Vitals
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Job title: Professor of chemistry, Texas Christian University
Volunteer role: National Chemistry Week coordinator, Dallas–Fort Worth Local Section
Favorite element: Copper
Kayla N. Green has been a chemistry outreach volunteer since she was a toddler. “My dad taught chemistry at a university and was the chemistry club adviser. Some of my earliest memories are getting in the truck on a Saturday and going to a local school to do an outreach event with my dad,” she says.
Green started her independent research career at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2010. “My lab is interested in understanding how we can control or use metal ions to mitigate the levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” she says. Before she had even officially started her TCU role, Green was helping the students there establish a chemistry club, which planned a National Chemistry Week (NCW) event. “That fall, they wanted to do something at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and so we started that event,” she explains.
The NCW event has taken place every year since that fall, and it has grown significantly in size and impact. In 2025 over 200 volunteers provided hands-on chemistry activities to around 2,000 people. The Dallas–Fort Worth Local Section received the 2025 American Chemical Society ChemLuminary Outstanding Ongoing NCW Event award and the 2026 ChemLuminary Outstanding Community Involvement in NCW award.
Kayla N. Green (bottom row, far left) poses with members of the Texas Christian University Chemistry Club and the American Chemical Society mascot Meg A. Mole at ACS Spring 2025 in San Diego in March 2025. Credit:
Courtesy of Kayla N. Green
Green recently spoke with Nina Notman about the role of NCW coordinator. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
What happens during the NCW celebrations at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History?
The big event is on Saturday. The volunteers on the day are mainly groups of students from local universities and high schools. They run booths where visitors do hands-on activities. Science is a verb—people need to experience it to really make it tangible. Some groups also give science talks. One high school group puts on a play where they tell a story and have demonstrations—for example, one year, it was a murder mystery. People from industry will also come in and show materials related to what their company does, if that year’s topic is relevant. Some years, when the museum is available, there are additional days of activities too. A really cool day is homeschool day, when the local homeschool community come in and work with student volunteers.
What does your NCW coordinator role involve?
At the university level, the students drive what our chapter decides to do. My role (along with my chemistry club cosponsors) is to make sure that the students have the support they need to do what they think is important. I try to steer them in the right direction and ensure that the resources are there and that everyone is safe. At the local section level, we organize meetings to get everyone on the same page, get volunteers details about numbers and experiments, as well as help with ensuring the volunteers and guests have a great experience.
What is one of your favorite experiments to run during an outreach event?
I really like the rainbow test tube experiment where visitors get to create a gradient of different pH values across a rack of test tubes. Each solution turns a different color, so they see a lovely rainbow effect. This activity requires the visitors to slow down and concentrate, and they are rewarded with a colorful outcome that makes them want to do it again. My colleague, Julie Fry, has perfected how to run this activity.
“Science is a verb—people need to experience it to really make it tangible. “
How has chemistry outreach changed since you started this NCW event in 2010?
There is more of a focus on green chemistry—we try to incorporate the principles of green chemistry into our outreach activities. We also use social media to reach different audiences. My postdoc, Hannah Pyle, recently did a series of science history posts on our chemistry department Instagram that received lots of engagement.
Is it hard to get enough student volunteers to run these events?
No. Some colleges offer NCW volunteering as extra credit in gen chem, and once they come once, they are hooked. I have had students who volunteered as freshmen in high school and then volunteered every year until they were seniors in college. We’ve also had several visitors who came back in later years as volunteers. That’s when you know you’ve established something that is making an impact.
Why do you think others should consider volunteering to be a NCW coordinator?
It’s so rewarding. So much of what we do as academics is long-term investments that won’t yield returns for years. Doing outreach is one of the easiest ways to see a great return in a short period of time. Interacting with the general public and giving our students the opportunity to interact and volunteer is such a fantastic reminder that what we do is important.
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