News from Journal House
Journal Ambassadors, 1999
What do the people listed below have in
common? A search of our records indicates that each has been a
participant in our Journal Ambassador program during 1999.
- Guy Anderson
- Jim Becvar
- Jerry Bell
- Jim Birk
- Diane Bunce
- Ann Cartwright
- Thomas Clark
- Jane Crosby
- Maria Dean
- Art Ellis
- Donald Elswick
- Tommy Franklin
- Babu George
- Paul Heath
- Angela Hoffman
- Lynn Hogue
- J. J. Lagowski
- Frank Lambert
- Dorothy Lehmkuhl
- George Lelevre
- Scott Luaders
- Jane McMullen
- Marci Merritt
- Carl Minnier
- Richard Narske
- Ron Perkins
- Gabriel Pinto
- Dick Potts
- Herb Retcofsky
- Jerry Sarquis
- Elke Schoffers
- Sara Selfe
- Uni Susskind
- J. Mark Tolman
- John Varine
- Dawn Wakeley
- Marla White
Those who are a part of this program take
materials about the Journal to workshops, outreach programs,
seminars, regional meetings, award nights, short courses, and
other events at home and abroad, places where people who are
interested in chemical education gather. Given about
three weeks notice, we can outfit you with a variety of
materials that will help others get tuned in to the good things that
are happening in chemical education. We can send you an
assortment of Journal issues, subscription forms, our
Publications/Software Catalog, reprints from the Viewpoints
series, copies of Classroom Activities, or JCE Gift Award
Certificates, assuming that supplies are available. Of course we
can arrange for the group to have temporary access to
JCE Online. We can send you a brochure about the Ambassador
program or answer any questions - just ask: email to
jce@chem.wisc.edu;
phone 1-800-991-5534 (U.S.) or 608-262-5153
(non-U.S.); fax 608-265-8094.
If by chance you were a Journal
Ambassador in 1999 but your name was not included, just let us know so
that you can be recognized in a future column.
Gift Subscription Awards
As spring, the season of awards, approaches, we
remind you of our handy Gift Certificates (a replica is shown on
page 142). A gift of the Journal is not only affordable (gift
subscriptions are $37/year (U.S.), $50/year (non-U.S.), but
has lasting value. This is a really good way to help someone
just starting out on a teaching career.
An idea worth sharing comes from Carl Minnier of
Essex Community College in Baltimore. He is chair of the
Student Awards Committee of the Maryland Section of the
ACS. This section has asked for 25 certificates because they
honor annually an outstanding student from each of the
two-year and four-year colleges within the territory of the
Maryland Section. Want another interesting idea: give a one-year
subscription to each Undergraduate Research Symposium
participant.
Classroom Activities for Outreach
Many of our readers are involved with outreach
programsindividually in their child's class, in a regional
group that visits schools, in a van program, or as a demonstrator
at their local science museum. Many readers have
enthusiastically reported that our Classroom Activities series is a
great resource for such programs.
Since the Activities are designed for a high school
classroom or lab (Activity 24 in this continuing series can be
found in this issue), they are purposely not demanding of equipment,
facilities, or time. But outreach activities often
take place in very restricted environments, perhaps without
sinks or electricity, sometimes with limited table space. So that
we can provide timely advice in recommending activities for
you to take "on the road", Nancy Gettys and Erica Jacobsen
of the Journal staff have done an analysis of each,
recommending whether it might be done in a workshop setting
(where tables, a sink, and electricity could be expected) or in a
booth (probably no sink and very limited space). There are also
very useful notes. Some sample entries are:
Activity:What's Gluep? Characterizing a Cross-Linked
Polymer. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 1432A (November 1998).
Workshop?yes
Booth?could show properties of pre-made gluep
Notes:Need access to water. Can be messy. People usually
enjoy the activity. Works well.
Activity:CD Light: An Introduction to Spectroscopy.
J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 1568A (December 1998).
Workshop?yes
Booth?yes, with colored plastic onlynot solutions
Notes:Can be difficult to measure and cut cardboard for
spectroscope. Pre-made spectroscopes and partially constructed
ones to show method could be provided. Needs good light source
to work well.
Activity:Cleaning Up with Chemistry: Investigating the
Action of Zeolite in Laundry Detergent. J. Chem. Educ.
1999, 76, 1461A (October 1999).
Workshop?yes
Booth?could demonstrate tubes of soapy water with and
without zeolite
Notes:Need access to water. Quick and easy.
More information about JCE Classroom Activities
is available on JCE Online at:
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/AboutJCE/Features/JCE_CA/.
Here you will find the notes described above and a list of all published Classroom
Activities. The site is updated regularly.
Awards Announced
United Nations Environment Program
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
has selected Mario J. Molina, professor of earth, atmosphere,
and planetary sciences at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, as the winner of the 1999 UNEP Sasakawa
Environment Prize. The prize, worth $200,000, is for his outstanding
global contributions in the field of atmospheric chemistry.
ACS Northeastern Section
The Northeastern Section of the American
Chemical Society has awarded the Henry A. Hill Award to Morton
Z. Hoffman, professor of chemistry at Boston University.
The award is given annually to a member of the section for
outstanding service.
Award Deadlines
Mettler-Toledo Thermal Analysis Education Grant
Mettler-Toledo has established a grant to honor
Edith A. Turi of the Polymer Research Institute, Polytechnic
University, Brooklyn, NY, for her lifelong contribution to
the cause of thermal analysis education. The grant will be
awarded on an annual basis to not-for-profit organizations in
North America that confer degrees up to the Ph. D. level and
provide or intend to provide education in thermal analysis;
it will consist of Mettler-Toledo thermal analysis
instrumentation, peripherals, training and service. Applications must
be submitted by April 1, 2000. Application forms may be
downloaded from http://www.na.mt.com.
Questions should be directed to Jon Foreman, Product Manager, Thermal
Analysis, Mettler-Toledo, Inc., 1900 Polaris Parkway, Columbus,
OH 43240; phone: 1-800/638-8537; fax: 614/438-4871;
email: Thermal.Grant@mt.com.
Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities
Cosmos in the Classroom 2
A national symposium on the trials and tribulations
of teaching astronomy to college non-science majors will be
held at the Pasadena, California, Convention Center on July
17-19, 2000, as part of the 112th Annual Meeting of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
Designed for everyone who teaches introductory
astronomy, the symposium will focus on ways to improve
teaching, to involve students more effectively, and to put
astronomy in a wider context. Specific discussion topics
will include: getting out of lecture mode, using the Web
effectively, dealing with creationism and astrology, and
laboratory and observation projects. The 2.5-day program will
involve panels of mentor instructors, an exchange of handouts and
teaching resources, hands-on workshops for trying new
techniques and approaches, and lots of time for discussion.
Participants will range from veteran instructors to
nervous graduate students about to teach their first solo
course. We especially hope to involve those teaching astronomy
in small colleges without extensive astronomy research
programs, and colleagues in other sciences who teach astronomy on
a part-time basis.
To get on the mailing list for the meeting, send
your name, institution, email, and postal mailing address
(indicating an interest in the 2000 Education Symposium) via:
email: meeting@aspsky.org;
fax: 415/337-5205 (Attn: 2000
Education Symp.) mail: 2000 Education Symposium, ASP,
390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112.
Green Chemistry
4th Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference
"Sustainable Technologies: From Research to
Industrial Implementation", the 4th Green Chemistry and
Engineering Conference, will be held June 27-29, 2000, at the
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. Technical
sessions will highlight recent advances in green chemistry
and engineering including greener solvents, catalysis, benign
synthesis and processing, bio-based synthesis and processing,
designing safer chemicals and materials, process design
and measurement, and modeling/computational methods.
For information on the conference, visit the ACS Web site:
http://www.acs.org/meetings/greencfp.htm or contact the ACS
Meetings Department by phone: 202/872-6286; fax:
202/872-6013; email: d_ruddy@acs.org.
Gordon Conference on Green Chemistry
The 5th Gordon Research Conference on Green
Chemistry will be held July 16-21, 2000, at Connecticut
College, New London, CT. For more information contact either
of the symposium organizers: Tracy C. Williamson, OPPT
(mail code 7406), U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401
M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460; phone:
202/260-2659; fax: 202/260-0816; email:
williamson.tracy@epa.gov;
www.epa.gov/greenchemistry.;
Isvan Horvath, Department
of Organic Chemistry, Eotvos Lorand University, Pazmany
Peter setany 1/A, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary; phone:
36-1-209-0590; fax: 36-1-372-2620; email:
ithorvath@compuserve.com.
Green Chemistry Symposium at ACS Meeting
The symposium, "Green Chemistry: Applications
in Academia and Industry" will be held at the Fall 2000
American Chemical Society Meeting, from August 20-25,
2000, in Washington, DC. The symposium is being sponsored
by the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.
Papers are invited on all areas of green chemistry. For
more information, contact one of the symposium organizers:
Tracy C. Williamson,
williamson.tracy@epa.gov;
Paul T. Anastas,
anastas.paul@epa.gov;
Mary M. Kirchhoff,
kirchhoff.mary@epa.gov.
All are at the Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics (mail code 7406), U. S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC
20560; phone: 202/260-2659; fax: 202/260-0816;
http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry.
16th BCCE, July 30-August 3, 2000
The 16th Biennial Conference on Chemical
Education will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
between July 30 and August 3, 2000. The meeting is
promising to have a very full program. As of December 3,
1999 (the deadline for the submission of proposals for
symposia and workshops), 64 of each had been submitted.
Information about these proposed presentations, as well as about
other aspects of the conference, are posted on the BCCE
website at http://www.umich.edu/~bcce.
If you wish to hold a meeting
of your organization at the time of the conference, please
let the organizers know at bcce@umich.edu
so that space can
be set aside. And please plan to attend!
Teaching/Research Sabbatical Fellowships
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville announces its
designation by the National Science Foundation as one of
three Research Sites for Educators in Chemistry (RSE). The
program offers 12- 15-month teaching/research sabbatical
fellowships. Fellows will spend a semester at University of
Tennessee-Knoxville, a semester at a research-active partner
(Berea College, the University of the South-Sewanee, or the
University of Tennessee-Chattanooga), and a summer in research
at UT-K, a partner school, or in industry. Fellows will have
minimal teaching loads, continuous involvement in
collaborative research in environmental and/or chemical analysis, and
exposure to a successful model for establishing a thriving
undergraduate research program. For information contact
Kelsey D. Cook; kcook@utk.edu;
phone: 865-974-8019. The
other two RSEC sites are Georgia Tech (contact is Kent
Barefield;
kent.barefield@chemistry.gatech.edu) and the University of
New Mexico (contact is Dana Brabson;
gb6s@unm.edu).
Soaring Endowments: Research Corp. Report
"The Midas Touch: Do Soaring Endowments Have
Any Impact on College Science?" is the title of their 1998
annual report, just published by Research Corporation. In it
the foundation reports that endowment growth appears to
have only incidental effects on ongoing support for college
research and education in the physical sciences. More likely
targets for expenditures are new and remodeled buildings and
student aid. Interviews with college administrators support
the conclusion that large endowments do not guarantee the
funds needed to hire enough faculty scientists to teach and do
related research with students, to house the sciences in
up-to-date buildings, or equip laboratories with modern
instrumentation. Copies of "The Midas Touch" are available
without charge from Research Corporation, 101 North Wilmot
Road, Suite 250, Tucson, AZ 85711. The report will also
be available in January 2000 on the foundation's Web site
at http://www.rescorp.org.
Proposal Deadlines
National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate
Education (DUE)
For further information about NSF DUE programs consult the
DUE Web site,
http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/start.htm.
To contact the DUE Information Center, phone: 703/306-1666;
email: undergrad@nsf.gov.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.
- Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program:
November 15, 2000
- Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program:
June 30, 2000
- New Faculty Awards Program: May 15, 2000
- Faculty Start-up Grants for Undergraduate Institutions: May 15, 2000
- Scholar/Fellow Program for Undergraduate Institutions: June 30, 2000
- Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences:
Preliminary Proposals: June 15, 2000
Complete Proposals: September 1, 2000
- Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: March 1, 2000
- Senior Scientist Mentor: September 1, 2000
Further information may be obtained from The Camille and
Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., 555 Madison Avenue, Suite 1305,
New York, NY 10022; phone: 212/753-1760;
email: admin@dreyfus.org;
WWW:http://www.dreyfus.org/
Research Corporation
- Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15 and November 15
- Cottrell Scholars: First regular business day in September
- Research Opportunity Awards: May 1 and October 1
- Research Innovation Awards: May 1
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;
WWW:http://www.rescorp.org
|
Citation
Always in the