The Chemical Educator - Announcements

TCE

October 15, 2006

Please welcome Paul Kelter to the board of editors. Professor Kelter received his B.S. from the City College of the City University of New York in 1976 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 1980 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UN-L). Before coming to the University of Illinois (2003) as Professor and Director of the General Chemistry Division, he worked as an Educational Specialist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was on the faculty of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and, most recently, held the M. F. Rourk Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

November 23, 2004

3rd. International Microscale Chemistry Symposium. May 18-20, 2005.

Venue: Universidad Iberoamericana - Mexico City.

Plenary lectures, Experimental demostrations, Workshops, Posters, Glassblowing demonstrations, Cultural event, etc.

Deadline for abstracts (there will be poster presentations only): Short abstracts (max. 150 words) and long abstracts (max. 4 pages) in free format: Jan. 30, 2005

Contests: a) Design of a miniature magnetic stirrer; b) Chemical production of the colors of the Mexican flag (green, white, and red).

More info: http://www.uia.mx/investigacion/cmqm/default.html

Dr. Jorge G. Ibanez
Centro Mexicano de Quimica en Microescala
Depto. de Ing. y Ciencias Quimicas
Universidad Iberoamericana-Ciudad de Mexico
Prolongacion Paseo Reforma 880
Col. Lomas de Santa Fe
01210 Mexico, DF
MEXICO
Tel. 52(55) 5950 4176, 4074, 4168
Fax 52(55) 5950 4279, 4063
Email: jorge.ibanez@uia.mx

June 22, 2004

The Chemical Educator is available in print as well as our online version. At only $49 for the entire year* you can have the complete volume delivered to you for your personal library. For order information click here and then scroll to the bottom of the page.

(* cost for a black and white individual copy)

June 7, 2004

The Chemical Educator is supported by the National Science Foundation. The following is posted in accordance with the terms of the award.

"This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0342784." "Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF)."

May 20, 2004

Welcome to our new server! Now both individual and institutional subscribers are served at the same site. One of the improvements that you will notice is a more versatile search engine with many other features soon to come.

We did need to refresh all user passwords and institutional IP ranges. If you have any questions please let us know (email us). Also, you may now select your favorite password or use the default one sent to you form the office – just let us know if you would like a new password and we will set it for you immediately!

February 4, 2004

The NSF-sponsored Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences (CWCS) announces its 2004 program. These week-long workshops are designed for faculty and staff with instructional responsibilities at the undergraduate-level at universities, colleges and community colleges. Individuals who plan to embark on a career in college teaching (i.e., advanced graduate students and post-docs) are also welcome. The workshops are designed to provide a background and modern perspective on various topics in the chemical sciences, along with methods to introduce these topics into the college curriculum. They all involve extensive hands-on activities. Registration, housing and a per diem for food are provided at no cost to participants. Some support might also be available to cover the cost of travel to the workshops. The workshops have a long history of engaging faculty in new areas and providing great support for enhancing the curriculum at a variety of institutions.

Further information about CWCS, descriptions of individual workshops, and an application are available on the web at: http://www.chemistry.gsu.edu/cwcs

2004 Workshops

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Washington State University in Pullman, WA, May 23-28, 2004

Chemistry of Art
Millersville University in Millersville, PA, June 6-11, 2004

Environmental Chemistry
Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, June 13-18, 2004

Molecular Modeling
University of California at Riverside in Riverside, CA, June 13-18, 2004

Forensic Chemistry
Williams College in Williamstown, MA, June 20-25, 2004

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
University of Georgia in Athens, GA, June 20-25, 2004

Crystallography for Chemists
California state University at Fullerton in Fullerton, CA, June 26 - July 01, 2004

Molecular Genetics and Protein Structure and Function
University of Hawaii at Hilo in Hilo, HI, July 11-16, 2004

Chemical Education and Laboratory Learning
University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, IL, July 11-16, 2004

Materials Science and Nanotechnology for Chemists
Beloit College in Beloit, WI, July 25-30, 2004

Computational and Theoretical Chemistry
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, May 30 – June 4

Polymer Chemistry
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, June 20-25

Combinational and Solid Phase Synthesis
Wright State University in Dayton, OH, August 22-27, 2004

CWCS is sponsored by the NSF Curriculum Course and Laboratory Improvement National Dissemination (NSF-CCLI-ND) program. CWCS is directed by Dr. J.C. Smith (Georgia State University, Department of Chemistry, Atlanta, GA 30302 (chejcs@panther.gsu.edu), Dr. Emelita D. Breyer (Georgia State University, Department of Chemistry, Atlanta, GA 30302; ebreyer@gsu.edu), Dr. David M. Collard, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400; david.collard@chemistry.gatech.edu) and Dr. Larry Kaplan (Williams College, Department of Chemistry, Williamstown, MA 01267; lkaplan@williams.edu).

Hosting Institutions include: Beloit College,California State University at Fullerton, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, James Madison University, Kettering University, Miami University of Ohio, Millersville University, University of California – Riverside, University of Georgia,
University of Hawaii at Hilo,

University of Illinois – Chicago, Utah State University, Washington State University, Williams College, Wright State University, Dow Chemical, Eastman Chemical, Air Products.

Sincerely,

David Collard
CWCS co-director, Georgia Institute of Technology

December 28, 2003

When needing fast access to an article or its supporting materials just use the DOI number with the DOI Website address to go directly to the bibliography page. For example, to go to “DNA Structure: Happy 50th Birthday!” by George B. Kauffman using the assigned DOI number enter http://dx.doi.org/10.1333/s00897030689a into your browser. Click on the link to try it!

August 8, 2003

Bates College hosts national summit on undergraduate research, Contact: Doug Hubley, 207-786-6329.

LEWISTON, Maine -- From Aug. 2 through 4, forty-nine leaders in chemistry research from U.S. academic institutions, industry and funding agencies will attend a national Undergraduate Research Summit at Bates College.

This Bates summit will examine issues involved in sustaining chemistry research at primarily undergraduate institutions and recommend ways to increase the benefit to students doing research at such schools.

In the face of significant change in the demographics of students and their professors, in scientific knowledge and in academic methods, the summit marks one of the few times that these stakeholders in the field have organized a formal approach to making undergraduate chemistry research an even more positive experience.

"I think it could have some impact," says summit organizer Tom Wenzel, Dana Professor of Chemistry at Bates. "It certainly has that potential."

A scientist whose research with Bates students has been described in more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, Wenzel was asked to organize the summit by the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemistry. He is co-convener of the summit with Robert Lichter of Merrimack Consultants, the former executive director of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

Why the focus on undergraduate institutions? "The nature of a lot of scientific investigations these days is quite complex, quite multidisciplinary," says Wenzel. "The research universities have the ability to put together multidisciplinary teams to go after complex problems," whereas at many smaller schools, for myriad reasons, "there's not that same possibility."

Wenzel undertook the project in recognition of the importance of undergraduate research to student education and, as a training ground for future researchers, to science itself. The summit will tackle 10 topic areas, from the role of research in the curriculum to the changing demographics of students and faculty.

Wenzel feels especially strongly about two topic areas. For one, he says, "the reality is that at small schools, the research component is always inherently a fragile enterprise." Science faculty at such schools are often faced with isolation from a larger peer group and high workloads, pressures that make it harder to keep current with one's field and come up with fresh ideas.

Still more pressing is the fact that "in a lot of the science disciplines, we're not doing a very good job at all in terms of bringing in underrepresented minorities," Wenzel continues. "A huge part of the Bates summit will be aimed at making recommendations that would stand a good chance of helping diversify science," with about a third of summit attendees being African American or Hispanic.

With support from the National Science Foundation, a steering committee working closely with the Chemistry Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) developed the summit's agenda. Representatives from a range of institutional stakeholders -- not only academe but industry and funding agencies -- will attend.

Wenzel himself is likely to be the author of the Bates summit's final report, which will disseminate the gatherings' recommendations to a broad readership. Those recommendations will be aimed at interested constituencies from major funders like the NSF itself, to schools, to individual professors. They could include changes systemic and complex, or straightforward and practical.

"It might be something as simple as saying, 'I want all my classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so I have Tuesday and Thursday free to do research,' " he laughs. "A lot of departments would never think of discussing a matter like that."

For more about the Undergraduate Research Summit, see: http://abacus.bates.edu/acad/depts/chemistry/twenzel/summit.html

June 28, 2003

The past two weeks problem with both receiving and sending email to TCE appears to have been corrected. Thank you for your patience - Clifford LeMaster

June 4, 2003

The DOI numbering system will use a new prefix of 10.1333 for all articles published in The Chemical Educator. The old prefix of 10.1007 was associated with Springer-Verlag and is no longer used. The new prefix was first used starting with manuscripts published in volume eight (1/1/03). We are in the process of converting all previous volumes to use the new prefix. Currently, all DOI’s associated with articles published in volumes 1-3 have been updated and registered. Volumes 4-7 should be updated in the near future. The new prefix should be used when referencing TCE articles using DOI numbers.

May 15, 2003

New Contact Information

Our new mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and email addresses are now available. This new contact information will provide our nonprofit journal a stable and independent environment in which to serve you - our readers, reviewers, and authors.

Clifford LeMaster - Editor in Chief

The Chemical Educator
7154 West State Street #301
Boise, ID 83714 USA

Phone 208-440-1866
Fax 208-248-2366
tce@chemeducator.org

May 9, 2003

Welcome to our new Home!

Welcome to our new and final Internet resting stop for The Chemical Educator. Our new URL http://chemeducator.org (or http://www.chemeducator.org) will be an easy to remember Internet address and is no longer dependant on the physical location of our server. Our institutional users may create a direct link to http://chemeducator.org/tceinst/ or use the link from the main page. We will also be updating our postal address, phone, and fax numbers in the near future to give us the independence that we need to continue providing chemical educators with the highest quality articles in the timeliest manner.

April 16, 2003

New from JCE! Advanced Chemistry Collection CD-ROM, 3rd Edition contains 42 tried and tested JCE Software programs
appropriate for advanced chemistry students enrolled in courses such as organic chemistry, analytical chemistry,
physical chemistry, or biochemistry. Read the full press release here (844 KB PDF)

February 10, 2003

November 7, 2002

JCE Software's newest publication, Chemistry Comes Alive! Volume 6: Laboratory Techniques (CCA! 6) is the sixth in a series of CD-ROMs containing high-quality QuickTime movies and still pictures covering a broad range of topics in chemistry. With more than 600 QuickTime movies and more than 3600 still images that illustrate laboratory equipment, procedures, and techniques, CCA! 6 is a comprehensive resource for high school chemistry, general chemistry, analytical chemistry, and organic chemistry laboratory courses.

For a detailed description of the contents of all six Chemistry Comes Alive! CDs, visit JCE Online at http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/. (PDF version of this announcement 5.6 MB)

Please welcome Loretta Jones to The Chemical Educator's Board of Editors!

Loretta Jones is a professor of chemistry at the University of Northern Colorado who has been involved in research on chemical education for more than 20 years. Her research interests in chemical education include investigating ways to involve students actively in their learning, new applications of advanced technologies to the teaching of chemistry, and visual representations of complex chemical phenomena. She has developed interactive multimedia curricula for both college-level and high school chemistry courses. She was a co-principal investigator of the NSF-funded Rocky Mountain Teacher Education Collaborative, a coalition of six colleges and universities created to improve the education of mathematics and science teachers. Currently she is directing an NSF project to develop ways to enhance national and international collaboration among diverse disciplines for research on molecular visualization. She has 60 publications and has given more than 300 presentations on chemical education.

Please welcome Richard Schwenz to The Chemical Educator's Board of Editors!

Richard Schwenz is a professor of chemistry at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. He has completed a 5-year term as financial officer for the Journal of Chemical Education. His interest areas in physical chemistry include laser spectroscopy and chemical reaction dynamics. He has published in the area of physical chemistry curriculum reform where he believes that the lecture and laboratory need to reflect the physical chemistry of today rather than that of the 1940’s. He can be found at local, Rocky Mountain regional, and ACS national meetings. At the national meetings, he will be serving as chair of the committee writing the next version of the physical chemistry exam or at symposia on a variety of issues including technology, curriculum reform and chemical education research.

Chemistry Education: Research And Practice In Europe (Cerapie)

CERAPIE is a peer-reviewed electronic publication available without charge on the Internet at http://www.uoi.gr/conf_sem/cerapie. Its editor is Georgios Tsaparlis, and it is published by the University of Ioannina, Greece. Each volume is comprised of three issues published in the months of February, May, and October. Volume 1 has been published as well as Issue 1 of Volume 2. Original and review papers on chemistry education research and research papers on the practice of chemistry education are published. A unique feature is the publication of research communications. Emphasis is placed on European chemistry education, but papers from all over the world are welcomed. The May 2001 issue is going to be an invited thematic issue covering the topic of "Structural concepts: Contributions from science, science education, history and philosophy of science."