A student organization that has worked to get youngsters interested in science won an award recently.

The Ball State chapter of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (ACS) won an Honorable Mention Chapter Award for activities in its 2006 chapter report. The chapter will be recognized in the November-December issue of the ACS student affiliates' magazine, inChemistry, and at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans in April.

Jason Ribblett, assistant professor of chemistry and the chapter's faculty adviser, praised the students' work on such projects as Science Day on the Greenway and presentations at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

"The student affiliates take time out of their busy schedules to perform demonstrations at all these events and get kids excited about science," Ribblett said. "What our student group has decided to do is to focus on the age groups that tend to lose interest in science, and that's fifth through eighth grade."

Ribblett also expressed concern that interest in science among young people was waning.

"We are not doing a good enough job getting students interested in science, mathematics, technology and engineering, and we need to do better," he said. "We feel that if we can get them at a young age, they'll stick with it."

In addition, the presentations help Ball State reach out to the Muncie community, he said.

"We get Ball State's name out there every time we do an event because the parents of these kids hear, 'Hey, we're here from Ball State University,'" he said. "The main benefit is just showing Ball State in a positive light."

For more information, contact Ribblett at 765-285-8074 or jwribblett@bsu.edu.

By Alaric DeArment