CINTACS Newsletter of the Cincinnati Section of the  American Chemical Society  Vol. 38, No. 4 - December 2000

CINTACS is published nine times a year (September through May) by the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society. All changes of address should be sent to Emel Yakali at Raymond Walters College, 9555 Plainfield Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236, phone 745-5686, FAX 745-5767, or email mc.acs@uc.edu.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES

The submission deadline will be approximately December 1, 2000 for the January 2001 issue. Electronic submission is strongly preferred, except for original photos. All materials should be sent to:

Dr. Bruce Ault
Department of Chemistry
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221
E-mail: bruce.ault@uc.edu

This month we have a treat. Our joint meeting has turned into something rather spectacular. Our meeting will be joint with American Chemical Society Cincinnati Section, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Oil Chemist Society, American Industrial Hygiene Association and the National ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. Wow, I’m running out of Societies. Rumor has it that some engineers from the Mound Facility associated with the Dayton AIChE will also attend. All will attend to hear  Dr. P. Gary Eller from Los Alamos National Laboratories present his topic, “What Do We Do With 1000 Tons of Plutonium?” We have a great cast for this interesting evening.

We will also have two discussion groups meeting this month. The Colloid group will have Dr. Robert Laughlin, Procter and Gamble Company, retired, give a presentation entitled, “Anticipating Colloidal Phenomena from Equilibrium Phase Behavior” and the Younger Chemist Committee will meet in early session.

I would like to thank Dan McLoughlin and Xavier University and the Procter & Gamble Company for their support and efforts toward this meeting.

As a parting note, please make sure you use the parking pass printed in the Cintacs Newsletter for the December meeting. I continue to look forward to working with the membership this year and please do not hesitate to contact me with suggestions and desires for additional involvement. Regards to all. See you at the December meeting.

Rick Fayter - Cognis Corporation - (513) 482-3156 - Rick.fayter@cognis-us.com

A review of the forces that govern synergistic interactions in surfactant mixtures comprising Alkylpolyglycoside (APG®) surfactants and their deviation from the Regular Solution Theory.

The Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) is hosting an informal discussion as a prelude to the December local ACS meeting.  You know the names and faces - now come and find out about current areas of work and the research skills that led up to these positions.  Students - come learn about how people have applied all of those studies to real jobs.  YCC members (and all other ACS members, too!) come learn whom you share research backgrounds with, or find out who to call when you need a helping hand with a problem outside of your normal field.

OH! What a night! On October 11th, twenty of us came together in the spectacular new science facilities of Walnut Hills High School. Jeff Lazar and Bob Foreman led tours of the new classrooms and laboratories. The labs are equipped with state-of-art technology installed by a local company, MeasureNet. The president of MeasureNet, Bob Voorhees, and Estel Sprague from the University of Cincinnati demonstrated this data acquisition system. Although each lab table has its own data station, the network is operated with a single PC in the room. That leaves so much more space in the room for equipment and students! Bob also provided our first discussion group door prize, a Palm Pilot; the lucky winner was Mary Beth Livingston from Holy Cross High School.

After the tours, demonstrations, and announcements, the educators pulled their desks into a circle to have a stimulating discussion with Vern Hicks from NKU, Dan McLoughlin from Xavier, and Estel from UC concerning the preparation of students for success in freshman college chemistry.  Vern began the discussion by providing written curriculum guidelines from his colleagues. Everyone agreed that problem-solving skills, writing skills, and laboratory confidence are the foundation of a quality science background. Students who took their high school chemistry during their sophomore year were found to have retained few of the concepts as they entered the college classroom. Students rely too heavily on their calculators rather than visualizing a reasonable estimate. Even students with AP level chemistry struggle in the college classroom. This suggests too much time spent on AP examination preparation and not enough time on concept development. The Xavier chemistry department tries to convince students with an AP level background to enroll in their first year course. Too many students who jumped ahead floundered in the advanced courses.

Finally, we discussed teacher preparation. Chemistry teachers must have a background in laboratory techniques and safety, stockroom management, and waste disposal in order to train students properly. The evening laid out some big challenges which our discussion group should try to meet through increased communication and support.

How can you help? Reach out to a new teacher in your school or area and invite her to our next meeting on January 31st. Remember we are open to all chemical educators, grades K through college! It will be a DEMO DERBY held in Linda Ford's classroom at Seven Hills School at 5400 Red Bank Road. We will start with a social time at 6:30 and then do demos from 7 to 8:30 PM. Have you ever seen the Will o' the Wisp? The chemiluminescent ammonia fountain? A rainbow of flame test done to banjo music? And we will have a door prize provided by MeasureNet!

Now for some announcements!! ChemEd2001 will be held at York University in Toronto, Ontario. Visit the web site at http://www.science.yorku.ca/chemed2001 to get registration and presenter information. This conference is a chemistry teacher's dream island because you will come home with a treasure chest of wonderful ideas.

BIG NEWS! The discussion group has committed to hosting a six-hour workshop on Saturday, March l0th at the University of Cincinnati. It will have the title, "Buddies in Chemistry". It will be a series of hands-on activities to be performed by middle school/high school teaching partners.  Partners from the same school districts can attend together, work together, learn together, and establish a link that will follow them back to their classrooms.  Mark your calendar!  Locate your buddy!  Register to attend when the materials arrive in your mailbox in mid-January.

Do you want to receive more information about professional activities in our area? Send an e-mail address to Linda Ford at linda.ford@7hills.org.  Linda has a growing list of teachers to whom she sends the latest information.  Happy holidays!

On Oct. 18th, the Board of Directors voted to co-sponsor the Eighteenth Meeting of the International Society of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds.  In addition, the Board voted to support meeting at the level of $5,000.  The meeting will be held at the Kingsgate Conference Center of the University of Cincinnati, September 9 - 13, 2001.  Some of the topics to be discussed are Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Occurrence, Exposure, Biodegradation, Bioremediation, and Toxicology.

A call for papers has been issued, and more information will be forthcoming.  If you would like more details, contact David Warshawsky, Symposium Chair, c/o ISPAC, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210031, Cincinnati, OH  45221-0031, Phone: 513-558-1810.

Hank Greeb, Chair Elect, is looking for new and novel ideas for programming during the next year (Sept. 2001/May 2002).  A few of the ideas already suggested have been a "Meet your Congressperson" where we would invite a Congressional Representative or Senator to our meeting to discuss science policy.  Another suggestion is to have the President of the ACS national to discuss ACS policy, etc.  A third suggestion is to hold an informal meeting with one of the several ACS student affiliate groups at UC, Xavier, Miami University, or elsewhere.  Other ideas are solicited.  We'll be meeting in early December to kick off planning for next year's programming - if you'd like to be part of the planning process drop Hank a note at hgreeb@one.net.

The Retired Engineers and Scientists hold monthly meetings between September and June each year.  Their next two meetings are:

December 19: A holiday party at the Forest View Gardens.  This will include a traditional holiday luncheon followed by a performance of the Forest View Gardens' staff of Christmas Carols.

January 16: This will be at the Unity Center on East McMillan Street, and feature a talk on "Riverboatin" by Jim Williams, retired Natualist for Hamilton County Parks District.

The meetings start with lunch at noon, (registration opens about 11:30 a.m.), and lasts until about 1:30 or 2:00 p.m.  If you're a retired engineer or scientist of any persuasion, you're more than welcome. For more details contact: Bob Delcamp, 160 Wentworth, Cincinnati, OH  45220-1802; Phone: 513-751-8035.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Patents and Related Matters (CP&RM) invites you to make suggestions to the Committee on possible candidates for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.  The inventor is not required to be a U.S. citizen, but the invention upon which the nomination is based must be covered by a U.S. patent.  The invention must have contributed greatly to the national welfare and significantly promoted progress in science and the useful arts.  Nomination documents are available at http://www.invent.org.

CP&RM also prepares ACS nominations for the National Medal of Technology.  Administered by the the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Medal Technology is awarded to U.S.-owned companies and U.S. citizens for innovation and the advancement of the nation's global competitiveness through the commercialization of technology, the creation of jobs, or improved productivity.  Information about the criteria and nomination forms for the Medal are available at http://www.ta.doc.gov/Medal.

If you would like to make a recommendation for consideration as an ACS nominee for these prestigious awards, please forward nomination materials to the CP&RM staff liaison Debbie Fillinich, American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington DC  20036, call 202-872-4476, or email: d_fillinich@acs.org. Nominations are due on March 1.

Finding the position that is right for you has just gotten easier.  The Chemical & Engineering News' online employment classifieds page has an exciting new look that is faster to navigate.  Just log on to C&EN Online at http://pubs.acs.org/cen and click on ACS Job Bank at the top of the home page.  At the heart of the new website are the most recent listings from C&EN print classified ads as well as access to the ACS Career Services Professional Data Bank.  The page also features free career articles from the magazine on topics ranging from salaries to starting your new laboratory.  There are links for both job seekers and employers looking to match talented chemists with their dream jobs.  Searching the classifieds is free to all ACS members.

Formatted and uploaded November 24, 2000 by cinacs@www.che.uc.edu