Yellow and blue logo on white background showing an outline of the state of Illinois with the YCC letters and a bubbling liquid in chemistry glassware.

The ACS East Central Illinois-Local Section Younger Chemists Committee (ECI-LSYCC) was founded in 2015. Our mission is to advocate for younger chemists, provide professional development opportunities, and connect with the broader community.

We are a graduate student-led organization that is mainly based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. However, our local section also includes Parkland College, Eastern Illinois University, and other local industries and research facilities.

We work closely with our ACS Local Section and the Women Chemists Committee on the UIUC campus.

 

ChemLuminary Award 

In 2019, our YCC local section won the national ChemLuminary Award for Outstanding Local Section Younger Chemists Committee. This award recognizes local section YCCs that demonstrate organizational stability, solid membership and participation, involvement with their ACS local section, and an overall balance of activities.

Six members of YCC stand side by side in front of a brown wall with one student holding the ChemLuminary award.
Members of the local YCC section with the 2019 ChemLuminary Award.

 

Join the Team!

The Younger Chemists Committee offers several opportunities for you to get involved. We are always seeking students who are interested in becoming a general member or volunteer or interested in being a member of the Executive Board. Any students interested in the ECI Local Section are welcome to contact us at the email listed below.

Contact and Social Media information

Email: eci.ycc@gmail.com
Instagram: @eciycc
Twitter: @eciycc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ECI.YCC/

 

 

 

YCC Activities

YCC Travel Award

The Professor Peter Beak Graduate Travel Scholarship is an annual award administered by YCC to support professional development. In most cases, two awardees will be selected and up to $1,500 will be provided to cover conference and traveling costs. All chemistry graduate students at UIUC are eligible and encouraged to apply. Please email eci.ycc@gmail.com for more information.

Eligibility:

  • You have presented (or will present) your research at a conference.
  • The award may be supplemented by additional funds from your advisor.
  • You must provide a cost estimate including travel, lodging, registration, etc.
  • Applications are collected starting from the Fall semester.

Criteria evaluated for the award:

  • Scientific merit of abstract.
  • Need and/or if this is the attendee’s first conference, job searching etc.
  • Extracurricular activities, volunteering, mentoring, etc.
  • Participation in YCC events (recommended but not required).
  • Research accomplishments.

​​​​​​​Industry Tour

YCC organizes an annual industry tour for graduate students and local professionals to visit local industry sites and network with industry members. YCC is involved in organizing the transportation and schedule of a day trip to the company. Past tours include visiting Abbvie in Chicago (2023), Corteva in Indianapolis (2022), Monsanto in St. Louis (2018).

 

Outreach Events

We hold several community outreach events over the year for different audiences (middle-schoolers, undergraduates, community college students, etc.). Parkland Shadowing Day is an annual outreach event which invites Parkland Community College students to shadow graduate researchers at the UIUC campus and learn more about our research. This event provides an opportunity for students who are interested in graduate school to learn more about what that entails.

 

Social and Networking Events

YCC organizes social events throughout the year to foster community and build networks.
Some of these events include coffee breaks, new student welcome events, and recruiting days.
For some of these events, the YCC collaborates with the Women’s Chemists Committee.