News from Journal House

Back issues of JCE that are available online now begin in 1966 and run through the current issue. The full text of these issues is now available to all JCE subscribers on JCE Online! (Note that the previously quirky issues from 1984–1996 have been redone as PDF files and now work as nicely as expected.) There are two ways to access the full text:

1. Use the Previous Issues link (in the left-hand menu), then click on the year you want in the Years/Volumes Available section in the middle of the page; then click the cover of the issue you want, which will bring up the table of contents from which you may select the article you want to read.
2. Search JCE Index by using the link in the left menu or where you can search for articles as you normally would. Articles published since 1966 will have a link to “Full text”; click it to view the full text of the article.

The scanning project continues, working backward… The student scanning team is now working on the issues in the 1940s and 1950s! Additional back issues will be released a decade at a time.

Awards Announced

Teacher of the Year

The Florida Southern Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership fraternity, announced its Teacher of the Year award for 2006 at the annual honors convocation of Florida Southern College:

• Carmen Valdez Gauthier, Department of Chemistry Florida Southern College, Lakeland FL

Gauthier serves on the CHED International Activities and Program committees and on the ACS Committee on Community Activities.

Pfizer Green Chemistry Education Grants

Pfizer, Inc. has a new Green Chemistry Educational Grants program. The company supports green chemistry by doing green chemistry and by encouraging it elsewhere. Their Green Chemistry Award honors Pfizer scientists and university chemistry departments that pursue green chemistry. The award recognizes individuals and teams for innovative chemical, biochemical, or biological technologies that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances during the discovery or development of pharmaceutical drug substances and products. Annual awards are presented to Pfizer scientists who demonstrate outstanding performances by incorporating green chemistry into pharmaceutical research and development activities. To qualify, their efforts must reflect the following criteria:

1. A new practice, technology, or project that advances the principles of green chemistry in Pfizer, and which also maintains or enhances productivity
2. A technical advance in a specific discovery or development project with a quantifiable environmental benefit (e.g., solvent or reagent substitution or elimination, decrease in number of process steps, improved quality and yield, etc.) that can have a sustained impact on future drug discovery, development, or manufacture at Pfizer
3. The nominated activity must have been conducted in the past two years

In addition to internal recognition, $5000 cash grants are provided to university chemistry or chemical engineering departments selected in collaboration between the winners and the site Green Chemistry teams. Pfizer will be issuing 10 awards in 2006.

Previous university grant winners include

• Ronald M. Jarret, The College of the Holy Cross
• Mary M. Walczak, St. Olaf College
• Gary Epling, University of Connecticut
• James Dittami, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Gordon Gribble, Dartmouth College
• Robert Kreisberg, West Liberty State College
• Timothy Lash, Illinois State University
• Larry Scheich, St. Norbert College
• Phillip Savage, University of Michigan
• Shannon S. Stahl, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Michael D. Seymour, Hope College
• Chris Willis, University of Bristol (UK)
• Jean-Marie Péchiné, Université Paris
• Philip Acton, University of Leicester (UK)

International Historic Chemical Landmark

The groundbreaking research of chemist Neil Bartlett proving that the noble gases are not inert was designated an International Historic Chemical Landmark in a special ceremony at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver on May 23, 2006. The Landmarks program is sponsored by the American Chemical Society.

Before Bartlett’s research, chemists had believed the noble gases (also called inert or rare gases) were chemically unable to react—meaning that helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon could not form compounds. This supposed inability to react chemically became a staple of textbooks.

That belief changed in the early 1960s when Neil Bartlett, then a chemist at the University of British Columbia, demonstrated the first reaction of a noble gas by combining xenon with a platinum fluoride to create the first noble gas compound. Today, noble gas compounds are used to create anti-tumor agents and to produce laser beams that are used in eye surgery; they show promise as green chemistry reagents for more environmentally friendly processes.

2005 PAEMST Winners

On April 28, 2006, President Bush announced the 100 recipients of Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) for 2005. The award, established in 1983 and administered by the National Science Foundation, annually honors exemplary teachers nationwide.

For 2005 awards, 7th–12th grade mathematics and science teachers were honored. Awardees receive a $10,000 educational grant for their schools. The winners also visited Washington, DC, where they toured the White House; were honored in an awards ceremony hosted by John H. Mar-burger III, Science Advisor to the President; participated in a Congressional hearing; and met with their members of Congress. See a complete listing of awardees as well as more information about PAEMST (accessed Jun 2006).

2006 National Disney Teacher Awards Announced

From more than 75,000 nominations, 44 teachers from across the U.S. have been chosen to receive the 2006 Disney Teacher Award in celebration of their creativity, innovative teaching methods, and ability to inspire their students. These teachers will now compete for the National Teacher of the Year honors, to be announced in August 2006.

The 44 honorees (and teaching teams) received $10,000 from Disney Worldwide Outreach and a trip to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. In addition, $5000 was awarded to each honoree’s school. Honorees and their principals will also attend a six-day professional development institute at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL, where they can share ideas and learn how to engage other teachers in building an effective collaborative teaching culture; they will then work with the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston to design a schoolwide plan for making teaching more effective. Honorees are selected by representatives of leading educational associations in the U.S. and by former Disney Teacher Honorees; they represent every subject field and every level of teaching.

The list of the 2006 honorees as well as information about the award program is available online (accessed Jun 2006).

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

International Congress of Nanotechnology

The 3rd International Congress of Nanotechnology (ICNT 2006) will be held October 30–November 2, 2006 in San Francisco. The conference theme is Road Map for the Next Frontier. Further information, including a listing of conference topics, is available (accessed Jun 2006) or contact Event Coordinator, International Association of Nanotechnology, 2386 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95825.

21st National Educators’ Workshop

The 21st annual National Educators’ Workshop (NEW: Update 2006) will be held October 15–19, 2006, in Cincinnati, OH. The workshop theme is Nano/Bio Science and Technology Education for the 21st Century: biologically inspired materials and devices; nanomaterials and applications; strategies for integrating nano/bio science and technology into education; experiments and demonstrations for engineering, technology, and science.

NEW: Update 2006 will provide current information to participants through the following activities: attending plenary talks; engaging in small-group workshops; receiving peer-reviewed papers and resources on CD-ROM; engaging students in emerging materials science and technology research; observing, evaluating, and obtaining classroom demonstrations and lab experiments; and interacting with fellow educators and industrial specialists. Poster and special interest sessions are planned, as well as graduate and undergraduate student poster competitions. More information is available (accessed Jun 2006) or by email.

Proposal Deadlines National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) The following NSF deadlines have been established or are anticipated. Advanced Technology Education (ATE) Full Proposals: October 12, 2006 Alliances for Broadening Participation in STEM (ABP) Full Proposals, LSAMP: October 15, 2006 Centers for Learning and Teaching (CLT) Full Proposals: August 21, 2006 Course, Curriculum and Lab Improvement (CCLI) Full Proposals, Phase 2 and 3: January 10, 2007 Informal Science Education (ISE) Preliminary Proposals: September 14, 2006 Full Proposals: December 14, 2006 Preliminary Proposals: March 8, 2007 Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) By invitation only: September 29, 2006 Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) Full Proposals: January 25, 2007 Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Full Proposals: August 30, 2006 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring Full Proposals: March 6, 2007 Research Experiences for Undergrads (REU) Full Proposals, REU Site proposals: August 17, 2006 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP) Letter of Intent (Type 1 and 2): August 15, 2006 Full Proposals (Type 1 and 2): September 26, 2006 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. Consult NSF Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education for the most up-to-date listings and guidelines; phone: 703/292-8670; email. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. Camille Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awards Program: November 9, 2006 Faculty Start-Up Award Program: May 10, 2007 Henry Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awards Program: June 28, 2007 New Faculty Awards Program: May 10, 2007 Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: May 24, 2007 Senior Scientist Mentor Program: Completed Proposals: October 5, 2006 Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: Completed Proposals: August 24, 2006 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. Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15 and November 15 Cottrell Scholar Awards: September 1 Research Innovation Awards: suspended 2004-2006 Research Opportunity Awards: May 1 and October 1 Special opportunities in Science Awards: suspended 2006-2008. Further information may be obtained from Research Corporation, 4703 East Camp Lowell Drive, Suite 201, Tucson, AZ 85712; phone: 520/571-1111; fax: 520/571-1119; email.