Dr. Ingrid Montes-González

Chemist • Professor • Researcher

Festival de Química

The “Festival de Química” is a community outreach event that, through demonstrations, emphasizes the importance of chemistry in daily life. It was founded in Puerto Rico in 2005 by Dr. Ingrid Montes to share the joy of chemistry with native Spanish-speaking audiences within the U.S. It rapidly spread to Latin America, and then to Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2010, the American Chemical Society (ACS) adopted it and became one of its official programs. Later, in 2016 ACS launched The Festival Training Institute to spread it even further around the globe.

Historical Data of Festival de Química

2005

In 2005 the President of the ACS, Dr. William Carroll, supported a proposal submitted by Dr. Montes to celebrate the first Festival of Chemistry as part of the ACS National Meeting held in San Diego.

The first Festival of Chemistry was held in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus where there were 500 scouts children who working alongside volunteers from various student chapters sought to obtain the "spot in Sciences"

2006

As part of the NCW celebration the Festival begins to be celebrated at the Paseo de la Princesa in Old Town San Juan, Puerto Rico initiating a tradition for the city. All student chapters highlight their creativity, joy
and enthusiasm and exceeding all expectations

2007

The Festival, again as part of the NCW celebration, is once more very successful, managing to
integrate more groups to the event.

2008

An additional Festival in April was incorporated into the Puerto Rican schedule celebrating Earth Day. The
"Chemists Celebrate Earth Day (CCED) consolidated once again a local tradition and from year to year, two festivals are held one in April for the CCED and one in October for the NCW.

2009

Our beautiful Puerto Rico Island was the host for the ACS Southern East Regional Meeting (SERMACS).
At that time, the Festival took place in the grounds of the Convention Center as part of the program of SERMACS and
included the participation of student chapters of PR and USA, the President of ACS, Dr. Thomas Lane and several
members of the ACS Board of Directors.

2010

In 2010, the ACS adopted the model of the “Festival de Química” and launched the event at the international
level. The first international Festival was held as part of the 29th Latin American Congress of Chemistry (CLAQ 2010) in Cartagena, Colombia were 600 middle and upper school students attended and over fifty volunteers received training by Ingrid Montes, Cecilia Hernández and Patricia Galvan (ACS Education Division).

2011

As part of the celebration of the International Year of Chemistry (YIC), several events were held in different parts of Puerto Rico to support the following topics: environment, energy, materials, and health.

2020 -2021

Given the new reality caused by COVID-19, the Festival de Química, which traditionally took place in Old San Juan, was held virtually.

Phone

(787) 764-0000 Ext. 88502

Postal Address

University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
College of Natural Sciences
Department of Chemistry
17 University Ave STE 1701
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00925-2537

Email

ingrid.montes2@upr.edu

Physical Address

University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
College of Natural Sciences
Department of Chemistry
Building Phase I
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