The New England Association of Chemistry Teachers is pleased to announce that the 2026 Annual Summer Conference will be held in person at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA) August 3-5, 2026. This year's theme is “Reactions Ahead! Teaching Chemistry in a Changing World.”
Registration is now open! Plan to attend all three days, or join us for one or two days instead--whatever works best for your schedule. Register now for early bird pricing through June 30th!
Conference registration is for NEACT members only. Members must be logged into the website to register. Not currently a member? It's easy to join or renew your membership online
If you are registering for one or two days as a commuter and plan to join us for dinner on 8/3 or the banquet on 8/4, you will need to register for dinner separately.
Please note that conference attendees will need to plan their own accommodations if they play to stay overnight in Worcester; details about the NEACT hotel reservation block will be included in your registration confirmation email.
Apply for a 2026 Summer Conference Scholarship
Scholarships are available to attend the 2026 NEACT Summer Conference. New chemistry teachers and first time attendees will be given preference, but all those who apply will be given consideration. These scholarships will cover at least half of the registration costs of attending the conference.
We thank the Northeastern and Rhode Island Sections of the American Chemical Society for their support of NEACT.
If you are interested in applying for one of the scholarships, please complete this application (the link will force a copy) and email the form to Kathy Siok.
Introducing this year's keynote speakers:
Fostering Student Agency and Social Action in Chemistry Curriculum
Dr. Clarissa Keen -- Boston College
Dr. Clarissa Keen is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in Chemistry at Boston College. They earned their doctorate in Chemistry Education Research from the University of Massachusetts Boston, where her research examined how undergraduate students learn through productive struggle in general chemistry laboratory courses. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory and extensive qualitative video analysis, her work identified key domains of student struggle and the learning opportunities that emerge from them.
At Boston College, Dr. Keen has focused on undergraduate chemistry curriculum development, drawing on their background in the environmental chemical industry, green chemistry, and equitable teaching practices. Most notably, Dr. Keen redesigned the department’s core Chemistry and Society sequence to integrate discussions of social and environmental justice, asking students to critically examine the roles of capitalism and colonialism in shaping chemical practices and environmental/public health outcomes. This work has led to Dr.Keen’s appointment in Boston College’s Global Public Health and the Common Good program as well as adoption of these materials at several regional institutions, including Tufts University and Northeastern University. In addition to her curricular work, Dr. Keen leads the education subgroup of the BC’s Diversity, Belonging, and Respect in Chemistry Committee, and serves on committees for NARST and NESACS.
Applying Chemistry to Deploy Commercial Fusion Energy at CFS
Alexi Khechfe, PhD -- Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Dr. Khechfe is a Molten Salt Blanket Engineer at Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Devens, MA. He joined the team in September 2023, where he works on molten salt systems for power extraction and tritium fuel production on the ARC fusion power plant. He draws from his knowledge of chemical equilibria, reaction kinetics, electrochemistry, and materials science to solve the cutting edge chemistry challenges required to deploy emissions-free fusion energy to the grid.
Prior to joining CFS, Dr. Khechfe earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2023. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, his doctoral thesis focused on developing heterogeneous catalysts to convert biomass into sustainable chemicals. Beyond his research, which has been published in journals like ACS Catalysis and RSC Green Chemistry, Dr. Khechfe served as a Teaching Assistant at MIT for third year chemical engineering students and a mentor to junior researchers in his group. He also holds a B.S. from UC Santa Barbara, where he graduated with High Honors.
Still Being Written: How Metabolomics -- and Now AI -- Continue Rewriting the Chemistry of LIfe
Amy Caudy, PhD -- Matterworks
Amy Caudy is Vice President of Biochemical Omics at Matterworks, where she leads the development of AI-powered tools for metabolomics — the chemistry of measuring the thousands of small molecules that keep a living cell running. A biochemist by training, she has spent her career finding molecules and reactions that weren't yet in any textbook. As a university faculty member, her laboratory used mass spectrometry to discover two previously unknown biochemical pathways: riboneogenesis, a route cells use to build the sugars that form the backbone of DNA and RNA, and the pathway that produces rhodoquinone, a molecule that lets some animals survive without oxygen. Dr. Caudy earned her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and her PhD from the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She later was a Lewis-Sigler Fellow at Princeton University, and then held a tenured professorship at the University of Toronto before moving into industry. She is a co-author, with James D. Watson, of the textbook Recombinant DNA: Genes and Genomes, and she co-founded a long-running summer course that has trained scientists in metabolomics for over a decade. Her own path into science began in a high school chemistry classroom — and she's delighted to return to one.
