The Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh will award one grant of $20,000 to an assistant professor in the field of analytical chemistry. The purpose of this grant is to encourage high-quality, innovative research by a new analytical chemistry professor and to promote the training and development of graduate students in this field. Assistant professors who have accepted a United States college or university appointment since December 31, 1994 are eligible. Application forms are available from Ron Busch, Starter Grant Committee, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, 300 Penn Center Boulevard, Suite 332, Pittsburgh, PA 15235; phone: 1-800/825-3221; fax: 412/825-3224. Completed applications must be received by March 31, 1998.

1998 American Microchemical Society Student Award

The American Microchemical Society announces an undergraduate student award for a student who has done research in any area of analytical chemistry. The awardee will receive $1000, travel expenses up to $250, and accommodation for two nights to receive the awards at the Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS) on November 16­19, 1998. Applications should include a cover letter, a 2-page summary of analytical research conducted by the student written in his/her own words, at least three letters of recommendation (one must be from a research director), a one-page summary of career goals, and official transcripts from undergraduate institution(s). The deadline for applications is March 15, 1998. The awardee is expected to present his/her work at EAS as a poster at the Undergraduate Research Poster Session. Three copies of all materials, including letters and transcripts, should be sent to David J. Butcher, 10821 Dineen Drive, Farragut, TN 37922; phone: 423/574-3469; Fax: 423/576-8559; email (preferred): butcher@wpoff.wcu.edu; http://www.wcu.edu/chemphys/chemistry/butcherd/butcherd.html.

New NSF DUE Guidelines

The Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) of the National Science Foundation has recently released new program guidelines and deadlines. DUE programs address the spectrum of undergraduate educational challenges. Programs offered at this time are: Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI); NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP); and Advanced Technological Education (ATE). The announcement, document NSF 98-45, reflects significant programmatic changes, highlighted below; details can be found on the DUE Web site, http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/start.htm.

1. The Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program incorporates most features of the former Course and Curriculum Development and the Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement programs. CCLI gives increased priority to adaptation and implementation of previously developed materials and educational practices.
2. Proposals for the single workshop projects previously supported through the Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement program are no longer encouraged. Rather, the integration of faculty professional development within projects funded in all programs is encouraged. Organizations with the ability to provide multi-disciplinary professional development for faculty nationwide are invited to submit proposals.
3. The NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP) program has been reconfigured to support projects within two tracks: projects with an Institutional Focus (Track I) and those with a System-wide Focus (Track II). Track I proposals will be accepted and reviewed every year. Track II proposals will be accepted and reviewed on a biennial basis beginning in 1999.
4. DUE has identified four special themes for applicants to all programs to consider, as appropriate, in developing projects: Teacher Preparation; Diversity; Faculty Development; Integration of Technology in Education.
5. Applicants can obtain up-to-date information on the status of their proposals via FastLane, which can be accessed from the NSF Web site, http://www.nsf.gov.

Research Innovation Awards Announced

Research Corporation has announced the first awards under a new program for innovative, highly original research by college and university scientists. The chemistry winners of Research Innovation Awards are listed below.

• David J. Austin, Yale University: Identification of natural product targets using cDNA-phage display - $35,000.
• James D. Batteas, CUNY College of Staten Island: A combined atomic force/infrared microscope (AFIRM) for nanometer-scale materials analysis of ultrathin films - $34,775.
• Carolyn R. Bertozzi, University of California, Berkeley: New strategies for anti-tumor therapy and diagnosis - $25,560.
• Gloria Borgstahl, University of Toledo: Reliably tagging recombinant proteins with lanthanides for protein purification and solution of the crystallographic phase problem - $35,000.
• Eric Borguet, University of Pittsburgh: Dynamics of surface processes with combined atomic and ultrafast resolution - $35,000.
• Neil R. Branda, University of Alberta: Molecular redox switches: Electrochemical control of recognition site creation - $23,600.
• Sean M. Casey, University of Nevada, Reno: An investigation of the initial stages of thin film growth of electronic materials employing mass-selected beams of neutral radicals - $34,750.
• Vicki L. Colvin, Rice University: Using nanoglasses to understand disordered solids - $34,340.
• Cathleen M. Crudden, University of New Brunswick: Hydrolactonization: A novel method for the catalytic synthesis of heterocycles - $33,700.
• Dan L. Feldheim, North Carolina State University: Fabrication and evaluation of a chemical single electron transistor - $35,000.
• Rene Fournier, York University: A new global optimization algorithm for searching the lowest energy isomers of clusters - $30,000.
• Bruce C. Gibb, University of New Orleans: The mimicry of metallo-enzyme hydrophobic active sites - $35,000.
• David Y. Gin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Synthesis of Batzelladine A, an inhibitor of the HIV gp120-human CD4 interaction­application to the design of a selective anti-HIV drug delivery system - $32,075.
• James L. Gleason, McGill University: Asymmetric synthesis of quaternary carbon centers - $28,400.
• Jeffrey R. Long, University of California, Berkeley: Dimensional reduction: A practical formalism for manipulating the connectivity and dimensionality of extended solid frameworks - $35,000.
• Andrew M. MacMillan, University of Toronto: Caged RNA molecules as probes of RNA structure and function - $35,000.
• George I. Makhatadze, Texas Tech University: Spectroscopic and thermodynamic studies of Ca2+-binding protein S100P involved in prostate tumor development - $33,509.
• Andrew H. Marcus, University of Oregon: A novel optical approach for the direct measurement of structure and relaxations in liquids that exhibit mesoscopic-scale ordering - $35,000.
• Michael J. Marsella, University of California, Riverside: The crystal engineering of organic conductors - $35,000.
• Todd J. Martinez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Ab initio molecular dynamics investigations of coupled electron/proton transfer - $35,000.
• Stefan Matile, Georgetown University: Probing the mechanism of voltage-dependent ion channels by means of synthetic models - $32,000.
• Benjamin L. Miller, University of Rochester: Identification of anti-Pneumocystis carinii agents using self-assembled, self-amplifying combinatorial libraries - $34,600.
• Scott J. Miller, Boston College: Towards protective group-free synthesis development of site-selective acylation catalysts - $35,000.
• John Michael Papanikolas, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: The effect of adsorbate structure on the electron transfer dynamics between semiconductor nanocrystals and adsorbed dyes - $33,750.
• Jon D. Rainier, University of Arizona: An iterative strategy to bioactive fused ether natural products - $35,000.
• Michael J. Scott, University of Florida: Heterodimetallic porphyrin complexes: Transition metal mediated activation of small molecules - $34,520.
• Matthew D. Shair, Harvard University: Development of iNOS as a reporter gene system for high-throughput assays - $34,060.
• Ken D. Shimizu, University of South Carolina, Colum - bia: Self-assembly of polymers into zeolite-like structures$35,000.
• Scott F. Singleton, Rice University: Towards a generalizable strategy for enzyme design: Construction of independently folded polypeptide modules - $35,000.
• Kevin M. Weeks, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Probing complex RNA-protein architectures by covalent footprinting - $35,000.
• Olaf G. Wiest, University of Notre Dame: New building blocks for molecular computing: Theoretical and electrochemical studies - $35,000.
• David T. Wu, Colorado School of Mines: Statistical mechanics of granular materials - $32,400.
• Deborah S. Wuttke, University of Colorado, Boulder: Protein fragment complexation as a new approach for the design of structurally well-defined proteins with enhanced functionality - $35,000.
• Jeffrey M. Zaleski, Indiana University at Bloomington: Photoactivation of enediynes: Probing biradical excited states involved in DNA-cleavage - $35,000.

Proposal Deadline Alert!

National Science Foundation
Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

• Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI); November 16, 1998
  
• NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP)
  Preliminary proposals, Track 1 May 1, 1998
  Formal proposals, Track 1 September 1, 1998
• Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
  Preliminary proposals April 15, 1998
  Formal proposals October 15, 1998

Further information about NSF DUE programs can be obtained by consulting the DUE Website at http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/start.htm or by contacting the DUE Information Center; phone: 703/306-1666; email: undergrad@nsf.gov.

The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

• New Faculty Awards Program; May 15, 1998
• Faculty Start-Up Grants for Undergraduate Institutions; May 15, 1998

Further information may be obtained from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., 555 Madison Avenue, Suite 1305, New York, New York 10022; phone: 212/753-1760; email: admin@dreyfus.org; http://www.dreyfus.org/

Research Corporation

• Research Opportunity Awards and Research Innovation Awards; May 1, 1998
• Cottrell College Science Awards; May 15, 1998

Further information may be obtained from Research Corporation, 101 North Wilmot Road, Suite 250, Tucson, AZ 85711-3332; phone: 520/571-1111; fax: 520/571-1119; email: awards@rescorp.org; http://www.rescorp.org

15th Biennial Conference of Chemical Education

Registration materials for the 15th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education are now available. If you have access to the WWW, go to http://sciborg.uwaterloo.ca/bcce or request a paper copy by email from bcce@waterloo.ca. You are invited to join the approximately 1,500 teachers of chemistry at all levels who will gather at the University of Waterloo from August 9-13, 1998 to talk about the teaching and learning of chemistry. Requests sent by postal service should be addressed to 15-BCCE, Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.

History of Science Tour

In June 1998 Yvonne Twomey and Lee Marek will lead a custom-designed tour of places of historical scientific interest in England, Ireland, and Wales. The theme will be "Landmarks in 19th Century Science and Technology" and it will begin at London Heathrow Airport on Thursday, June 18, 1998 and end in London on Friday, July 3. The cost includes all surface travel but does not include return air fares between your home and London. The group will stay in nice old coaching inns in the countryside and comfortable and friendly small hotels in towns. All accommodations, land and sea transportation, breakfasts and at least one other meal per day are included. All admissions, lectures, a canal trip, taxes and tips for group meals are included. For those who wish to spend time in London at the end of the organized tour, this can easily be arranged. The price of the surface travel will be $2475 per person, double occupancy. Single room supplement will probably be around $400. For academic credit, there will be a fee for 3 hours graduate credit. Group size is limited to about 30 people. Reservations can be accepted until mid-May if space is still available. For more information, contact Yvonne Twomey, 841 Kinston Court, Naperville, IL 60540; phone: 630/961-9811; fax: 630/961-0495; email: ytwomey@mcs.com or Lee Marek: email: Lmarek@aol.com.

1998 Pittsburgh Conference

The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy will present its annual event - PITTCON - at Morial Convention Center in New Orleans from March 1­5, 1998. During PITTCON '98 over 1800 technical presentations will be made and over 1100 companies will display the latest instrumentation, supplies, and information sources in over 3000 exposition booths.

ACS Abstract Deadline

The deadline for submission of abstracts for symposia of the Division of Chemical Education at the Fall 1998 ACS Meeting in Boston is April 1, 1998. For further information contact the CHED Program Chair: Tom Wildeman, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401; phone: 303/273-3642; fax: 303/273-3629; email: twildema@slate.mines.edu