News from Journal House

Jeff Kovac, editor of the monthly Book & Media Reviews section of the Journal, could use a few more reviewers.

The aim of the section is to provide busy readers with informed guidance concerning textbooks, software, multimedia, and video that might be adopted in courses, or books to be recommended for library purchase. Reviews should be concise, usually 50-1000 words, and accurate, but also interesting to read. Reviewers are urged to write in a lively personal style.

If you are interested in receiving texts, general-interest and specialized books, or media (software, multimedia and video) and can provide a review in a timely manner, contact Kovac: Jeffrey Kovac, Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1600; phone: 865/974-3444; fax: 865/974-3454.

Thoughtful, well-written reviews are an important part of the Journal, much appreciated by the chemical education community. Contribute if you can.

JCE WebWare: Contribute Your Tools

Have you written computer programs and documents to help your students learn chemistry? Do they include one or more Internet applications for teaching and learning chemistry? JCE WebWare is a new JCE column on JCE Internet. It is edited by William (Flick) Coleman; Randall Wildman is the assistant editor.

We are looking for applications that are not merely text but involve some element of active learning on the part of the student. Our goal is to make available tools that can be used in the classroom and laboratory as well as in the computer room and the student's dorm room or home. The tools may include Java applets, dynamic HTML pages, virtual reality, QuickTime and Flash movies, animated gifs, and applications that can be used over the Internet with helper programs such as Excel. The tools should be cross-platform so that they run on PCs and Macs.

To get the ball rolling, Flick has put several "snippets" from his own work on the site.

• Make Your Own MO Diagrams
• Methane Symmetry Elements
• Close Packed Worksheet
• Interactive Spreadsheet Demos

Check them out and then let us hear from you--your suggestions as well as your contributions.

Notices, Division of Chemical Education

CHED Committee and Task Force Meetings,San Diego ACS Meeting

Meetings are listed below but their location is not known at press time; this information will be posted on the CHED Web site.

Saturday, March 31

• International Activities: breakfast, coffee shop of the hotel in which ExCom meets; Zafra Lerman, chair
• Executive (ExCom): 8 a.m.-1 p.m.; Conrad Stanitski, chair
• Program: 2 p.m.-5 p.m.; Mort Hoffman, chair
• Board of Publication: 1 p.m.-6 p.m.; John Gelder, chair

Monday, April 2

• Long-Range Planning: 10 a.m.-11 a.m.; Richard Jones, chair
• Chemical Education Research: 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m.; William Robinson, chair

Tuesday, April 3

• CHED Business Meeting: 5 p.m., in the room used for Section A in CHED technical program; Conrad Stanitski, chair

ACS Pimentel Award in Chemical Education
"Copper Coordination and Electron Transfer in Blue Proteins", the award address by Harry B. Gary, recipient of the 2001 ACS Pimentel Award in Chemical Education, will be presented at 9:30 a.m., Monday, April 2. It is sponsored by the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. A symposium honoring Gray will be held Monday afternoon, April 2, and Tuesday morning, April 3, sponsored by the Division of Inorganic Chemistry and co-sponsored by the Division of Chemical Education.

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

REU Program, University of South Carolina

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina announces its 2001 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program in Nanoscience. The program provides opportunities for undergraduate students to be directly involved in the research of nanoscience, focusing on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials. Nanoscale materials with superior and novel properties will lead the technology races of the 21st century and many members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have active research interests in this area, ranging from the construction of nanowires to organic logic circuits to biocatalysts to sensor development.

Information regarding the 2001 REU Program is available at http://epscor.cosm.sc.edu/reu2001. Interested students should contact A. Dawn Ward to be added to the 2001 REU Program in Nanoscience mailing list or if they have questions; or 803/777-0311.

Proposal Deadlines

National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

The following NSF deadline has been established.

• National SMETE Digital Library (NSDL) Letter of Intent (optional): March 14, 2001
  Proposals, Collections, Services track: April 11, 2001
  Proposals, Core Integration track: June 6, 2001

• Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI): June 4, 2001*
• Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
  Preliminary: April 26, 2001*
  Formal: October 18, 2001*
• Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS): April 4, 2001*

For further information about NSF DUE programs, consult the DUE Web site; phone: 703/292-8670; email: undergrad@nsf.gov.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

• Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program: November 15, 2001
• Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program: June 29, 2001
• New Faculty Awards Program: May 15, 2001
• Faculty Start-Up Grants for Undergraduate Institutions: May 15, 2001
• Scholar/Fellow Program for Undergraduate Institutions: June 29, 2001
• Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: Completed Proposals: September 1, 2001
• Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: March 1, 2001
• Senior Scientist Mentor: September 1, 2001

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.

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.

Survival 101, for New College Chemistry Instructors

The Division of Chemical Education and the Younger Chemists Committee are co-sponsoring the symposium Survival 101 for the New College Chemistry Instructor at the Fall 2001 ACS Meeting in Chicago. The symposium is designed to help new instructors get a "jump start" in college chemistry teaching. It will offer strategies for teaching a chemistry course for the first time. Expert instructors will discuss methods for finding and reviewing a textbook, writing a syllabus, organizing small and large classes, developing and implementing different teaching strategies, providing student assessment, and interpreting and handling student apprehensions concerning science.

CHED and YCC urge new instructors and graduate students who are considering teaching to attend this session (times will appear in the August issue of this Journal and in C & E News), and they invite experienced instructors to share their teaching experiences by submitting an abstract to http://www.acs.org/meetings/. The deadline for abstracts is April 17, 2001.

For more information contact the organizers: Cinzia M. Muzzi, Department of Chemistry, Truckee Meadows Community College, 7000 Dandini Boulevard, Reno, NV89512-3999; phone: 775/674-7652; fax: 775/674-7983; or Diane M. Bunce, Department of Chemistry, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064; phone: 202/319-5390; fax: 202/319-5381.

ChemEd 2001

ChemEd 2001 will be held at York University, Toronto, Canada, July 29-August 2, 2001. The conference will bring together science educators, chemistry teachers, and their families in an informal setting where they can share the joys of learning about the teaching of chemistry and science.

The conference is aimed at those who are involved with chemistry at the elementary, secondary, and college level. It will feature chemical demonstrations, hands-on workshops, contributed papers, featured speakers, an AP chemistry symposium, workshops for elementary teachers, programs for families, social activities, exhibits, and a trading post.

The York University site is clean, modern, spacious, and safe. Hotel, motel, and camping accommodations and eateries are within an easy commute. On-site lodging is approximately $71 U.S. per day for a double room with all meals. The registration fee is $145 U.S. for full participants.

For further information about program details or registration check the Web site or contact Susan Cameron, York University; phone: 416/736-5550; fax: 416/736-5950. The conference chair is Irwin Talesnick.