How Danae Johnson and UWI Chemistry are Reimagining Science Outreach
The thinkers, the builders and the visionaries of tomorrow are sitting in today’s classrooms – or, too often, waiting on the margins of them. But to shape a world, one must first understand what it is made of. For Danae Johnson, an MPhil candidate in the Department of Chemistry at UWI St Augustine, that understanding begins with a core truth: science was never meant to be an abstract, intimidating subject. To her, chemistry is everywhere. It is everything. It is life itself.
“Scientific knowledge, that is just life”, Johnson shared. “It really is just about understanding life and understanding who you are. So, it is important for kids early on to be exposed to science, and not for science to be this daunting subject that they start to learn in secondary school.”
That philosophy recently earned Johnson a historic accolade. Through the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Recognition Programme, she became the first and only scholar from the Caribbean to receive the award for Leadership in Science Outreach and Engagement—a category introduced for the first time in 2026.
Johnson was among 64 scholars recognised worldwide from ACS student chapters across 112 institutions, scoring highly across all criteria—a landmark moment during the ACS’s 150th anniversary year. She was nominated by her supervisor, Senior Lecturer in Biological Chemistry Dr Nigel Jalsa, Organic Chemistry Lecturer Dr Petrea Facey, and Chemistry Department Head Dr Arvind Kumar for her contribution to the UWI ACS Chapter’s many outreach projects. Among them were several aimed at people with disabilities.
Preparing for these initiatives required groundwork, including specialised workshops with Dr Jacqueline Huggins, Manager of the campus’s Student Life and Development Department (now retired), to sensitise volunteers that a disability or learning impairment should never disqualify anyone from engaging with science.
The chapter established monthly sessions at the Cascade School for the Deaf and specialised outreach at the Tobago School for the Deaf, Speech and Language Impaired, in collaboration with the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) Dean’s Office and the Department of Mathematics.
“What set us apart most was our outreach to students with disabilities,” said Jenisa Mungroo, President of The UWI’s ACS Student Chapter. “This work is distinctive because it makes chemistry accessible to students who are rarely reached by science programmes”.
Beyond specialised institutions, outreach extended across both islands. Members visited Beetham Estate Primary School, conducted a week of engagement in Tobago, and hosted 30 secondary schools for CAPE analytical chemistry demonstrations. Additionally, the department's first National Chemistry Week, themed “The Hidden Life of Spices”, reached 300 students and staff, while school science fairs and Guild Fest engaged 600 more.
The recognition for Johnson did not happen in isolation. In the exact same cycle, The UWI’s ACS Student Chapter achieved its own monumental milestone, progressing from a “Commendable” rating in 2024-2025 to being designated an “Outstanding ACS Student Community” on the global stage.
Dr Kumar, noted this was the campus's first time receiving two ACS recognitions in one year, citing it as proof of growing momentum for public engagement.
Describing Johnson as a pleasant, exceptional student who volunteers willingly, Dr Kumar remarked, “Anyone pursuing a higher-level degree has to be passionate about chemistry, otherwise it’s difficult. It’s not just knowing chemistry; it’s how you interact with students and explain it to them.”
He added that Johnson not only has the drive to interact, but breaks science down so students truly understand it.
Mungroo echoed this sense of institutional pride saying, “It shows that a newly-founded Caribbean chapter can stand alongside the best student communities in the world. The fact that Danae was recognised as an individual in the same year shows this culture is working at every level. Engagement is part of how the department works, not an add-on”.
Balancing demanding MPhil research with outreach is about knowing where value lies. For Johnson, late laboratory hours, long drives and early mornings are not sacrifices to lament, but investments in something larger than herself. Her fatigue vanishes the moment students arrive.
“I don’t know how to describe the feeling. It’s like a kind of urgency, but even in that urgency, there is a kind of fulfilment where you feel like bursting with happiness”, Johnson reflected adding, “When you’re really on the path that is for you, and you get that feeling of fullness from the things that you're doing, then you really know that this is your purpose”.
For Johnson, that purpose transcends academic credentials. “The MPhil is for me as a person, but my education is not for me alone”, she admitted. “My education is for anybody who will listen... These are the young minds that are going to continue to shape our country. Investing in them... there is no limit to that.”
The UWI ACS Chapter plans to expand its inclusive framework to reach blind and visually impaired students.
“Our work with deaf students taught us to make science visual and hands-on, and we want to do the equivalent for students who cannot see: experiments built around touch, sound and smell, with clear verbal guidance and tactile materials,” Mungroo explained.
For Johnson, recognition is simply a by-product of a deeper calling. “Because chemistry really is that bridge,” she notes. For her, success isn't a trophy, it is sparking innate “curiosity about life” in a classroom and showing the next generation that “it can be done.”
As Mungroo put it, “If a child leaves thinking, ‘I could be a scientist’, we have done our job.”
