experiences obtaining a job and working at a primarily undergraduate institution with graduate students and post-docs. July 16: Introduction to Chemistry Poster Design  Organizers: Danielle Zurcher, Pete Goldberg Senior Instructional Specialist Rob Pettigrew discussed ways to capture the audience's attention and focus on the key points of your work through improvements in layout, figure design, and chemical structures presented.  Design principles discussed focused towards scientific posters, but NO particular design or graphing programs. May 15: Starting a Career in Academia Organizers: Ben Klepser, Jessica Ravuck-Gibbons Four post-docs who were recently hired in full-time academic positions shared their experience in their job search process. The panelists were hired at various academic institutions with and without graduate students in various fields of chemistry. The panelists were starting jobs at Fitchburg Stage University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Oakland University and Beloit College. April 2: Industry Panel Organizers: Garrett Goh, Alina Borovika Four fifth year graduate students who have secured jobs at PPG, Dow Chemical, and a government defense agency talked about their experiences job searching. March 14: Introduction to Chemical Education Organizers: Pete Goldberg, Danielle Zurcher Dr. Ginger Shultz (postdoctoral fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan) and Dr. Larry Gruppen (chair/professor, Department of Medical Education, University of Michigan) described chemical education research that can be performed in the classroom. February 24: Panel on Entrepreneurship in Science Organizers: Ben Klepser, Taylor Johnson Guest speakers Dr. Rob Malezka (MSU Professor, Dept of Chemistry and co-founder, BoroPharm), Dr. Adam Matzger (University of Michigan Professor, Dept. of Chemistry and co-founder, ChemXLerate), and Dr. David Olson (president and CEO, Swift Biosciences). Each will provide their unique perspective into developing and managing start-up companies. January 6: Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Job Applications and Interviews Organizers: Carol Ann Pitcarn Guest speakers Dr. Tim Machonkin (Whitman College) and Dr. Harriet Lindsay (Eastern Michigan University) talked with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers about applying to primarily undergraduate institutions. The application process, including submission forms, as well as onsite interviews and personal experiences were discussed.