News from Journal House

Coming Next Month: Earth Day 2005

Again in 2005, the February issue of the Journal will feature articles on environmental chemistry in honor of the ACS observation of Earth Day on April 22. The 2005 theme of Chemists Celebrate Earth Day is “Air: Here, There, Everywhere!”. The topics of the upcoming articles include: measurement of ground-level ozone in the atmosphere; determination of the percent of oxygen in the air; detection of heavy metals in the environment; measurement of pollutants in automobile exhaust; demonstrations of the fractional distillation of air, sample segregation, and hard water and soap performance; and laboratory exercises using green chemistry.

Revise Your Reviewer Information

If you are a reviewer for JCE and you have given us your email address, you should have received an email message with instructions for updating your reviewer information. It is important that you respond to this message because we are in the process of switching to a new set of keywords—and keywords are the principal means by which we assign reviewers to manuscripts.

This new list of keywords is more comprehensive and useful than previous versions and has been evaluated by a select group of JCE reviewers, whose suggestions were incorporated. The new list has been divided into categories, it contains a greater total number of keywords than the earlier list, and a few of the earlier keywords have been eliminated. The new keywords will be used in the JCE Index online and in the retrieval system of the National Science Digital Library. The keywords are in these categories: Audience Level at which you feel comfortable reviewing; Domain; Pedagogy; Topics for which you can provide expert evaluation of submissions.

If you would like to update your keywords but have not yet been asked to do so, send us an email.

JCE Collections Available

Occasionally, collections of Journal of Chemical Education back issues become available for donation to individual teachers, schools, or libraries. JCE provides the service of trying to match the donated collections with interested recipients. Typically, recipients are expected to pay shipping costs or, if they live near the donor, to pick up the collection. Recipients should realize that shipping large, heavy collections may cost a few hundred dollars, depending on location. Journal issues cannot be shipped by U.S. Postal Service media mail because they contain advertising.

If you are interested in the collections described below, contact Erica Jacobsen. Even if you already have your own collection, please consider mentioning this opportunity to a colleague or school library, so others might benefit.

• Lake Placid, Florida: Collection from November 1986 through August 1997 and thought to have no issues missing.
• Roseburg, Oregon: Collection from approximately 1965≤1999 and thought to have no issues missing.
• River Falls, Wisconsin: Collection from 1954–1992, with the following issues missing (1954 1–8, 11, 12; 1955 1, 4–12; 1956 1–12; 1957 1–9; 1962 1; 1977 1–12; 1985 1–6; 1992 12).
• Chicago, Illinois: Collection from 1994–2003.

If you have a collection and would like JCE’s assistance in finding a suitable individual or institution to which to donate it, contact Erica Jacobsen. JCE is able to provide information about a collection’s value.

Awards Announced

ACS Great Lakes Region Award

The Great Lakes Region of the American Chemical Society has presented its first Lifetime Achievement Award to

• Doris K. Kolb and Kenneth E. Kolb, Bradley University, Peoria, IL

for their more than 100 years of combined service to ACS.

Doris Kolb has served the ACS Heartland Section as its chair and as a member of the Great Lakes Regional Meeting Planning Committee. Much of her service has been related to chemical education. She has been a member and chair of the Board of Publication of the Journal of Chemical Education and she is at present the feature editor of Overhead Projector Demonstrations; she is a former chair of the Division of Chemical Education. She is coauthor of the recently published Chemistry for Changing Times, 10th edition and serves as Associate Editor of the encyclopedia Chemistry: Foundations and Applications. She has authored more than 60 papers and presented more than 50 talks at ACS meetings. Awards include the Catalyst Award from the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the Visiting Scientist Award from the Eastern Connecticut Section of ACS.

Ken Kolb’s service to the ACS began when he served as president of his ACS Student Affiliate Chapter at the University of Louisville. Since then he has twice been chair of the Heartland Local Section and Councilor for 11 years. He has been a member of the Great Lakes Regional Steering Committee for approximately 30 years, and its Program Chair for the 1972 GLRM held in Peoria. At the national level, Ken has served on the Meetings and Expositions Committee, the Economic and Professional Affairs Committee, the George Olah Award in Chemistry Committee; he was an original member of the ACS Career Consultants Service. As a member of the Division of Chemical Education, Ken has chaired the Long Range Financial Planning Committee and the Board of Trustees of the Examinations Institute, and also served as Councilor. Ken has organized four symposia at National ACS meetings, published approximately 40 papers, and presented approximately 75 talks at ACS meetings. Also, Ken currently serves as an ACS tour speaker, recently completing his ninth tour.

Research Award, Minority Research Training Forum

Halimatu Mohammed of Bronx, NY, an undergraduate chemistry major at Clarkson University, has received the Acres of Diamonds Award from the Minority Trainee Research Forum (MTRF).

Mohammed submitted a scientific research paper, “Selective Deprotection of D-6,3-Glucuronolactone Derivatives,” as part of a national competition sponsored by MTRF. She was one of 12 students nationwide chosen to deliver poster and oral presentations of her project at a national meeting. Her research focused on developing a mechanism to protect and deprotect some functional groups in the compound D-6,3-Glucuronolactone using the iodine in methanol reagent system.

The research was conducted by Mohammed in summer 2003 while she was a student at Bronx Community College, before she transferred to Clarkson in 2003.

The Minority Trainee Research Forum, under the direction of Moses Williams, is headquartered at Temple University and funded through the National Institutes of Health. More information (accessed Nov 2004).

Award Deadlines

New ACS Award for Chemical Technology Students

The ACS Committee for Technician Affairs is instituting a new Chemical Technology Student Recognition Award Program. This award is to recognize students in two-year chemical technology or two-year chemistry-based programs who demonstrate performance excellence while preparing to become a professional technician. The selection criteria and order of priority are:

• A high level of integrity and reliability
• A high level of performance in laboratory work, including safety, literature search, equipment setup and use, experimental setup and design, teamwork, documentation of results
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• A high level of academic performance across all classes (consistently in upper 25% of most classes)
• Completion of at least 75% of the required chemical technology courses when nominated for the award

An awards committee composed of department faculty and at least one faculty member from outside the department will design and implement the selection process. Awardees will receive a certificate of recognition, suitable for framing, from the ACS Committee for Technician Affairs. A listing of awardees will be published on the Committee Web page and in ConnecTECH, the newsletter of the Division of Chemical Technicians (TECH).

More information about this award program for chemical technology students may be found at this Web site (accessed Nov 2004) or contact Sam Stevenson, American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036; 800/227-5558, ext. 6108.

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

Green Chemistry Conference

The joint meeting of the 2nd International Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry and the 9th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference will take place June 20–24, 2005 at the Hotel Washington in Washington, DC. The conference theme is Taking Measure of Green Progress: Opportunities to Meet Global Challenges.

The conference will focus on the design, development, and implementation of chemical processes and products that reduce or eliminate hazardous substances in a way that is feasible and economically viable.

Details may be found at the conference Web site (accessed Nov 2004) or by contacting Michele Gandy at the American Chemical Society: phone 1-800/227-5558, ext 2138 or 202/452-2138. The deadline for submitting an abstract is January 31, 2005.

COACh Workshops: COAChing Women Faculty to be Strong Educators and Leaders in the Chemical Sciences

COACh, the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists, is a grass roots organization that works to increase the numbers and effectiveness of women faculty in the chemical sciences. One highly successful COACh project has been to offer professional skills development workshops that teach negotiation, management, and leadership skills to participants. More than 200 women chemistry faculty have participated in these workshops and have raved about the positive impact that these workshops have had on their lives.

Two workshops will be offered in San Diego on Saturday, March 12, 2005, prior to the Spring ACS Meeting.

Workshop 1: Coaching Strong Women in the Art of Strategic Persuasion

Workshop 2: The Chemistry of Leadership: A Women’s Leadership Development Program

More details and a sign-up form for these workshops can be found on the COACh Web site (accessed Nov 2004). Apply as soon as possible since space is limited. Assistance with travel and lodging expenses is available. The workshops are financially supported by NSF, NIH, and DOE-Basic Energy Sciences.

Materials Available

Electronic Journals Merge

The electronic journals Chemistry Education Research and Practice (published from the University of Ioannina) and University Chemistry Education (published by The Royal Society of Chemistry), are merging as of January 1, 2005. The new, fully electronic journal will be published by The Royal Society of Chemistry under the title, Chemistry Education Research and Practice. There will be four issues each year, to be available without charge on the Internet. Editors will be Georgios Tsaparlis and Stephen Breuer, who can supply additional details.

Proposal Deadlines National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) The following NSF deadlines have been established or are anticipated. NSF Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars (DTS) Formal Proposals February 9, 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. Other Funding Opportunities for STEM Education are available. Program solicitations are available electronically through NSF's Online Document System and through the NSF DUE site; phone: 703/292-8670; email. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. Camille Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awards Program: November 10, 2005 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: February 24, 2005 Senior Scientist Mentor: Completed Proposals: August 25, 2005 Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: Preliminary Proposals: June 2, 2005 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; Web. Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15 and November 15 Cottrell Scholars: September 1 Research Innovation Awards: suspended 2004-2005 Research Opportunity Awards: May 1 and October 1 Further information may be obtained from Research Corporation, 101 North Wilmot Road, Suite 250, Tucson, AZ 85711; phone: 520/571-1111; fax: 520/571-1119; email; Web.