News from Journal House

JCE has recently made donations that are of interest to our readership. John Gelder, chair of the Journal’s Board of Publication, reports for the Endowment Fund; Mary Virginia Orna, Publications Coordinator, reports on the Tsunami Relief Project.

Endowment, High School Teacher Award

The Journal of Chemical Education is delighted to contribute $10,000 to the Endowment Fund for the High School Teacher Award for regional teaching awards for high school chemistry teachers.

Since 1924 the Journal of Chemical Education has been a strong supporter of high school teachers. With articles by and for high school teachers, the Journal continues to be a valuable resource. In the column, Especially for High School Teachers, the Journal focuses on issues important to the high school chemistry teacher. CLIC online provides access to a large collection of resources aimed at the high school chemistry teacher. The Journal has sought to provide high school teachers easy access to information that helps build content knowledge, and to help provide ideas on how best to present content in the classroom. The Journal is excited to take another step in support of teachers who are working hard to communicate how important, wonderful, and unique chemistry is in the world today. We hope that this contribution to the High School Teacher Awards will be a challenge to others within the chemistry community to step up and show their support.

Tsunami Relief Project

The December 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia destroyed libraries and took the lives of many teachers in the affected areas. At its national meeting in March, the American Chemical Society announced an effort to collect chemical education publications and resources for donation to the government of Indonesia. The resources collected by ACS will be used by the government as part of its effort to rebuild the libraries and to train science teachers who will take the places of those lost in the disaster.

JCE has donated 34 complete sets of the Journal of Chemical Education for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004 as well as 34 sets of the January–May issues for the current year. We are honored to be part of the effort to rebuild the educational system in Indonesia and glad of the opportunity to show solidarity with our fellow chemists and our fellow educators.

(The Tsunami Relief Project is organized under the auspices of the ACS Project BookShare—a continuing effort to make educational resources available to colleagues in less-advantaged situations worldwide. More information about this project may be found at the ACS Web site (accessed May 2005.)

Awards Announced

IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists

Winners, 2005 Prize

IUPAC has announced the 2005 winners of the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists, an award for the best Ph.D. thesis in the chemical sciences as described in a 1000-word essay.

Zev Gartner, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; “The Development of DNA-Templated Organic Synthesis”

Jiaxing Huang, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; “Conducting Polymer Nanofibers: Synthesis, Properties and Applications”

Hiromitsu Maeda, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; “Synthesis and Properties of Multiply N-Confused Porphyrins”

Xun Wang, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; “Solution-Based Route to Transitional Metal Oxides One-dimensional Nanostructures: Synthesis, Characterization and Their Properties”

The winners will each receive a cash prize of $1000 U.S. dollars and a free trip to the IUPAC Congress, to be held in Beijing, China, in August 2005. More information about the prize winners and the honorable mention winners may be found at this Web site (accessed May 2005).

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

2004 Awardees

The White House has recently honored the recipients of the 2004 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). These are considered the highest honor for science and math educators in the U.S. The 2004 awards went to 95 elementary teachers. Awardees received a $10,000 gift from the National Science Foundation and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington DC for a week-long celebration of events and professional development activities.

2005 Award Nominations

The 2005 Presidential Award nominations are currently open for science and math teachers in grades 7–12. Public, private, and parochial school teachers can be nominated by anyone except themselves. Five PAEMST winners were selected to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee on improving math and science education; see this Web site (accessed May 2005).

For information about the 2005 program, or to read more about the 2004 winners, go to this Web site (accessed May 2005).

2005 National Disney Teacher Awards Announced

Forty-five teachers from across the U.S. have been chosen from more than 50,000 nominations to received the 2005 Disney Teacher Award in celebration of their creativity, innovative teaching methods, and ability to inspire their students.

The 45 honorees (and teaching teams) received $10,000 from Disney Worldwide Outreach, a trip to The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, and the opportunity to attend (with their principal) a professional development institute to refine their innovative teaching approaches and learn how to build an effective collaborative teaching culture at their school; in addition, Disney awards $5,000 to each honoree’s school. Honorees are selected by former Disney Teacher Honorees and representatives of leading educational associations in the U.S.; they represent every subject field and every level of teaching.

Nominations for the 2006 Disney Teacher Awards will be open until mid-August, 2005. For more information on the awards process, go to this Web site (accessed May 2005).

Award Deadlines

IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists

Solicitation, 2006 Prize

The IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists has been established to encourage outstanding young research scientists at the beginning of their careers. The prize will be given for the most outstanding Ph.D. thesis in the general area of the chemical sciences, as described in a 1000-word essay. The deadline for the 2005 prize is February 1, 2006, for entrants who receive their Ph.D. (or equivalent) degree during the calendar year 2005. Application information may be found at this Web site (accessed May 2005).

Courses, Seminars, Meetings,Opportunities

Update, High School Teacher Endowment Solicitation

Have you contributed to the High School Teacher Award Endowment? If you have done so, the Solicitation Committee thanks you; if you have not, please consider mailing in your contribution today. The amount of your gift is important, of course, but more important is for your name to appear among the donors. We are anxious to obtain a lengthy list of contributors, a roster that will show the high school teacher community that there is a large number of professionals who appreciate good science teaching in the Nation’s high schools.

Once the Endowment is fully funded, a DivCHED Regional High School Teacher Award will be bestowed annually to a deserving teacher in every one of the ACS regions. We are progressing toward our goal of $300,000, but we need your help. Making a gift is easy. A downloadable donation form is available (PDF: accessed May 2005). Your tax-deductible gift can be given in memory of a favorite teacher or anyone else you wish to honor. The choices of ways to pay and where to send your gift are listed on the form. Every gift counts! The Endowment Solicitation Committee thanks you.

Chemical Safety Information

The ACS Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS) provides advice and counsel on the handling of chemicals and seeks to ensure safe facilities, designs, and operations by calling attention to potential hazards and stimulating education in safe chemical practices. CCS has developed publications such as “Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories”, “Safety Audit/Inspection Manual”, and “Safety in the Elementary (K–6) Science Classroom”. A recent addition to the CCS Web site is a list of nanotechnology safety resources. For more information, including online publications and resources, visit the CCS Web Site (accessed May 2005).

International Scientific Congress

The organizing committee for the 14th International Scientific Congress CNIC 2005 has announced that their meeting will be held June 27–30, 2005, in Havana, Cuba. More information may be found by visiting the congress Web site (accessed May 2005).

Applications Being Accepted for The Dorothy and Moses Passer Education Fund

This Fund was established by a generous donation of Dorothy and Moses Passer. Moses (Mike) Passer was for many years the head of the ACS Education Division. The Fund supports grants to provide support for teachers in programs at two- and four-year colleges or universities that do not have any advanced degree programs in the chemical sciences.

The awards are to support continuing education activities that must be directly related to the applicant’s teaching and must take them away from their campus. The applicant must be a full-time faculty member at his or her institution. The applications are reviewed by a committee. There is no application form but the application must include a description of the proposed activity and how it relates to his/her teaching with dates, locations, titles and contacts; a brief description of the applicants institution and department; a short curriculum vita; an itemized estimate of expenses, amount of aid requested including your own funds, and sources of all supplemental funds. No support will be given for general attendance at national, regional, or local ACS meetings nor for any sabbatical support. Closing dates are three times each year: January 1, April 1, and September 1. Electronic applications are much preferred. For further information or inquiries contact Donald E. Jones; mailing address: 3726 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Apt. 108, Washington, DC 20008.

Find Summer Camps at Your Virtual World

Your Virtual World has launched a new Web resource (accessed May 2005) that features a comprehensive list of science and technology summer camp opportunities. Many of these camps are free to qualified applicants or offer full scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis. The Web site, which targets 8–13 year olds and the adults who play leadership roles in their lives, also contains streaming video, role models, entertaining learning materials, free software, scholarship help, advice, and other resources to help youth interested in pursuing technical careers. Your Virtual World takes steps to guide more youth toward science, engineering, and technology careers.

Astronomy Education Review

The most recent (sixth) issue of Astronomy Education Review (ÆR), a Web-based journal/magazine for those involved in astronomy education and outreach, is available (accessed May 2005).

The journal actively solicits interesting papers and articles on all aspects of space science education and outreach, publishing a range of articles: research papers, short pieces on innovative ideas, and opinion pieces. ÆR is supported by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and NASA and endorsed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the American Astronomical Society.

JASON Foundation for Education

The National Geographic Society and the JASON Foundation for Education (JFE) have announced that they have signed a letter of intent for the Society to assume stewardship of JFE. The National Geographic Society was a founding national sponsor of JASON, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing new ways of teaching and new tools for learning middle-grade science and math through innovative, technology-rich educational and professional development programs.

JFE is best known for its JASON Project, an annual education program that engages students in inquiry-based investigations by taking them on real-life scientific expeditions. For more information, go to this Web site (accessed May 2005).

Proposal Deadlines National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) The following NSF deadlines have been established or are anticipated. Advanced Technology Education (ATE) Formal Proposals October 18, 2005 Course, Curriculum and Lab Improvement (CCLI) Full Proposals, Phase 2 and 3 January, 24, 2006 Teacher Professional Continuum (TPC) Formal Proposals September 116, 2005 Official deadline dates for proposals will be specified in the new program solicitation for each program, to be published at least three months before the relevant deadline date. Consult NSF Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education for the most up-to-date listings and guidelines; phone: 703/292-8670; email. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. Camille Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awards Program: November 10, 2005 Faculty Start-Up Award Program: May 12, 2005 Henry Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awards Program: June 30, 2005 New Faculty Awards Program: May 12, 2005 Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: May 25, 2005 Senior Scientist Mentor Program: Completed Proposals: August 25, 2005 Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: Completed Proposals: August 25, 2005 Further information and confirmation of the above deadlines may be obtained from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., 555 Madison Avenue, Suite 1305, New York, NY 10022-3301; phone: 212/753-1760; email. Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15 and November 15 Cottrell Scholar Awards: September 1 Research Innovation Awards: suspended 2004-2005 Research Opportunity Awards: May 1 and October 1 Special opportunities in Science Awards: prospective applicatnts should submit a preliminary letter Further information may be obtained from Research Corporation, 4703 East Camp Lowell Drive, Suite 201, Tucson, AZ 85712; phone: 520/571-1111; fax: 520/571-1119; email.