No. It’s completely FREE! We do ask that each student must be registered to attend.

We ask that ONLY teachers register the girls for the mini conference. Registration is required in order to attend. Each student must be registered individually. Click here for student registrations.

Registration will be closed on September 20th, 2025. The mini conference will have capacity limits so we encourage you to register at your earliest convenience.

Please see the event page for the agenda.

The conference will be at Villanova University, 800 E Lancaster Ave, Villanova PA 19085.

Yes, self-parking is available. Please follow the signs on the day of the event.

We will have breakfast and lunch available before and after the conference.

We will try our best to accommodate. On the registration form, there will be option for allergy. Please check the “yes” box and provide allergy explanation.

No, you don’t have to be a scientist to volunteer. We always need help with administration and logistic items. Click here for volunteer registration.

Yes. On October 22, 2014, PA House Bill 435 (PN 4225) was singed into law becoming Act 153 of 2014. As a result of this legislation, all adult volunteers having direct contact with children will need the following certifications every 60 months:

1. Report of criminal history from the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP)

2. Child Abuse History certification from the PA Department of Human Services (DHS)

3. FBI federal criminal history certification. This requirement is waived if the volunteer has been a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the entirety of the previous 10 years. Use Service Code: 1KG6ZJ.

“Non-resident volunteer,” especially individuals who reside in another state or country may serve as a volunteer for no more than 30 days in a calendar year as long as they provide certifications from their state or country of residence. Volunteers who reside in Pennsylvania do not have a provisional period and must obtain the aforementioned certifications.

The criminal history report and child abuse history certification are free of charge. The FBI federal criminal history certification costs $22.60.

Clearances can take more than 2 weeks to process. Please start the process as soon as possible.

As a scientist volunteer, you bring an experiment to share with three small groups of girls (4-7 students each). Safety is our number one priority, so keep the experiments as safe as possible. It is better to focus on a couple on concepts, rather than overwhelm the girls with a lot of information. The girls love to take something home with them, so please provide them with a hand-out if you can.

Absolutely! There’s no reason why you can’t continue to do this experiment – girls aren’t allowed to come twice.

There are books and other resources available to you to design your experiments. Below are some websites that might offer ideas:

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/outreach/ncw.html - This is the NCW website.

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources.html - This is an ACS resource that include outreach friendly activities, science safety guidelines, MS PowerPoint presentations to introduce energy concepts

http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/outreach/cced/studentseducators/IYC-2011-Energy-eResources.pdf - This is an ACS resource with a number of links for eResources for K-12 Educators on the topic of Energy.

http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/ - This is an ACS resource, complete with lesson plans.

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/outreach.html– This is the ACS Outreach web site. Information on National Chemistry week and other programs are available.

http://www.chymist.com/ - David Katz used to be part of the ACS Philadelphia Section and has a number of great experiments on his site

http://www.miniscience.com/projects/ - MiniScience is a New Jersey manufacturer and distributor of scientific and educational supplies.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/ - Science Buddies is a California-based non-profit organization that provides technical support for their project ideas

http://pubs.acs.org/journal/jceda8 - The Journal of Chemical Education (JCE) has a lot of wonderful ideas. ACS members get electronic copies of 25 ACS journal articles each year as part of their membership.

We provide paper towels, gloves, and bench liners in the lab. The girls will have safety glasses and aprons, as well. Due to limited supplies, we ask that you bring your own safety glasses.