As soon as this issue has gone to press, many of the Journal staff will pack up and travel to the Dallas ACS Meeting. One thing we will do is meet with our Board of Publication; we can happily report that in 1997 we published more pages than ever and that thus far 1998 is ahead of 1997. In addition, Classroom Activities have appeared each month since their inception in September 1997 - the frequency of their appearance has been driven by their popularity. Likewise, the Viewpoints series has brought much favorable comment and readers tell us they are making copies available to their students. JCE Online+ is a reality. The manuscript backlog is down dramatically.

Looking Forward

While we are in Dallas we will also attend and participate in symposia, reporting on items of interest in these pages next month. We will meet with our advertising representative and together visit the booths of current and prospective advertisers, hoping to bring you even more information about products of use in your teaching and research. And we will meet many of our readers, always a rich source of ideas.

Be a Journal Ambassador

In the January 1998 issue, Jerry Bell in his role as chair of our Board of Publication issued challenge to readers: Be a Journal Ambassador! Encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe. Get your students off to a great start with a subscription. Take copies to workshops, short courses, and in-service programs. Although the rewards will be mainly intrinsic, we are offering a one-year subscription to Print/Online+ for every six years of new or gift subscriptions your ambassadorship brings in. For details see page 22 of the January issue or contact the editorial office.

Celebrating 75 Years

15th BCCE (August 9-15)

Plans are taking shape. At the 15th BCCE (August 9-15) there will be a session for high school teachers and an evening poster session-birthday party. At the Boston ACS Meeting (August 23-27) expect a Sunday evening mixer, a poster session, and a day-long symposium on the Journal 's past and future that includes many familiar names.

As a part of our celebrations, we seek recollections from early readers. Who can tell us what it was like to know Neil Gordon or Otto Reinmuth? Many could recount what a subscription to the Journal meant as a young teacher just starting out. Was there an article that you read in our pages that had a profound effect on your teaching? Did you publish something in the Journal that changed your career or affected others? We are gathering such materials and invite your contributions. Photos from our archives will also be on display - including some mystery photos that need the people and events identified. So, whether you are an early subscriber who knew Neil Gordon or a recent one who has found our pages useful, let us hear from you.

Viewpoints: Chemists on Chemistry

You will notice that this month we have interrupted our Viewpoints series to publish the 8th Waters Symposium: Lasers in Chemistry. The Viewpoints Series will continue next month - as many readers will be happy to learn. Here is where we stand as of press time.

Published

• The Flexible Surface: Molecular Studies Explain the Extraordinary Diversity of Surface Chemical Properties, by Gabor Somorjai and Günther Rupprechter: February 1998
• The Computer as a Materials Science Benchmark, by Dean J. Campbell, Julie K. Lorenz, Arthur B. Ellis, Thomas F. Kuech, George C. Lisensky, and M. Stanley Whittingham: March 1998
• Chemical Education: Past, Present, and Future, by J.J. Lagowski: April 1998

  In Press

  · Bioorganic Chemistry, by Ronald Breslow: scheduled for June 1998

In Preparation

• Photochemistry, by Marye Anne Fox
• Computational Chemistry, by William Goddard
• Organic and Natural Product Synthesis, by K. C. Nicolaou
• Industrial Chemistry, by George Parshall and Chadwick A. Tolman
• Chemical Dynamics, by Richard N. Zare

Readers have found many uses of these very special articles that review a particular field of chemistry for the past 50 years and predict its evolution over the next 25 years - not just for themselves but also for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. We welcome this wide use and remind readers of our very generous policy regarding making copies: "For classroom use by teachers, one copy per student in the class may be made free of charge."