News from Journal House

JCE on the Road

Look for JCE at the 20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education this summer. You will find us nearly everywhere! At presentations: the symposium, JCE: Where We Are and How We Got There; a workshop on the Chemical Education Digital Library. We will have a booth in the exhibition area. And certainly you will want to attend the Ice Cream Social, which JCE sponsors jointly with 2YC₃.

ChemEd DL Update

ChemEd DL Now at iTunes

Are you a fan of iTunes? Do you know about the education section of iTunes called iTunes U? If so, you probably noticed that during the week of March 3 a ChemEd DL flask icon showed up in the Noteworthy section at iTunes U. The ChemEd DL is collaborating with the National Science Digital Library to disseminate our Pirelli Internetional Award winning videos through iTunes U. The Chemistry Comes Alive! video, which shows a broad sampling of our videos four at a time on the same screen, was a top iTunes download on Friday, March 7. If you are not an iTunes regular, go to this Web site and click on Go to iTunes U in the iTunes Store (right side of the screen) (accessed Mar 2008). Look for the ChemEd DL and you can see some cool chemistry from CCA!

Workshops at 20th BCCE

This summer at the 20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, three groups—the Journal of Chemical Education, Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC), and the Chemical Education Digital Library (ChemEd DL)—are partnering to bring participants a workshop. This workshop introduces the ChemEd DL, the new chemistry pathway in the National Science Digital Library (NSDL). Participants will learn everything from how to find the right resource for the job to actually implementing that resource in their classrooms.

A few of the resources we will explore are Featured Molecules, laboratory experiments, JCE Classroom Activities, video from the Chemistry Comes Alive! series, and General Chemistry Multimedia Problems. The ChemEd DL partner community, IONiC, will demonstrate their new social networking and learning site, Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Electronic Resource or VIPEr. Participants will actively explore ChemEd DL and VIPEr, learning about all these sites have to offer. The workshop will also explore a number of the exciting, hands-on chemistry activity resources available on the Web sites, so be prepared to get dirty! Some participants will do the extremely popular Colorful Lather Printing and Apple Fool activities. Each participant will receive a complimentary month-long subscription to the JCE Online.

Earth Day: Are You Ready?

Earth Day is just around the corner: April 22.

Question: Are you prepared? Do you have materials in hand for your presentations and for your students to use? Would you like ready-to-use activities at hand?

Hint: February 2008 was JCE's Earth Day issue with the 2008 theme, Water—Streaming Chemistry, reflected in the articles and labs collected there.

Answer: The Journal of Chemical Education is the answer to your problems—not just with the February 2008 issue but also with Earth Day issues in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007!

Put these resources to good use, and if you have things to share with others, send them along.

Awards Announced

2008 Hackerman Award

The Welch Foundation has named Francis T. F. Tsai of the Baylor College of Medicine as the recipient of the 2008 Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research. Tsai's research in structural biochemistry combines structural biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and protein chemistry to focus on how large energy-dependent molecular machines operate in a cell.

Award Deadlines

Jacob Bolotin Award

The National Federation of the Blind announces the establishment of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Program sponsored by the Alfred & Rosalind Perlman Trust. The first cash awards will be issued in 2008 at the Federation's annual convention; they will recognize individuals and organizations working in the field of blindness that have made outstanding contributions toward achieving the full integration of the blind into society on a basis of equality. The awards will total $100,000, but the number of individual awards and the amount of each award will be determined by the Award Committee based on its determination of the relative merits of the pool of applicants.

Each year, one or more awards will be given to blind individuals; one or more will be given to individuals who are not blind; and one or more awards will be given to corporations, organizations, or other entities. More information may be found online (accessed Mar 2008). The deadline for applications is April 15.

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

On the Move: Exams Institute

The Division of Chemical Education Examinations Institute will move its offices during summer 2008. Its new host will be the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. The Institute Director, Tom Holme, will join the Iowa State chemistry faculty at that time as well.

Check the April 2008 issue of the Journal for detailed contact information. The Exams Institute Web site (accessed Mar 2008) will have updates and complete address information as well.

Journal of Proteome Research (JPR)
Special Thematic Issue:
Mammary Gland and Breast Cancer Proteomics

The mammary gland and its associated diseases, notably breast cancer, represent a good model system and a test case for what proteomics can do. Proteomics has the potential to help us understand mammary tissue physiology, identify risk factors for disease and markers for early detection, and develop means for molecular pathological classifications of breast lesions as preneoplastic, neoplastic, and so on.

This special issue of JPR provides a snapshot of the progress in the field and a window on the various strategies being pursued to tackle the challenges at hand. Perhaps the greatest challenge lies in the identification of blood-based biomarkers that are useful for detecting diseases, such as breast cancer, at an early stage. Some of the studies featured in this special issue attest to the progress made with serum- and plasma-based strategies to identify biomarkers. Other manuscripts report on alternative strategies to identify candidate markers closer to the tissue source. An obvious target is breast tissue itself. Other in vivo sources include fluids that bathe the tissue or are produced by it. Cell lines, tumor-derived cell populations, and animal models provide additional means to identify candidate markers and determine their temporal change with disease initiation, progression, and regression.

Common to all proteomics strategies and to all targeted organs and disease states are considerations related to experimental design, sample processing, and data handling. This special issue also vividly illustrates how these challenges are being addressed both in basic and in translational proteomics studies.

Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
Online Magazine for Elementary Teachers

A new online magazine for elementary teachers has been launched with funding from NSF: Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears (accessed Mar 2008). It is an online professional development magazine written for elementary teachers to help them develop content knowledge of the polar regions and use best practices in integrating science and literacy instruction. The first of 20 planned issues is A Sense of Place and provides an introduction to the geographic location and characteristics of the Arctic and Antarctica. In it you can read about a scientist who helped produce some of the most accurate images of Antarctica, learn about the research-based strategy of identifying similarities and differences, and more.

Each month's issue will be organized around a theme that reflects common science topics in the elementary curriculum. Coming on April 1, 2008, is Learning From the Past, an issue that examines the fossils, dinosaurs, and archaeological artifacts of the polar regions. (Note: previous issues will remain available.)

2008 Science History Tour Goes to France

We will start our trip in Provence (probably in Avignon) on June 18, 2008, and end the trip in Paris on July 2, 2008. During the trip we will include as many aspects of science as possible, but the focus will be on the 19th century.

Our itinerary will take us to the south, including the wine-growing areas of the Languedoc and to some of the interesting areas in the west. The chateaux of the Loire will be on our route and we will end with a few days in Paris, where there are many science-related places to see.

During the tour we will study Gay-Lussac and other scientists, the history of medicine, the historical importance of salt and its role in the development of towns (and in changing the course of French politics), and the archeology of the wonderful Roman sites at Nimes and Pont du Gard. We will go to Montpellier, site of the earliest medical school in France, then travel to Carcassonne and end in Paris. It goes without saying that we will also study wine production in a very practical way. There will as usual be both three hours of inexpensive college credit for those interested and CPDUs for teachers.

The cost of the tour will include hotel accommodations with private bath, admissions to museums, lecture fees, and taxes as well as land transportation. Breakfasts, at least one other meal per day (on average), and often wine with dinners are included. The cost of the 2008 tour has not yet been calculated, but with the present rate of exchange for the U.S. dollar against the Euro, we do not expect it to be less than $3600 per person double occupancy. Trans-Atlantic air fare is not included. But please note—in our tour evaluations we always get high marks for value for money! Many of our participants receive some or all of the tour cost from their schools or colleges, or from their districts.

Our last trip to France was fully subscribed, so let us know if you are considering joining the group. Send an email to Lee Marek or Yvonne Twomey.

Breaking Barriers in Communication:
Summer Workshop for STEM Educators

An NSF-sponsored workshop will train 20+ STEM faculty from across the country in the development of active learning techniques, developing a repository of discipline-specific activities, and combining that with training in the use of a Tablet PC-based system that allows faculty to implement such activities utilizing technology-based affordances. The workshop and its follow-on activities seeks to build a community of scholars and contribute to education research on issues of active learning in STEM disciplines. The workshop will provide training for faculty in the electronic active learning system and in active learning techniques; serve as a venue for the interchange and development of ideas on active learning across STEM disciplines; and educate STEM faculty in the area of human subjects-based research including research and analysis techniques appropriate to such studies.

The workshop will be held July 9–1, 2008, in San Diego, CA. Further information may be found online (accessed Mar 2008).

Summer Plans?
Workshops for High School Chemistry Teachers

The mission of the American Chemical Society's (ACS), teacher training program is to improve the quality of secondary chemical education in both content and instructional approach. To that end, ACS has offered national teaching training opportunities in the form of summer workshops since 1988. Listed below are what we have planned for the summer of 2008.

Chemistry in the Community Workshops

These five-day residential workshops are designed for teachers using or planning to use the ACS first-year chemistry textbook, Chemistry in the Community. The first four units of the textbook are covered in detail. Instructional tips and techniques are given by experienced teacher leaders as well as explanations about the ChemCom philosophy. Teachers have the opportunity to perform many of the student laboratory investigations and classroom activities from the textbook themselves, gaining valuable insight to the safety aspects, analysis, and preparation of these activities.

• Duquesne University (PA): July 6–11, 2008
• Saint Mary's College (CA): July 13–18, 2008
• Texas State University (TX): July 13–18, 2008
• St. Thomas (MN): July 27–August 1, 2008
• Hope College (MI): August 3–8, 2008

The registration fee for this workshop is $50; ACS provides room, board, and materials. More information, requirements, application forms, and/or online registration is available (under the heading Educators & Faculty follow the link for Courses and Workshops) (accessed Mar 2008).

Teaching Inquiry-Based Advanced High School Chemistry Workshops

If you're looking for new ideas to enhance your advanced high school chemistry course, take this workshop. Based on the college textbook Chemistry and led by experienced chemistry educators, this three-day residential workshop will give you the tools you need to incorporate inquiry into your advanced high school chemistry course. The workshop provides instructional tips and techniques for promoting active and collaborative learning through: short experiments that introduce chemical concepts, modeling as a means to understanding and explaining chemical concepts, and reasoning as a means to solving problems.

• Duquesne University (PA): July 6–9, 2008
• Saint Mary's College (CA): July 13–16, 2008
• Texas State University (TX): July 13–16, 2008
• St. Thomas (MN): July 27–30, 2008
• Hope College (MI): August 3–6, 2008

The registration fee for this workshop is $50; ACS provides room, board, and materials. More information, requirements, application forms, and/or online registration is available (under the heading Educators & Faculty follow the link for Courses and Workshops) (accessed Mar 2008).

Green Chemistry Workshops for High School Teachers

ACS will offer two, one-week workshops on green chemistry for high school teachers in 2008. The workshops are supported by a generous grant from the Bayer Foundation.

• Pittsburgh, PA: July 6–11, 2008
• Raleigh–Durham, NC: to be announced

For more information, please contact Mary Kirchhoff.