As much as any other facet of the editing and production of the Journal, the Classroom Activity series means teamwork! The aim is for activities to be interesting and accessible to introductory students, based on inexpensive and readily available materials, connected by content to some part of the Journal issue, able to be integrated into the high school curriculum, and safe. There need to be questions posed and answers at the ready. Additional information in print and on the Web needs to be identified and checked. The activities are designed to be ready for teachers to hand to students, so they really need to work-that means that they go through a lot of testing in Journal House where there is, quite fittingly, no lab.

This is a tall order, one requiring someone with experience in high school teaching. From the start of the Activities in September 1997, Nancy Gettys has had a major role in their success. While Nancy's primary responsibility is as the Technical Editor of JCE Software, she has experience in teaching high school and has called on that experience to try and test, expand, try again, plan the illustrations (remember the photographs of the activities with surface phenomena that were featured in the table of contents of the February 1998 issue?), and perhaps hardest of all-tell us when something will just not work in high school. Nancy continues to work with the Classroom Activities, but she now has a colleague in fellow high school teacher Erica Jacobsen who has recently joined our staff.

Introducing...

Erica Jacobsen joined our staff last fall as an editorial assistant and has recently become an assistant editor. She received her undergraduate degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her teaching licenses include certifications in chemistry, physics, biology, and natural science for grades six through twelve. During her undergraduate years, she worked with the Chemical Education Group. Her undergraduate research and senior thesis were directed by John W. Moore and centered on the subject of HIV and its use as a topic in the chemistry curriculum. The research culminated in writing and publishing "HIV-1 Protease: An Enzyme at Work," a videotape and teacher/student guide offered by the Journal of Chemical Education Software.

After graduation, Erica taught chemistry, AP chemistry, and physics for two years at a rural public high school in Minnesota. During her teaching, as a reader of the Journal, she was delighted to see the introduction of the Classroom Activities feature. She found the ready-made activities a great complement to her "hands-on, minds-on" curriculum. Due to her husband's job transfer, she has returned to Madison and is even more delighted to now be a part of the development of Classroom Activities. Her duties at Journal House include helping to test, research, and write Classroom Activities. She divides her time between working at Journal House, taking additional science coursework at the university for professional development, and tutoring chemistry students. She is settling in to her new life in Madison and she and her husband enjoy exploring the Wisconsin outdoors together.

European Conference on Research in Chemical Education

The 5th European Conference on Research in Chemical Education (5th ECRICE) will be held from September 21-25, 1999, at the University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece. It will include plenary lectures, symposia, workshops, poster sessions, and social events. The working language of the conference will be English, but contributions in French are also invited. For more information contact Georgios Tsarparlis, University of Ioannina, Department of Chemistry, GR-451 10 Ioannina, Greece; phone: +30 651 98431; fax: +30 651 44989; email: gtsepar@cc.uoi.gr. The conference World Wide Web site is http://www.uoi.gr/conf_sem/ecrice5.

Symposium on Natural Products: Chemistry and Bioactivity

Hauser and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder are offering a three-day symposium on natural products which include pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and consumer products, to be held May 19-21, 1999. For further information or to make arrangements to attend, contact University of Colorado at Boulder, Attn: Rosemary Trujillo, Campus Box 215, Boulder, CO 80309-0215; email: rosemary.trujillo@colorado.edu; fax: 303/492-0439.

Workshops for Small-Scale Chemistry

The Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at Colorado State University announces two workshop programs for summer 1999.

Interested community college faculty are invited to apply for the Small-Scale Chemistry for Pollution Prevention Summer Institute, June 7-18, 1999. The Institute features hands-on training in small-scale chemistry laboratory techniques. Travel to Fort Collins, CO, lodging, per diem, and classroom/laboratory materials are funded for selected participants with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE). For more information contact Barry Carroll by email: barry_carroll@csmate.colostate.edu; phone: 970/491-1700, or access http://www.csmate.colostate.edu/Programs/PETE_Page.html.

Interested high school teachers are invited to apply for two one-week workshops in Small-Scale Chemistry Laboratory for the Regular Chemistry Course (June 21-25, 1999) and Small-Scale Chemistry Laboratory for Advanced Placement Chemistry (June 28-July 2, 1999). The workshops feature hands-on training in small-scale chemistry laboratory techniques. Classroom/laboratory materials, books, and two graduate credits are included in the $395 fee for each course. For more information contact Courtney Butler by email: courtney@ csmate.colostate.edu, phone: 970/491-1700, or access http://www.csmate.colostate.edu/.

16th BCCE: Call for Suggestions

The 16th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education will be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from July 30-August 3, 2000. Information about the conference is posted on the World Wide Web at www.umich.edu/~bcce or may be obtained from the following persons. General Chair: Seyhan Ege; phone: 734/764-7340; fax: 734/647-4865; email: snege@umich.edu. Program Chair: Brian Coppola; phone: 734/764-7329; email: bcoppola@umich.edu. Workshop Coordinator: Evelyn Jackson; phone: 517/355-9715 ext.204; email: ejackson@argus.cem.msu.edu.

Massachusetts State Science Fair

The 50th Massachusetts State Science Fair will take place April 30 and May 1, 1999. To celebrate the anniversary, we plan to hold a gathering of all Fair alumni/alumnae. Thus we are trying to contact all persons who have ever exhibited science projects at this state-wide high school Fair that has been held each year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Anyone who has exhibited a science project at the State Fair should send their name, present address, the name of the school they were attending when participating in the Fair, and the date(s) they exhibited to the Fair office: Massachusetts State Science Fair, 45 Howlands Lane, Kingston, MA 02364-1637. If there are questions, contact Micheline M. Mathews-Roth, M.D., the chair of the alumni/alumnae committee, by phone at 617/525-2249.

Call for Proposals, EDUCAUSE '99

Celebrating New Beginnings is the title of the EDUCAUSE '99 annual conference, to be held October 26-29, 1999, in Long Beach, California. The conference will be a celebration of new beginnings and a forum to shape and define our agenda for the 21st century. This is a new association focused on enabling information technology to shape the nature of teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and institutional management and invite you to participate. At this first EDUCAUSE annual conference, we will identify the opportunities, address the issues, and celebrate the potential for transforming education through information technology; we will bring together information resource professionals to participate in a diverse, comprehensive, carefully focused program with many opportunities for interactive and one-on-one communication. The conference has five tracks with each track having five focus areas: technical infrastructure; planning and strategy; service delivery; applications and best practices; and management and organization. Speakers at the general session include Colin Powell, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation; and Barry Munitz, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. For more information visit the conference WWW site at http://www.educause.edu/conference/e99.

Proposal Deadlines

National Science Foundation
Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

• Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) June 7, 1999
• NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP)
  Preliminary proposals, Track 1 May 1, 1999
  Formal proposals, Track 1 September 1, 1999
• DUE online 1999 guidelines, NSF 99-53

For further information about NSF DUE programs consult the DUE Web site 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 and 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; www: 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; www: http://www.rescorp.org

Virtual Conference on Molecular Simulation

The journal Molecular Simulation is sponsoring a virtual conference on the latest applications and techniques in the field, to be held April 19-May 4, 1999. Applications and Methodology of Molecular Simulation in the Physical and Biological Sciences will bring together experts in a wide range of disciplines encompassed within the physical and biological sciences. An important aim of the meeting is to foster cross fertilization of ideas, algorithms, and applications between them. Sessions will include papers on topics in physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and pharmacology. Comment and discussion will be encouraged and the resulting material will be edited and form part of the proceedings. The format of the virtual conference will be formal sessions with invited and contributed papers, posters and subsequent interactive discussions with authors, where comment and criticism will be sought on the formal lectures (along the lines of a Faraday Discussion). During the conference all material will be accessible at the conference Web site, http://molsim.vei.co.uk/ and accepted papers will be published after the end of the conference (following refereeing and editing) in Molecular Simulation. To register, fill in the form at http://molsim.vei.co.uk/register/index.html.

Smallscale and Microscale Chemistry

This is a call for presenters and participants to the 150th 2YC₃ conference, November 5-6, 1999 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The theme of this conference is "Smallscale and Microscale Chemistry-Steps into the 21st Century" and considers techniques, the escalating cost of chemicals, and their disposal. Environmental concerns are also topics that need to be addressed if this laboratory science will teach an awareness of man's responsibility to the environment. Please send abstracts for paper and poster presentations or workshop proposals to Thomas R. Clark at the address below. Westark College is committed to supporting your participation and will present a enthusiastic program. Additional assistance can be obtained from Thomas R. Clark, Department of Chemistry, Westark College, Fort Smith, AR 72913; phone: 501/788-7623; fax: 501/788-7612; email: tclark@systema.westark.edu.

Information Requested from AP Chemistry Teachers in Intensive Scheduling

A chemistry teacher in western Pennsylvania who is working on her Master's thesis, "The Impact of Intensive Scheduling on Student Achievement in Chemistry", is seeking pre- and post-Block Scheduling AP Chemistry Exam Scores. Data from Block, A/B Rotational, and Copernican schedules is of particular interest. Please send comments and scores to Chris Ann Slye, 1200 Tenth Avenue, Irwin, PA 15642; email: cabst71@pitt.edu; phone: 724/861-0250.

A Great Student Award!

Spring is award season, and a subscription to the Journal has lasting value as well as a reasonable price.

We have personalized subscription award certificates and accompanying sample issues, ready for presentation.

Whether it is one subscription to an outstanding student or 50 to each of this year's graduates in an ACS Local Section, we stand ready to help.