Flo is on her way to Hollywood. She’s ready for her close-up. She’s shedding her pandemic skin and (with appropriate safety precautions) returning to the land of the silver screen below the Hollywood sign. Inspired by the story of Kermit the Frog, she’s ready to sign the standard Rich and Famous contract, but before she does, she’s stopping for a few days to sign autographs with her fans at Cal Poly Pomona for the 2022 VIPEr Summer Workshop, starring Vince LaVallo of U. C. Riverside and with cast appearances from some of the IONiC Community members you might remember from such hits as the 2021 Workshop, the 2019 workshop, and going all the way back to the 2010 workshop for you fans of old Hollywood out there, where Flo was robbed of an Oscar by Academy darling Dude the Purple Snake (scroll down to see Dude; he's long since retired from the IONiC Actors Guild). We’ve worked with Vince to pick out some great recent papers that will be the focus of the workshop, emphasizing carboranes, batteries, click chemistry, and polymerization.

Nestled at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in the valley of the same name, Cal Poly Pomona is a campus famed for its hospitality program, its Arabian horses, its ties to Old Man Kellogg the cereal magnate, and for its tranquil location at the 57-71-10 interchange (those are freeways for those of you who haven’t watched enough episodes of The Californians to speak local). We can promise llamas. Well, one llama. There will be an opportunity to be on the set of GATTACA. We cannot say more. 

SERIOUSLY-WHAT’S THE TL;DR?!?

IONiC is hosting an in-person Summer Workshop.* These are short (three day) but productive and fun gatherings on inorganic chemists, in which we hear about some cutting-edge research and develop teaching materials based on that research for our own classes and to post on the website, VIPEr. It’s a great chance to connect with mentors and be mentored, to talk about how we teach inorganic chemistry, and to both contribute to and learn to utilize the amazing resource that is VIPEr. Plus, you’ll get an autograph from Flo, the mascot, and you’ll be able to say you knew her before she became a movie star. 

HOW DO I APPLY?

You go to https://tinyurl.com/VIPEr2022 ! 

*We’ll be extremely careful about the comfort and safety of all, will abide by any health advisories of LA County at the time of the workshop, and will require proof of vaccination from all participants. If conditions require, we will move to an online format, but we anticipate that this will not be necessary