Susan Olesik, Dow Professor of Chemistry and chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has received many top awards during her professional career. Her most recent, the 2014 Helen M. Free Award for Public Outreach for inspiring service in outreach, is certain to be among the most cherished.

The award, given by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Public Relations and Communication, will be presented at ACS’s National Fall Meeting in San Francisco on August 12. It recognizes the longevity of her extraordinary advocacy and accomplishments devoted to enhancing public understanding and appreciation for science—in general, and chemistry—in particular.

Olesik has been actively involved in public outreach for more than 15 years. From devising “fun” and instructive elementary school experiments to facilitating meaningful professional development for teachers, Olesik’s outreach activities have had a positive impact at every level of the educational system.

The longevity of her activities has resulted in an integrated, systemic approach that has helped both students and teachers across the educational continuum. Working in both urban and rural schools within the state of Ohio, Olesik expanded opportunities for young people to engage in positive experiences that would spark their interest and imagination.

From the Wonders of Our World Program (W.O.W.); to the Science Fellows Supporting Teachers Project; the Ohio Science Talent Expansion Program; and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center Project, Olesik has energetically and enthusiastically collaborated with other scientists to improve K-20 science education.

Colleagues who nominated her said, “Dr. Susan Olesik is a role model in public outreach and a dedicated educator to students of all ages.

"Her winning combination of partnering scientists, teachers and school-aged children transformed science content from a body of boring and confusing concepts to exciting experiments of inquiry, wonder and “ah-ha” moments.

“When viewing the longevity of Dr. Olesik’s public outreach work, one thing that stands out, that makes her activities so powerful, are the relationship-rich interactions that connect people to each other on a very deep level. Volunteer scientists and student scholars come back year after year to participate in her programs. Former elementary student participants have grown into scholarship recipients and have volunteered in their former elementary schools."

Additionally, the nominating committee received enthusiastic letters of support from both Chemical Abstracts Services, who have been a corporate partner with the W.O.W. Program since its second year, and Columbus Public Schools.

The Columbus Public Schools letter said, in part, “Dr. Susan Olesik's contributions to our schools, teachers and students through the W.O.W. program have been extraordinary. For over 13 years, the W.O.W. program has adopted schools for a period of three years and supported educators and students alike by reinforcing science concepts through the development of hands-on experiments and recruitment of a cadre of scientist volunteers to give our students a thoroughly unique and positive experience with science.”

Since its inception in 1999, The W.O.W. program has served 22 Columbus City schools, approximately 300 teachers and about 6,000 students. The program has provided 225 hours of professional development to school teachers and continues to support the school district with materials, supplies and volunteers.

Additionally, Olesik helped establish two Choose Ohio First (COF) Scholarship Programs for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors who demonstrate financial need.

In 2008, Olesik co-founded the Ohio House of Science and Engineering (OHSE), a consortium that aims to improve STEM education throughout central Ohio in grades K-20. As OHSE director, she works to create a pipeline of programming to ignite a love of science in elementary grades; then supports these students throughout their educational careers.

With this organization, she brought together many powerful science education and outreach programs under one umbrella including her well-established W.O.W. Program, along with the two Choose Ohio First (COF) Scholarship programs.

Choose Ohio First (COF) Scholarship programs (OHSE-COF and FSO-COF programs) support approximately 200 college students a year. The scholarships can be applied to tuition and fees, as well as room and board during the academic year.

By the way, when Olesik attends the American Chemical Society’s national meeting, she also will pick up the (ACS) Award for Chromatography—the first woman to receive this award—for her innovative, high-impact research. Olesik pioneered the field of enhanced-fluidity liquid chromatography, a technique now commonly used by the pharmaceutical industry for chiral separations.

—Sandi Rutkowski