Spring 2001 News and Events
Please send any comments or suggestions to ifcheng@uidaho.edu
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The following is a recent news release from the University of Idaho:
UI STUDENT GROUP RECEIVES RECOGNITION FROM NATIONAL AMERICAN CHEMISTRY SOCIETY |
| May 2, 2001 MOSCOW – The University of Idaho Student Affiliate of the National American Chemical Society recently received a commendable citation plaque at the Student Affiliate Chapter Awards ceremony. The ceremony took place during the annual National American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting last month in San Diego, Calif. UI students Jeff Leitch, of Gooding, and Sharon LaMont, of Kennewick, Wash., accepted the award on behalf of the university’s Student Affiliate (SA). The members of the UI’s Student Affiliate also presented an invited poster at Sci-Mix, a society-wide poster session that is a central event of the national meeting. The poster was entitled “Kids + Chemistry = Fun: University of Idaho Student Affiliate Activities." The poster is currently on display in Renfrew Hall on the Moscow campus. The co-authors were Leitch, LaMont, Kristy Henscheid of Idaho Falls; Robin Rogers of Portland, Ore.; Jason Robinson of Boise; and Nick Natale, 1999-2000 faculty adviser. “This award is recognition for the community outreach programs that the SA has performed for many years,” Natale says. “Outreach activities have included the SA library chemistry demonstration program, ‘The Latah Connection,’ and the SA National Chemistry Week participation.” Former advisers Richard Williams and Pam Shapiro were involved in those programs, and should be recognized for their efforts, he adds. This year’s adviser is UI chemistry Professor Tom Bitterwolf. “The Latah Connection” is a traveling showcase demonstration featuring hands-on activities for students in northern Idaho. Also present at the meeting was the SA chapter mascot, Malcolm, a stuffed animal students have brought to ACS events for the past five years. Malcolm is included in numerous photographs that feature famous chemists, including Nobel laureates. The ACS meeting was the second largest in history; more than 17,000 professionals took part this year. With more than 163,000 members, the ACS is the world’s largest scientific society. Contact: Nick Natale, chemistry professor, (208) 885-6778, nrnatale@uidaho.edu or Leslie Einhaus, University Communications and Marketing, (208) 885-6489, lesliee@uidaho.edu -30- le-5/2/01-STP/L&S/HOM |
Ice Rink Day for the local student affiliates
Dr. Nick gives some ice skating tips to chair-elect Dan Stelck's son.
In a closely contested match the UI SAACS lost by a single goal to the Graduate Students for Chemical Education in the First Annual WIBS Broomball showdown. There were some complaints about controversial referee calls,but replays showed the referee was always correct.
The opponents then paused for a photo op before public skating. The "I" of course stands for Iodine.
Fun was had by all, and "we should do this more often" was heard from several students.
The bell tolled for Nick Natale, our winner of the Soak the Professor benefit for the UI ACS student section. See below for the TA pictures. That is Jose' Morales doing the honors. My thanks to nick for donating his body for such a worthy cause.
-IFC
The UI ACS student section has started a new tradition, the Annual Soak your TA and Professor benefit. Each vote was $0.50 with this year's lucky winners being Josh Melton, and Jose' Morales (TA's) with 60 votes each. Nick Natale (50 votes) was the run away winner in the professor category. The results are presented below.
Josh (l) and Jose' (r) are doing their duties. Yes, that's yours truly doing the honors to Jose'. Photos courtesy of Jamie Weinstock. Nick Natale had a stay of drenching, But it will soon in coming.
-IFC
WIBS is looking a local section public relations chairman. Please contact Frank Cheng ifcheng@uidaho.edu if you are interested.
Career Services Publishes Newsletter!
ACS Department of Career Services has published in January 2001 ``The Employer
Speaks,'' a Professional & Workforce News newsletter that provides tips on the current
job market for chemists. Brian Fowler, an executive with Elite Search, Inc., a
Georgia-based recruiting firm, states in the publication that the job market for Ph.D.s is
better today than in years. He also said salary offers for inexperienced BS chemistry
graduates have increased to a level unprecedented in 20 years. For more information about
the publication or other ACS Career Services products, please call 1-800-227-5558 or
email: careers@acs.org.
CALL FOR PAPERS
56th Northwest Regional Meeting
of the American Chemical Society
The Washington (State) College Chemistry Teachers Association is co-sponsor of the meeting and will contribute two days of programs for two- and four-year college chemical educators. Workshops are planned on Chemical Information Education, Laboratory Safety, Tie-Dying, several ACS sponsored workshops on teaching resources for K-12 teachers, and a "smorgasbord of activities for teachers." There will be a High School Teacher Award and Women Chemists luncheon with a distinguished panel of professional women chemists. The meeting event will feature a dramatic theatrical presentation on Marie Curie, followed by the locally famous chemical demonstration show, "Herb Bryce and the Wizard." The banquet event will feature a boat trip on Puget Sound to Blake Island, the Tillicum Village Salmon Dinner and Pacific Northwest Native American Show.
Submit abstracts by March 16, 2001, to William Reinhardt, Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Box 351700, Seattle, Washington, 98195; phone (206) 543-0578; email: rein@chem.washington.edu Electronic submission is preferred using the instructions posted on the meeting web site: http://www.chem.plu.edu/norm .
Kevin Rider has a link to add, the Chemistry of Winning Teams, an earlier contribution to the Washington-Idaho Border Section.
Used Equipment Web Sites
For those cheapskates and junk collectors out there the auction site, Labx.com is indispensable. I've had good luck with obtaining HPLC and GC equipment at bargain basement prices. For example, HP 3390-339x series integrators for $25-$60, various HPLC pumps for $100. Lot's of other equipment bargins beyond chromatographic items. Most of the times the equipment works right out of the box, although I've had some DOA's. As with all auctions it helps to be educated about market conditions and check the vendor ratings. If have you any questions you can drop me an email or stop by my office. Ebay also has scientific equipment categories, here and here, but I have no experience with ebay auctioneers. Let me know if you have found other auction sites and your experiences with them.
-IFC
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Spare WIBS in the WWW. Expect an IPO soon.
Nick Natale, our Secretary-Treasurer makes our first contribution below:
The Washington Idaho Border Section's activities were mentioned in Chemical and Engineering News, Dec. 18, 2000, p. 43-64, in NCW coverage in the "Activities with Minorities" category. Most notable was considered our participation in the Tutxinmepu Pow-wow:
"The Washington-Idaho Border Section, in cooperation with the University of Idaho
student affiliates, sponsored a table at the annual Tutxinmepu Pow-wow of the inland
northwest Native American tribes, where members spoke with teachers and children about
kitchen chemistry."
We also appeared on the Chem Center web page: http://cen.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/78/i51/html/7851news.html (Note added 1/30/01, this link requires an ACS membership.)
-Nick
My thanks to Nick for his continued volunteer work on community outreach.Please check back on this page every few weeks for new news items and essays for spring 2001.
-IFC
Please send any comments or suggestions to ifcheng@uidaho.edu