NYSCC’s Future Chemists Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago, the New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists (NYSCC) started a workshop called Future Chemists during Suppliers’ Day for undergraduate students to encourage their participation in STEM careers. In the workshop, the students are tasked with concocting a personal care formulation introduced by their instructor – from moisturizers to hair spray and lip oils – utilizing raw materials donated by ingredient distributors.

In 2016, a workspace inside Jacob K. Javits Convention Center sat between 20 and 30 lab coat donning students. This year, the workshop has grown to over 170 students from 70 universities from around the US, and has become a centerpiece of the two-day trade show featuring more than 700 exhibitors in the beauty and personal care space from around the world. Participants are primarily women with a ratio of 155 female and 16 male – an observation program coordinator Thomas Drwiega says is a nod to women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

“We have always seen a huge outpouring of females in the workshop since the beginning,” he told Happi. “What we have tried to do is make sure to service all backgrounds and especially focus on institutions that do not offer these types of opportunities.”

To bolster participation in STEM, the Future Chemists have joined forces with JerseyStem, a fellow nonprofit that caters to middle school girls in stem in Newark and surrounding inner-city municipalities. College students volunteer to teach them different modules of science. NYSCC has made monetary donations to further this cause, and students are invited to observe the workshop.

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the Future Chemists kicked off its first college stop at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) as part of National Engineers Week. The event included four engineers in the industry – DSM, Studio.Green, L’Oréal and Estée Lauder – as part of a Q&A panel. The program included a workshop session, during which 50 students created a skincare serum from raw materials.

Due to the positive feedback from students, NJIT is planning to include the workshop as part of its curriculum. Drwiega said NYSCC will continue to introduce the workshop to other local institutions who do not offer the program to expand its reach.

“Even if a community college or a high school would inquire about doing a workshop there, we think we could maneuver it and make it applicable to any sort of environment,” he said.

Trendy Formulations

This year, the Future Chemists Workshop was held for the first time over a two-day span. Day one was led by cosmetic chemist and influencer Ramon Pagon, known by his social media handle, Glow by Ramon. A former color consultant at Sephora and head of formulation and NPD at Hue, Pagon led students through the making of an SPF lip oil featuring DSM-Firmenich’s Parsol Shield, which is pending approval. The highly photostable chemical UV filter is the first new sunscreen active ingredient approved in the US in over 25 years. It provides broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays with a lightweight feel in-line with current invisible sunscreen trend.

Day two of the Future Chemists workshop featured a more advanced workshop for postgraduate students who concocted a lavender body cream called Barrier Reverie formulated by influencer Dr. Julian Sass. Dr. Julian has a PhD in biomathematics and statistics from North Carolina State University. He is a cosmetic chemist and content creator specializing in skin and hair product formulation. In-line with the current sustainability trend, the formulation features upcycled apple extract, the peel of which adds to the cream’s glycerin base to aid in hydration, Sass said. The overnight body cream also contains Hydrafence, an active clinically proven to provide 120 hours of moisturization.

Education leaders can inquire about having the Future Chemists visit their school by contacting Thomas Drwiega, committee chair, at [email protected]. Suppliers can also contact him to donate raw materials and lab equipment.