News from Journal House

National Chemistry Week (NCW)

Celebrating Chemistry and Art is the theme of NCW 2001, to be held November 4-10, 2001. As you make plans for participating in the celebrations in your area, keep in mind that JCE is developing special materials on this theme, which will appear in our October issue: Classroom Activities, a comprehensive Illustrated Resource Paper, Report from Online, specially written brief articles illustrated in color, articles related to the theme, and CLIPs (Chemical Laboratory Information Profiles).

Awards Announced

Passer Award

Passer Award recipients from the April 1 closing date are:

• George Bennett, Millikin University, Decatur, IL
• Daniel Berger, Bluffton College, Bluffton, OH
• Karen Dunlap, Sierra College, Rocklin, CA
• Myung-Hoon Kim, Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody, GA
• Cheryl Longfellow, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA
• Jerry Maas, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, IL
• Tim Royappa, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL

Visiting Scientist Award, Western Connecticut Section

Diane Bunce, The Catholic University of America, has been selected as the 2001 Visiting Scientist of the Western Connecticut Section of the ACS. The award, presented annually since 1967, brings an outstanding chemical educator to visit high schools in Fairfield County, CT. In May, Bunce visited three high schools, Christian Heritage School, Fairfield High School, and Greenwich High School, where she interacted with teachers and students and presented lectures and demonstrations to several chemistry classes. She was also keynote speaker at the ACS local section's Education Night. The awardee is selected by a committee of university and high school teachers, industrial chemists, and the previous Visiting Scientist; there is an honorarium of $1500 plus expenses.

Welch Award

Roger D. Kornberg, a professor of structural biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, received the 2001 Welch Award for his discovery of the nucleosome and establishing its role in gene regulation; for his discovery of a giant complex of 20 proteins known as the "Mediator", which regulates the transcription process; and for determining the atomic structure of RNA polymerase II. The $300,000 award salutes Kornberg's lifetime contributions to biochemistry.

NSTA Teacher Awards

During its 2001 national convention the National Science Teachers Association presented prizes and awards to teachers for their exemplary teaching practices and commitment to quality science education. Many appear below.

Distinguished Service to Science Education Award

• JoAnne Vasquez, Science Consultant, Gilbert, AZ
• Richard F. Duncan, Beaverton Administrative Center, Beaverton, OR
• Mitchell E. Batoff, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ

Distinguished Informal Science Education Award

• Al Stenstrup, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Education Foundation Exemplary Science Teaching Award, High School Level

• Gerald Friday, Marquette High School, Milwaukee, WI

Gustav Ohaus Innovations in Science Teaching, High School

• Mark Stefanski, Marin Academy, San Rafael, CA (first place)
• James A. Szoka, Clarke County High School, Berryville, VA (second place)

Gustav Ohaus Innovations in Science Teaching, College

• William F. McComas, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (first place)
• Barbara M. Lom, Davidson College, Davidson, NC (second place)

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

Proposal Deadlines

Proposal Deadlines will not appear this month. Readers should consult page 876 of the July 2001 issue or JCE Online.

National Educators' Workshop

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory will host the 16th annual National Educators' Workshop (NEW: Update): Experiments in Engineering, Materials Science, and Technology. NEW: Update is part of the NIST centennial celebration. It will be held in Gaithersburg, MD, and at the University of Maryland, College Park, October 14-17, 2001.

NEW: Update, is a partnership involving industry, government, and education. It will have a program of Experiments and Demonstrations, Mini Workshops, and Plenary Sessions. For registration information, contact Jim Jacobs, NEW: Update 2001, School of Science and Technology, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504-8060; phone: 757/823-8109/9072; fax: 757/823-8215; dplaclaire@nsu.edu. The latest information about the workshop will be at http://MST-Online.nsu.edu/new.

Chemistry Is in the News Conference

Chemistry Is in the News--Teaching Organic Chemistry in the Context of Real World Issues, will be held at the University of Missouri-Columbia September 21-23, 2001. Funding from the Dreyfus Foundation will support 18 participants and will offer some partial travel grants.

The conference will instruct faculty about the philosophy, pedagogy, implementation, and assessment of the project, doing so in small collaborative groups. It will focus on facilitating news-media-based authentic learning activities aimed at connecting real-world social, economic, and political issues to the teaching of organic chemistry and the development of student-assisted collaborative learning groups. The conference organizers are Rainer Glaser and James Groccia. Those interested should contact Rainer Glaser, University of Missouri, Department of Chemistry, Columbia, MO 65211; phone: 573/882-0331; fax: 573/882-2754; GlaserR@missouri.edu.

ChemNet--Chemistry Lecture on the Internet

A multimedia chemistry lecture, developed by R. Demuth, S. Nick, K. Rabe, L. Lensment, S. Schanze, J. Andresen, and W. Bensch of the University of Kiel, Germany, is being provided without charge over the Internet. The lecture is directed at students of chemistry, agricultural science, medicine, biology, and engineering and other interested persons. The lecture is in German but an English version is planned. With the aid of ChemNet the group plans to attain some information on the use and efficiency of multimedia teaching and learning software.

The lecture deals with the fundamentals of general and inorganic chemistry. In addition to traditional content, new ways of chemical reasoning are considered. The presentation includes topics from the living world and everyday life such as household chemicals, renewable materials, and acid rain, and includes links from the text to other content. Graphics, animations, photos, and videos illustrate the topics discussed. A table of contents on the home page lists all the main topics and directs users into specific chapters; there are also a search function and a glossary. A feedback option allows students to contact the developing team. ChemNet can be found at www.chemievorlesung.uni-kiel.de. To gain access, a registration form needs to be completed.

Future Meetings: 2YC₃

Upcoming conferences sponsored by 2YC₃, the Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium, an activity of the ACS Division of Chemical Education, are listed below. Details of each conference are available at that conference's Web site.

• September 14-15, 2001: 156th Conference (Midwestern), Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Coon Rapids, MN 55433; http://www.ar.cc.mn.us/2yc3/. Contact Lance S. Lund (llund@an.cc.mn.us) or Patty Pieper (ppieper@an.cc.mn.us).
• November 2-3, 2001: 157th Conference (Western), Community College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89102. Contact Kaveh Zarrabi (zarrabi@nevada.edu).
• April 5-6, 2002: 158th Conference (Southern), in conjunction with the National ACS Meeting, Orlando, FL; site pending.
• July 30-August 3, 2002: 159th Conference (Western), in conjunction with the 17th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA; http://atom.chem.wwu.edu/acs/bcce2002.html. Contact Clarita Bhat (ccbhat@msn.com).

Future Meetings: NSTA

Upcoming meetings of the National Science Teachers Association, including those at both the regional and national levels, appear below.

• October 25-27, 2001: Salt Lake City, UT (Western Area)
• November 8-10, 2001: Columbus, OH (Midwestern Area)
• December 6-8, 2001: Memphis, TN (Southern Area)
• March 27-30, 2002: San Diego, CA (2002 National Convention)

For details, see the NSTA Web site, www.nsta.org.