What is the Olympiad?

It's a nationwide competition to find the best Chemistry students in America.  It is managed by the American Chemical Society and students write two tests. The first is at the end of March where the top students in each local area are found. These winners then take part in a national exam in April to find the best in America.  Sophomores, Junior and Seniors can take part.

How does it work?

Volunteers from the local branch of ACS give one-hour classes once a week, usually from 7pm to 8pm from early January until the test in late March. They were done in a classroom until 2021 when they moved to virtual.  In 2022 we hope to be back in class as much as we can.  All our tutors are practicing Chemists and Engineers so we can add some examples of things we do to bring the things we teach in the classroom to real life.

What are the goals?

Find the best students who win cash prizes from the American Chemical Society.

Improve Chemistry grades.

Learn about careers involving Chemistry. 

HAVE FUN

Who are we?

Mr. Gary Layman - He is our link to Bartlesville High School where we give classes and he stays late, very late, on teaching nights.

Dr. Keith Lawson - Program coordinator and tutor. 2022 will be my 11th year of doing the Olympiad and I love it.  Teaching committed young students is a fantastic way to give back to Chemistry for the long and incredible career that it has given me.

Laura and Dan Nielsen - Our so-cool tutors.

Raj Kailasam - Our webpage guy at the Northern Oklahoma American Chemical Society.

2021 Winners

Rachel - Top Sophomore 2021

Suchi Jain - Top Junior 2021 (The ACS Chemistry Olympiad has always been an insightful and eye-opening experience for me. Keith and his team have always demonstrated how Chemistry can be seen and applied anywhere in the world. Through the ACS program, I have developed a deep appreciation for Chemistry and my career choice involves applying Chemistry to everyday life!!).

Jarrett Moore - Runner-up Sophomore (Chemistry Olympiad is a great way to learn chemistry while having fun at the same time! It’s really interesting how much you understand after doing it).

Morgan King - Chemistry Olympiad is a great way to learn chemistry while having fun at the same time! It’s really interesting how much you understand after doing it.

How to Sign Up?

1. To be eligible to sign up, you have to be a resident of one of the following nine counties - Washington, Osage, Kay, Grant, Noble, Garfield, Nowata, Craig, or Delaware.
2. Make a commitment to attend about 12 classes from January to March 2022. And when we say commitment, we mean it.  We took this picture when the room where we planned to meet was closed and the students did class outside, in February! Go Morgan, Go Suchi!
3. Have access to a device that can work with a Zoom meeting for when we meet virtually.
4. E-mail Keith at khlawson58@gmail.com.

More than 25 volunteers from Phillips 66 and CPChem gathered to assemble chemistry kits to help 4^th and 5^th graders participate in National Chemistry Week. Approximately 1900 kits were assembled and are being delivered to 20 different schools in Northeast

Greetings from Pittsburg State University,

More than 120 people (and over 100 local students) attended Dr. Schmidt's seminar on September 16, at the Tri County Tech, and learned about the chemistry involved when a solid phase micro extraction fiber is inserted into a honeybee hive.

Please join the NOK ACS in our support of National Chemistry Week October 21 - November 1. We are seeking volunteers to go out to local elementary schools and perform experiments with the kids. This event is a fun and rewarding experience for volunteers a

We are excited to announce that our speaker for third quarter of 2019 is Dr. Norman Schmidt of Tabor College. The details of his talk is below (flyer also attached)

Title: Chemistry of the Beehive 

Abstract: If one were to sample the air in a hive of hone

“Hands-on science,” is how 1,500 students in Bartlesville public schools were challenged to explore concepts and find answers this past year.  In support of that challenge, the Northern Oklahoma section of the American Chemical Society (NOKACS), partnered

This blog post is intended to act as an example announcement. You can use blog posts to display critical information (announcements) you want section members and site users to see immediately upon navigating to the home page. This tile will show blog post

Dear NOKACS Members,

We are in need of Volunteer judges for the 2019 Bartlesville District Science Fair to be held on Friday, Feb. 22, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 23, from 7:45-11:30 a.m. at the Phillips 66 Research Center.

Pizza will be served b

The Northern Oklahoma Section of the American Chemical Society (NOK ACS) proudly invites you to attend their annual NOK ACS Technician of the Year Award ceremony on October 23 at 2pm.

Over the last 70 years, NOK ACS has supported and promoted chemistry in

We had a great time listening to Bill Mattson, Ph.D. present “Creative Problem Solving in Chemical Research”. The talk was very interactive, and we had several volunteers participate on stage. Bill even showed us a few magic tricks! It was certainly a fun

Hello NOK ACS Members,

The Northern Oklahoma section of the ACS has finished judging for the local Technician of the Year award. We are happy to announce this year’s winners. The candidate pool, the applications, and the letters of support were all remarka

Greetings Northern Oklahoma ACS Members,

Please join us for the 3rd Quarter Local Sections Seminar Speaker Tour

When: Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Time: 6:00-9:00 pm, Social hour 6:00-6:30 in the bar area (cash bar). (Free for NOKACS Members, $10 for non-memb

Belated thank you to speaker Jeremey Praetorius, Ph.D. for presenting “Beer, Chemistry and the Art of Homebrewing” on July 31st at the Frank Phillips Club in Downtown Bartlesville, OK.

We had a great time listening to Jeremy discuss everything related to b