Six Tennessee Tech chemistry undergraduates came back with awards from the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society held recently in Augusta Georgia.

Students Taylor Pinto, a senior from Kingsport; Jacob Scantland, a senior from Jackson County; Abigail Rossi, a junior from Murfreesboro; and Lilly Pipkin, a senior from Hendersonville, participated in the college chemistry quiz bowl and won first place. Ilysa Crouch, a junior from Hartsville, and fellow junior Meredith Borst won the chemical demonstration exchange competition with a color changing secret message demonstration that teaches acid-base concepts.

The students are all members of the Tennessee Tech chapter of the American Chemical Society, with four of the students serving as officers. Pinto serves as the chapter’s president, Pipkin is treasurer, Rossi is the fundraising chair and Scantland is the social chair.

“It’s a regional conference that saw students from a lot of different universities,” said Amanda Carroll, chemistry lecturer and faculty advisor to the student group.

Students from Augusta University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Austin Peay all attended.

The students also presented research posters on a wide range of subjects, along with networking with others on grad school and other topics.

This is the third time Carroll has taken a team to the conference.

“The conference is held every year, but the quiz bowl is not held every year,” she said. Tech’s team won the last quiz bowl competition, which was held in 2015.

Tech’s chapter of the ACS has approximately 80 members.