The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) with a grant from the Toshiba America Foundation has announced a new initiative to enhance science and mathematics teaching through the use of laptop computers. Laptop Learning Challenge is a program for educators to present innovative ideas for using laptop computers both in the classroom and in informal settings such as museums and nature centers. The program is open to all educators and will be administered during the 1998-1999 school year.

To participate in the program, educators will submit lesson plans that have both science and math components and are performed using one or more laptop computers. The lesson plans should describe an investigation for students to analyze a problem, plan and conduct an experiment, organize results, and communicate their findings. Field experts and an advisory board comprising leading science, math, and technology educators will judge the entries and select 20 top lesson plans, five from each student grade-level category (K-5, 6-9, 10-12, and K-12 informal settings), for publication. The winning lesson plans will be published in an NSTA-produced book and CD-ROM package, and summaries of the plans will be posted on the NSTA and Toshiba Web sites. A companion piece on how to adapt the K-12 laptop lessons for pre-service teachers will also be published in book format and will include the disk of lessons.

The educators who submit the winning lesson plans will receive Toshiba laptop computers and an all-expense-paid trip to NSTA's National Convention in Boston in March 1999, where they will present a session demonstrating their laptop lessons for their teacher colleagues. To receive entry materials, contact Caroline Nichols at 703/312-9390; email: laptop@nsta.org, WWW: http://www.nsta.org; or write to Laptop Learning Challenge, 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201.

Proposal Deadlines

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

For further information about NSF DUE programs consult the DUE Website at http://www.ehr. nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/start.htm or contact the DUE Information Center; phone: 703/306-1666; email: undergrad@nsf.gov.

The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program:
November 16, 1998

• Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program:
July 1, 1999
• New Faculty Awards Program: May 14, 1999
• Faculty Start-up Grants for Undergraduate Institutions: May 14, 1999
• Scholar/Fellow Program for Undergraduate Institutions: July 1, 1999
• Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: July 15, 1999
• Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: February 26, 1999

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; http://www.dreyfus.org/.

Research Corporation

• Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15 and November 15
• Cottrell Scholars: First regular business day in September
• Partners in Science: December 1 (the final year for this program is summer 1999)
• 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; http://www.rescorp.org

ExploraVision Awards

The 1999 ExploraVision program has been announced by the National Science Teachers Association, sponsored by Toshiba. This awards program is the world's largest K-12 student science competition. The program encourages students to combine their imaginations with the study of science and technology to explore visions of the future and find solutions for real-life problems. In this year's competition, 12 teams-four first-place and eight second-place-will be selected as national winners. Each student on the first-place teams wins a $10,000 U. S. savings bond or a Canadian savings bond of comparable issue price; students on second-place teams win $5,000 bonds. Every student and advisor who enters receives a gift, and teacher-advisors and schools of winning teams receive Toshiba equipment. Team members, their parents, and their advisors also receive trips to an awards weekend in Washington, DC.

The deadline for entries for the 1999 competition is February 3, 1999. For more information or an application, write to Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards, National Science Teachers Association, 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201; phone 1-800/EXPLOR-9 or 703/243-7100; WWW: www.toshiba.com/tai/exploravision/index3.htm.

American Oil Chemists' Society Awards

Award nominations are sought for the 1999 Stephan S. Chang Award. The award recognizes a scientist or technologist who has made decisive accomplishments in research for the improvement or development of products related to lipids. The award consists of an honorarium estimated at $6,000 and a jade sculpture of a galloping horse symbolizing the award. Nominations for the 1999 award must be submitted by October 15, 1998, to Frank Gunstone, The Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergrowrie, Dundee DD25DA, Scotland.

Nominations are also sought for the Supelco/Nicholas Pelick-AOCS Research Award, sponsored by Supelco and Nicholas Pelick, a longtime member and past president of AOCS. This award recognizes outstanding original research in fats, oils, lipid chemistry, or biochemistry. The award will be presented in the form of a plaque and an honorarium of $80 at the 90th AOCS Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL, May 9-12, 1999. For further information contact Kathleen Atchley, AOCS, P. O. Box 3489, Champaign, IL 61826-3489; phone: 217/359-2344; fax: 217/351-8091.

Foundations of Chemistry

Foundations of Chemistry is an international journal that will publish peer-reviewed academic articles in a wide range of subdisciplines, including chemical models, chemical language, metaphors, and theoretical terms; chemical evolution, artificial self-replication; industrial application, environmental concern, and the social and ethical aspects of chemistry's professionalism; the nature of modeling and the role of instrumentation in chemistry; institutional studies, the nature of explanation in the chemical sciences; theoretical chemistry, molecular structure, and chaos; the issue of realism; molecular biology, bioinorganic chemistry; historical studies on ancient chemistry, medieval chemistry, and alchemy; philosophical and historical articles and material of a didactic nature relating to all topics in the chemical sciences.

The Editor-in-Chief is Eric R. Scerri, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907; Co-ordinating Editors are William B. Jensen and Lee McIntyre. For information about subscriptions contact Kluwer Academic Publishers, Humanities & Social Sciences Division-AK, P. O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands; fax: +31-(0)78-6392254. The subscription price for Volume 1, 1999 (3 issues) is NLG 230 (U.S. $118).

ACS Abstract Deadline

The deadline for submission of abstracts for symposia of the Division of Chemical Education at the Spring 1999 ACS Meeting (to be held March 21-26, 1999, in Anaheim) is November 13, 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.

BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute

VWR Scientific Products will act as a corporate sponsor to the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute (BTCI), a nonprofit biotechnology training and informational resource based in Madison, WI. The sponsorship involves donation of biotechnology and life science equipment and supplies for use in BTCI's training and education efforts related to protein and genetic engineering. For more information about BTCI, visit their Web site at www.btci.org; for more information about VWR Scientific Products, visit their Web site at www.vwrsp.com.