Participate in the Competition!

April - May 2025 | CHEM & PME

Compete for awards, fame, and excellence in the JRSI’s Peer Lab Walkthrough Competition! All labs throughout the Department of Chemistry and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering can sign up to participate, win fabulous prizes, and secure bragging rights. The premise? Simple: A group of your peers will tour your lab looking both for safety mishaps and clever ingenuity—safest lab (normalized to your science) wins!

lab signup volunteer signup

$2,000 in prizes!!

Your lab has the chance to compete for prizes in one of at least 10 categories!

lab signup

1 Grand Prize

Awarded to the single safest lab, spanning both Chemistry and PME.

Most Improved

For a lab that has participated in PLW at least once in the last two years and shows the greatest improvement in their score.

Best First-Time Lab

For a lab that has NOT participated in PLW in the last two years (since 2022) and has the highest safety score.

7-10 Superlatives

We will award 7-10 additional labs with superlative awards for unique criteria related to lab safety and workplace safety culture!

About Lab Walkthroughs

The JRSI will be holding the Peer Lab Walkthroughs in-person!

Our peers are often our best resources. This competition is primarily a collaborative educational opportunity for our labs to trade safety knowledge, creative fixes, and learned lessons. They do not carry any regulatory authority, and do not involve any reporting. Scoring will be normalized for your lab’s hazard categories and will involve both positive points for innovative, proactive solutions and negative points for inevitable mishaps. We will work hard to make sure that your walkthrough is scheduled for a day and time that does not interrupt your lab’s science.

Sign up today for your chance to win the grand prize!

Labs do not need to provide their own volunteer judge to participate in the competition.

Volunteer to be a Judge!

JRSI is looking for volunteers to be judges for this year’s Peer Lab Walkthroughs! We will provide you with all of the relevant information in a brief training session before we assign you to visit 1-2 labs with a JRSI member. You will be tasked with scoring each lab via criteria described in a provided rubric.

Volunteer judges will receive compensation in the form of $25 gift cards per number of labs judged!

volunteer signup

Competition Timeline

April – May 2025

March 24

Lab and Volunteer Registration Opens

Registration for lab and for volunteer judges opens!

APRIL 3

Deadline to Register Your Lab

Want fabulous prizes? Get your lab to participate!

April 3

Deadline to Volunteer

No prior knowledge required; training will be provided. Oh yeah, and you’ll be showered with SWAG.

April 7-11

Volunteer Training Options

Only one day of training is needed. Three days are offered for training. If you can’t attend any of the three days, we will work it out.

April 14-25

Walkthroughs

Participating labs will be contacted to ensure that the walkthroughs take place at a convenient time for all. Walkthroughs will be conducted in-person.