Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Missouri State’s chemistry department hosted the 2020 Mid-South Organic Chemists Association (MICA) meeting.  

Dr. Nikolay Gerasimchuk, professor of chemistry, outlines the meeting’s events and their impact on student learning.  

What is MICA? 

MICA fosters mutually beneficial collaboration and presentations of newest results between those working in modern inorganic chemistry.   

Meeting participants share research and other academic work related to the field.  

MICA meetings take place twice a year. The location rotates between universities in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.  

About students’ participation 

Several Missouri State chemistry students delivered oral presentations and shared posters at the meeting. 

“For many of them, the meeting served as practice for larger regional and nation-wide conferences,” Gerasimchuk said.  

The student participants may have explored different topics in presentations. But they all shared the same goal of connecting with others with a passion for chemistry.  

“The meeting informed student participants about recent developments in research,” Gerasimchuk said. “It also taught them about life in nearby colleges and universities.”  

About the presentations 

Kevin Pinks, chemistry graduate student, presented “Organoantimony(V) Cyanoximates: Synthesis, Spectra, Structures and Biological Activity.” 

Scott Curtis, chemistry instructor, presented “Investigations into the Chemistry of the First Non-chelating Bis-cyanoximes.”  

Gerasimchuk himself presented “Why Work with Thallium?”