Above: at a local elementary school, graduate students demonstrate how to make "elephant toothpaste", a foamy substance created by the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.

Fueled by their own love of science, our faculty and students bring chemistry and biochemistry out of the lab and into the community. By visiting local schools and organizations to give hands-on demonstrations of simple and fun experiments, our faculty and students give young people the opportunity to observe what we do first hand. This community engagement opens a new world of possibilities to curious minds and may lead some to pursue a career in science.

Many of our department's faculty and students participate in the Nanoscience Outreach Program, which Prof. Sarah Tolbert has led for the past 15 years. They visit local schools and train teachers how to conduct nanoscience experiments in their classrooms, providing them with all the supplies needed to perform the experiments. Each year new experiments are developed by a dedicated team of graduate student and postdoctoral volunteers in collaboration with Tolbert. These same students run the teacher workshops. With hundreds of teachers having completed this training, thousands of school children each year are positively impacted by this outreach.

Prof. Ellen Sletten's group has constructed a "PhotoNbooth" which is a fun twist on a photobooth. The PhotoNbooth provides an avenue for kids to experience fluorescence first hand. The booth is coupled with demonstrations of household fluorescent materials and the creation of highlighter glowsticks.

For more than 10 years, Prof. Carla Koehler and members of her group have led an annual, week-long course in zebrafish biology for second graders at Ivanhoe Elementary School. The young scientists use stereomicroscopes to visualize brine shrimp and developing embryos; they note the various organs in the fish and enjoy watching the hearts beat and blood flow. The students help set up matings during the week and watch the embryos develop, noting the different stages. Like real scientists, the students record their observations and participate in a discussion about using model organisms to understand human disease. The initiative shows how children can become engaged through the experimental and observational process in science, regardless of academic level.

Reaching underserved communities is the goal of much of the community engagement done by our faculty and students.

Prof. Alex Spokoyny is a faculty team member of the UCLA Prison Education Program which focuses on improving literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics among Southern California prison inmates.

Prof. Heather Maynard and her students regularly bring the "Maynard Lab Traveling Science Road Show" to a local family crisis center to demonstrate fun science experiments. They also visit local Brownie and Girl Scout troops, while Prof. Ben Schwartz works with local Boy Scouts to create activities that help them earn their Chemistry Merit Badges.

Prof. Richard Kaner and his lab members visit local elementary and high schools to give hands-on lectures about polymers, semiconductors, and metals. Prof. Patrick Harran teaches an introductory general chemistry course for disadvantaged Los Angeles inner city students.

In addition, our faculty and students volunteer at the annual Univision Feria de Educación, an event held at various California State University campuses, which provides educational and college preparatory services, learning opportunities, and fun-filled family activities for the Latino community. Many of the students and their families at the fair are from underserved communities, especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

Some of our outreach has gone global. An on-line tutorial, BACON, created by Prof. Neil Garg and graduate student volunteers, provides students and teachers from around the world access to a free method of learning organic chemistry which has consistently proven to increase test scores. Instructor Dr. Laurence Lavelle developed and maintains a free, widely used online chemistry communitywhich contains files, images, and videos.

Much of the department's community outreach is done by graduate and undergraduate students from our various student organizations, including the Alpha Chi Sigma (AXE) fraternity, the Biochemistry Association for Student Enrichment (BiochemASE), the Chemistry & Biochemistry Graduate Student Association (CBGSA), the Organization for Cultural Diversity in Science (OCDS), and the Student Members of the American Chemical Society (SMACS).

For example, each year SMACS and OCDS students volunteer at a Science Slam at Warner Avenue Elementary School. The students demonstrate experiments such as "floating candy letters" (M&Ms in water) and "elephant's toothpaste" (breakdown of hydrogen peroxide by potassium iodide) and talk to the children about the science involved in the experiments. The children are also given the opportunity to show off their chemistry knowledge to win prizes. On average, more than 700 children and their parents attend the Science Slams each year!

Many of our student groups host on-campus tours for local school children and community college students, giving them the opportunity to observe first-hand experiments in the lab and hear about the life of a UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry graduate student through panel discussions. These dedicated students also volunteer with the UCLA Advancing Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE) events at local elementary and middle schools.

And finally, our department enthusiastically participates in one of UCLA's largest on-campus events of the year: Exploring Your Universe, which brings thousands of children and parents to campus to learn about the wonders of science through demonstrations, exhibits, and hands-on activities.