News from Journal House

Plan Ahead: Earth Day 2007 Issue

The tradition continues. The February 2007 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education will feature articles related to Earth Day and this year’s theme: “Recycling—Chemistry Can!”. You will find articles, lab experiments, a Classroom Activity, a Resource Paper, and more… Mark your calendar to look for the February 2007 issue in mid-January, in plenty of time to prepare to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, 2007.

In addition, the American Chemical Society will have a wide range of resources, events, and products connected with Earth Day. Find more information on the ACS Web site at http://www.chemistry.org/earthday (accessed Aug 2006).

Awards Announced

CHED Members Receive Awards at Regional Meetings

Two active CHED members received awards to recognize their commitment to chemical education at regional ACS meetings.

Allene Johnson, a retired teacher from Summit High School in New Jersey, received the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences. The award was presented at the Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting in Hershey, PA, June 4–7, by the ACS Committee on Minority Affairs. The award recognizes individuals and/or institutions that have advanced diversity in the chemical sciences and significantly stimulated or fostered activities that promote inclusiveness within the region.

At the Northwest Regional Meeting held in Reno, NV, June 25–28, the Northwest Regional Volunteer Service Award was given to Jane Crosby for her more than 35 years of dedicated work as the manager of chemical education programs at Washington State University, within the Northwest Region, and for CHED at national ACS meetings, and biennial conferences. She created the CHED Newsletter and served as its first editor.

E. Emmet Reid Award to CHED Member

Theresa Julia Zielinski of the Department of Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ, recently received an E. Emmet Reid Award. The award, administered by the Steering Committee of the ACS Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting (MARM), is for outstanding achievements in teaching chemical sciences at small colleges within the region. The Award consists of $1000 and a major award plaque.

Teaching Excellence Professorship Announced

Valerie Ashby, a member of the Chemistry Department of the University of North Carolina, has recently been awarded a Bowman and Gordon Gray professorship for her teaching excellence. The professorship will be effective from July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2011; it consists of a salary supplement, a fund for research support, and a sabbatical leave. Her chemistry research focuses on the design and synthesis of polymeric biomaterials. At UNC she has taught organic chemistry to sophomores and juniors; this fall she will teach introductory chemistry to first-year students.

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

Scholarships for Low Income Students

The QuestBridge College Match program offers an opportunity for outstanding low-income students to gain admission and full four-year scholarships to some of the nation’s top-ranked colleges.

If you know a high school senior who has achieved excellent academic results in the face of economic challenges, please encourage him or her to apply to the College Match. Applications are available from the QuestBridge Web site and are due October 1, 2006. The College Match application is free of charge.

The following colleges offer admission and full scholarships through the QuestBridge College Match: Amherst College (MA), Bowdoin College (ME), Columbia University (NY), Oberlin College (OH), Pomona College (CA), Princeton University (NJ), Rice University (TX), Scripps College (CA), Stanford University (CA), Swarthmore College (PA), Trinity College (CT), Wellesley College (MA), Wheaton College (IL), and Williams College (MA).

For more information, please visit the QuestBridge Web site. An extended version of this announcement is available online (all sites accessed Aug 2006).

Southwest Regional ACS Meeting

The Greater Houston Section of the American Chemical Society will host the 62nd annual Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM) of the American Chemical Society. The meeting will take place at the Houston Marriott Westchase Hotel in Houston, TX from Thursday, October 19 through Sunday, October 22, 2006.

The meeting’ s theme is Nano Scale—Giga Vision. Sessions will encompass biochemistry and medicinal chemistry, chemical education, analytical, inorganic, organic, polymer, and physical chemistry. They will focus on topics including nanoscience, biochips, anticancer carbohydrates, catalysis and kinetics of polymers, carbon black in tires, chemical utilization of solar energy, chemical safety on the Gulf Coast, and bionano environmental techniques. Technical programs targeting women chemists, technicians, and undergraduates are also scheduled. If you have questions, contact Monte Pettitt, Technical Program Chair; by phone at 713/743-3263; or visit the conference Web site (accessed Aug 2006) for complete registration information, program details, hotel reservations, and other area information and events.

The meeting program will include many special events, symposia, workshops, an ACS Chem Jobs Employment Center, Educator’s Day, special regional awards, and poster sessions. Symposium topics include: Chemical Utilization of Solar Energy; Bridging the Scale: Study of Large Biomolecular Complexes at Multiple Scales; Advanced Oxides; Relaxation and Transport in Strongly Non-Equilibrium Media; Molecular Motors; Modeling Chemical Dynamics in the Quantum Regime; Signal Proteins; Computational Chemistry and Drug Design; Surface Microscopies: AFM, STM; and Small Chemical Businesses.

High School Chemistry Teacher Listserv

Where can high school chemistry teachers go for advice and input on problem-solving techniques, interesting labs, continuous professional inspiration, and immediate feedback? A listserv for high school chemistry teachers has been available online since January 2002, and has recently moved to a new location within Google Groups (accessed Aug 2006). The move provides the listserv with a broader forum, an online searchable archive of posts, as well as a resource Web site. The Web site offers teacher-contributed materials and useful links for teachers. Membership currently stands at about 500 members, with teachers from around the world. All prospective members are screened for eligibility, which is restricted to chemistry educators. No commercial vendors or high school students may participate, to maintain the professional development focus of the listserv. More information about the listserv and the procedure for joining is available online; click Join Us (accessed Aug 2006). Please help make the listserv an even more valuable resource by adding your voice.

Looking for a reason to join? Two current members share their reasons.

It is because of the advice, labs, activities, support, and camaraderie that I received from this list that helped me stay in teaching past those critical first years.

Tanya Bunch, Strawberry Plains, TN

The Internet unites chemistry teachers! With the listserv, a colleague is just a click away!

Carrie Wallace, Princeton, IN

Online Conference on Chemical Education

An online conference will be held October 13–30, 2006, as part of the CONFCHEM (CONFerences on CHEMistry) offerings of the ACS Division of Chemical Education’s Committee on Computers in Chemical Education. Abstracts and papers can be found online at the Committee’s Web site (accessed Aug 2006).

The Division of Chemical Education:
Ensuring the Future through Education
October 13–30, 2006

Schedule for Papers

1. Where Do I Go for Help with Teaching Chemistry? Finding What You Need at ACS. Loretta L. Jones, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Chair, Division of Chemical Education, and Mary Kirchhoff, Acting Director, Education Division of AC
   
   Educators have access to many teaching resources through the Division of Chemical Education, the ACS Education Division, and ACS committees. The roles of these entities and the support that they provide will be described and distinguished.
   
   
2. Programming Heaven or Hell? Catherine Middlecamp, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI; Chair, Division of Chemical Education Program Committee
   
   Some things work smoothly and well at ACS national meetings. Others don’t. This paper will examine both in the light of the 10 years I have spent on the CHED Program Committee.
   
   
3. High School Chemistry: Issues Faced by a Profession in the Middle. Claire Baker, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, Indianapolis, IN; Chair, High School Committee
   
   Several important issues were raised in last year’s CONFCHEM relating to high school chemistry. This paper will revisit some of these issues with the hope that the dialogue generated will strengthen the bridge between high school chemistry teachers and the rest of the chemistry community.
   
   
4. ACS Exams: Past, Present, and Future. Thomas Holme, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI; Director, ACS Examinations Institute.
   
   This paper will outline the manner in which DivCHED developed and fostered an Institute for assessment. We’ll consider the current state of the Institute and its array of assessment tools and then focus in some detail on where the Institute is going in the next 5–6 years in terms of providing new tools for educators who are looking for more and better ways to assess the learning accomplished by their students.

General Schedule

Friday–Sunday, October 13–15: Participants send in short questions for Papers 1 (Jones and Kirchhoff) and 2 (Middlecamp).

Monday, October 16: The answers to the short questions for Papers 1 and 2 are posted; discussion of Paper 1 begins.

Tuesday, October 17: Discussion of Paper 1 continues.

Wednesday–Thursday, October 18–19: Discussion of Paper 2.

Friday–Sunday, October 20–22: Participants send in short questions for Papers 3 (Baker) and 4 (Holmes).

Monday, October 23: The answers to the short questions for Papers 3 and 4 are posted; discussion of Paper 3 begins.

Tuesday, October 24: Discussion of Paper 3 continues.

Wednesday–Thursday, October 25–26: Discussion of Paper 4.

Friday and Monday, October 27 and 30: General Discussion.  No discussion takes place on Saturday and Sunday.

There is no registration fee. Online discussion will occur via the CHEMCONF Majordomo email list. To subscribe, send the following command:

SUBSCRIBE CONFCHEM your name <your email address>
in the body of an email message sent to
MAJORDOMO@CLARKSON.EDU

Note that your email address must be bracketed by < and >. You will receive a confirmation by email with additional instructions; other instructions (such as unsubscribing) are on the page.

Schedule of NSTA Meetings

A schedule of upcoming regional and national meetings of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) appears below.

2006 Area Conferences

• Midwestern Area Conference: Omaha, NE, October 19–21, 2006
• Eastern Area Conference: Baltimore, MD, November 2–4, 2006
• Western Area Conference: Salt Lake City, UT, December 7–9, 2006

2007 National Conference

• 55th National Conference on Science Education: St. Louis, MO, March 29–April 1, 2007

More information about NSTA and its activities is available online (accessed Aug 2006).

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 Course, Curriculum and Lab Improvement (CCLI) Full Proposals, Phase 2 and 3: January 10, 2007 EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program (RII) Full Proposals: October 6, 2006 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy) (GRFP) Full Proposal: November 13, 2006 Informal Science Education (ISE) Full Proposals: December 14, 2006 Preliminary Proposals: March 8, 2007 Full Proposals: June 21, 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 International Research and Education (PIRE) Preliminary Proposals (required): October 30, 2006 Full Proposals (by invitation only): February 28, 2007 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring Full Proposals: March 6, 2007 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP) 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: Preliminary Proposals: June 7, 2007 Completed Proposals: August 23, 2007 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.