The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. announced $1,542,252 approved for 65 awards under the Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences. The complete list of institutions, project directors, and project are available from the Foundation's World Wide Web site, www.dreyfus.org.

NSF-Sponsored Case Studies in Science Workshop

A workshop titled Case Studies in Science will be held from June 1-5, 1998, at the State University of New York at Buffalo. This five-day workshop, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, will focus on training college science faculty to teach with case studies, to develop cases of their own, and to access a large body of existing case studies. In the final two days of the workshop the participants will have an opportunity to teach a practice case before a student audience. Participation in the workshop is by application only and is limited to 25 people. The Application deadline is April 24, 1998. On-campus room and board as well as all workshop materials are covered by NSF (travel expenses are not). In addition, workshop participants will receive a $250 stipend for their attendance and for producing one case study within six months of the workshop for the SUNY Buffalo Case Studies in Science World Wide Web site, which is being developed with NSF support as a national clearinghouse for case studies in the sciences. Details, including the workshop schedule and an online registration form, can be found at the Case Studies in Science Web site at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/case.html , or contact Clyde Herreid, 716/645-2892, herreid@acsu.buffalo.edu, or Nancy Schiller, 716/645-2946, schiller@acsu.buffalo.edu.

California Association of Chemistry Teachers

Teachers, will hold their 40th annual summer conference from August 3-7, 1998. The conference theme is marine chemistry, and it will be held at sea, departing from Los Angeles. Early registration is important and guests are welcome. People interested in more information should contact Juliette A. Bryson; email: jbryson@clpccd.cc.ca.us; phone: 925/373-5854; mail: Juliette A. Bryson, Las Positas College, 3033 Collier Canyon Road, Livermore, CA 94550-7650.

New England Association of Chemistry Teachers

NEACT, the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, is celebrating it centennial anniversary year with a five-day summer conference, to be held August 3-7, 1998, at Keene State College in Keene, NH. The conference theme is "One Hundred Years of Chemistry Education". An array of guest speakers, workshops, demonstrations, and discussions have been planned. A historical view of chemical instruction will be presented by David Adams of Babson College. Lee Marek, a chemical demonstrator from Weird Science, will connect demonstrations and educational strategies. Discussions of teaching methods and current educational K-12 reform are expected to generate much interest.

The program chairperson is Chris Bauer of the University of New Hampshire. Further information can be obtained from James Harris, the Registrar-Treasurer, Monadnock Regional High School, jharris@top.monad.net.

7th National Conference, CUR

The 7th national conference of CUR, the Council on Undergraduate Research, will be held June 25-27, 1998, at Occidental College, Los Angeles, California. The theme is "Creating Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Changing Communities". For further information contact Ebonee L. Montgomery, Membership & Meetings Coordinator, at the CUR Office, 734 15th Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20005; phone: 202/783-4810; fax: 202/783-4811; email: cur@cur.org; http://www.cur.org.

Summer Institute in the History of Chemistry

CHF, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, will sponsor a Woodrow Wilson Workshop titled "From Aristotle to Aufbau: The History of Chemistry" from August 2-7, 1998. The workshop, contingent on funding and participant interest, will be held at the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, NY. Designed for teachers, it will cover incorporating the teaching standards on the history and nature of science and will feature hands-on activities, demonstrations, complete documentation, and handouts.

For more information about charges and fees, limited scholarships, or to be added to the mailing list contact Mary Virginia Orna, Chemical Heritage Foundation, 315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2702; 215/925-2178, ext. 242; fax: 215/925-1954; email: mvorna@chemheritage.org.

Registration, 15th BCCE

Registration materials for the 15th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, to be held August 9-13, 1998 at the University of Waterloo, are available on the WWW at http://sciborg.uwaterloo.ca/bcce and program information for the conference is available at http://www.biochem.purdue.edu/~bcce. Requests send by postal service should be addressed to 15-BCCE, Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.

Chemists' Book Club Launches WWW Site

McGraw-Hill's Chemists' Book Club has announced the launching of a World Wide Web site, http://www.bookclubs.mcgraw-hill.com/chemists/. Those wishing to join should go to http://www.bookclubs.mcgraw-hill.com/chemists/join_fr.htm.

Demonstration Explosion
Charles "Skip" Lee
Rock Falls High School, Rock Falls, IL 61071, skipfam@essex1.com

Last week I did a demonstration that produced a serious explosion. After putting methanol in a big glass carboy and rotating the carboy to build up some methanol vapor, I lit the mouth of the carboy. What normally happens is a "jet engine" effect out of the mouth of the carboy. In my case, the carboy exploded. Two polycarbonate blast shields were shattered and glass was blown as far as 15 feet away. I was not seriously cut and bruised, but had I not been using the two blast shields, I would have been severely injured.

At this time, I am not sure what caused the explosion. I have done this demonstration around one hundred times with no problem using the exact same amount of methanol and technique. I think it is important to get the word out that this demonstration may be more dangerous than previously thought. I would also welcome any hypotheses concerning what caused the carboy to explode.

Proposal Deadline Alert!

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

Further information about NSF DUE programs can be obtained by consulting the DUE Website at http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/start.htmor by contacting the DUE Information Center; phone: 703/306-1666; email: undergrad@nsf.gov.

The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

• New Faculty Awards Program: May 15, 1998
• Faculty Start-Up Grants for Undergraduate Institutions: May 15, 1998
• Henry Dreyfus Teacher­Scholar Awards: July 1, 1998
• Scholar/Fellow Program for Undergraduate Institutions: July 1, 1998
• Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: July15, 1998

Further information may be obtained from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., 555 Madison Avenue, Suite 1305, New York, New York 10022; phone: 212/753-1760; email: admin@dreyfus.org; http://www.dreyfus.org/

Research Corporation

• Research Opportunity Awards: May 1, 1998 and October 1, 1998
• Research Innovation Awards: May 1, 1998
• Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15, 1998 and November 15, 1998
• Cottrell Scholars: First regular business day in September
• Partners in Science: December 1, 1998

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