The Syracuse Chemist
On-line edition February/March 2006

Contents:
March Meeting 
Greater Syracuse Scholastic Science Fair: 
Volunteer Judges Needed
US National Chemistry Olympiad Exam
Employment Workshop
Appointments and Achievements around the Section
Central New York papers and posters at the 231st ACS National Meeting
List of Central New York papers and posters
Job Openings: Act Fast!
Certificate Program in Bioprocess Engineering to Be Offered in Fall, 2006
Call for WCC Overcoming Challenges Award Nominations
Second Career Chemical Education Scholarships Available
Meeting Information | Publication Deadlines 
Back

  March Speaker
Al Hazari
University of Tennessee
"Chemistry in Comics"

Abstract

Just as humor is most entertaining when its theme fits the topic of conversation, so too comics that depict chemistry situations and/or materials are most effective as a teaching strategy when they reinforce a topic or concept students are currently studying. A variety of chemistry comics will be presented, and the learning situations into which they best fit will be discussed.

A 2000 recipient of the ACS Helen M. Free Award for Public Outreach and the 2002 Science Educator of the Year awardee from the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, Al Hazari, a native of Lebanon, attended the American University in Cairo and received a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1968. He also holds an M.S. degree in chemistry (1972) from Youngstown State University (Ohio) and a doctorate in science education (1997) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. From 1968 to 1971, Al taught middle and high school science, math, and chemistry here and overseas. He was a chemistry instructor and lab coordinator at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, from 1973-76. This was followed by a 15-year stint as instructor in chemistry and director of labs at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In 1991, he joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Chemistry Department as director of the undergraduate chemistry labs. In addition to his current appointment, Al is also an adjunct assistant professor of science education and regularly teaches science methods courses in the College of Education. Al has always been very excited about sharing his scientific and chemical knowledge with K-16 students and teachers. He has received many grants from government agencies, industry, and various organizations to improve undergraduate chemistry lab instruction and also to support precollege hands-on science and chemistry school visits and teacher workshops. Al is a very active member of the East Tennessee Section of the American Chemical Society. He is an affiliate of the Institute for Chemical Education and a member of the National and the Tennessee Science Teachers Associations. He has made several presentations and given talks to local, regional, and national chemical and science education conferences.

The Syracuse Section is again participating in the Chemistry Olympiad program, a chemistry competition for high school students. In the US, the program begins at the grass roots of ACS local sections, with a two-hour chemistry exam offered to high school students. In the Syracuse Section, this exam is open to any interested high school student, and the top scorers will be recognized at the May section meeting, "Education Night." The top scorers will also be invited to the next step of the competition, the US National Chemistry Olympiad Exam. This all-day test is administered to a limited number of students in each local ACS section. Because the 20 highest scorers in the nation will be invited to further prepare and compete for a place on the US team in the International Chemistry Olympiad, students taking the national exam must be US citizens. Those top chemistry students participate in a study camp in June at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. From that group, a team is selected to represent the US at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea.

In the Syracuse Section, the local exam will be offered in at least two locations during the first week in April. The national exam will be administered at Le Moyne College on Thursday, April 20th, starting at 9:30 AM. For further information, contact at giunta@lemoyne.edu or (315)445-4128.

The Syracuse Section presents a workshop on Effective Job Searching on April 8, 2006 at the Syracuse University Center for Science and Technology. Topics to be addressed include, targeting the market, resumé preparation, effective interviewing, and effective networking. The main workshop will run from 9 AM to 12:30 PM, after coffee and doughnuts that will be available from 8 AM. Individual Resumé reviews will be available in the afternoon from 1:30 PM. The workshop is free of charge. To reserve a place, contact Ms. Finnegan at (315)312-3048, finnegan@oswego.edu or Dr. Tess Freedman (315)443-1134, tbfreedm@syr.edu.

SUNY-Oswego chemistry professor Ray O’Donnell will lead the workshop. Dr. O’Donnell is an ACS Career Consultant, and in that capacity he has run workshops of this sort all around the US for several years. Dr. O’Donnell’s involvement with employment and other professional relations issues at ACS has been recognized by the ACS Division of Professional Relations, which presented its Henry Hill Award to him in 2004. Dr. O’Donnell is currently chair elect of the Division of Professional Relations.

Professor Joseph Chaiken received the 2005 Frank Annunzio Award in the field of science and technology from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation for his development of a noninvasive glucose monitor. The device uses the monochromatic red light of lasers, like those used in CD players, to probe the blood in capillaries without the need to draw that blood. The award was presented to Dr. Chaiken on October 10, 2005, in Washington, DC. The Foundation was established by Congress in 1992 as part of the commemoration of Columbus’ first voyage to the New World; its mission is to "encourage and support research, study and labor designed to produce new discoveries in all fields of endeavor for the benefit of mankind." The Award is named for the late Honorable Frank Annunzio, former US Representative from the 11th Congressional District of Chicago, Illinois, and the founder of the Foundation.

Dr. John Fieschko, a former director and scientist with biotechnology giant Amgen Inc., was named executive director of the Central New York Biotechnology Research Center in December. The center is a collaborative effort among SUNY Upstate Medical University, SUNY-ESF, the Metropolitan Development Association, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Le Moyne College and Syracuse University are also participants in the center. The center seeks to create research and development activities focusing on biprocessing, biomanufacturing and the development of novel biomaterials. Novel technologies and substances created by the center will be the basis for spin-off companies that will be housed in the incubator space within the center. The center will also conduct development and research for biopharmaceutical and renewable resources. Additionally, the center will provide educational programs focusing on bioprocessing and biomanufacturing in partnership with SUNY Upstate, SUNY ESF, Le Moyne College and Syracuse University.

Professor Michael Masingale, associate professor of chemistry at Le Moyne College, received the college’s Matteo Ricci Award for Achievement in Diversity. The award was presented at the college’s Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration on January 25. Dr. Masingale was recognized for his tireless encouragement of all his students, but particularly students of color and members of other groups underrepresented in the sciences. The award is named for Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who lived and worked in China from 1583 until his death in 1610. A mathematician and geographer, Ricci was an important conduit of European learning to China and of Chinese knowledge to Europe.

Dr. Ray O’Donnell, a member of SUNY Oswego’s Chemistry Department, was recently elected to head the American Chemical Society Division of Professional Relations. His three-year cycle began January 2006; he is currently serving as chair elect. Dr. O’Donnell has been recognized by the ACS on a number of occasions over the more than 50 years he has been active as a member, including the 2004 Henry Hill award from the Division of Professional Relations. He continues to conduct career workshops at university campus locations around the country as well as at national meetings.

SUNY Oswego announces its Spring 2006 "Science Today" lectures, sponsored by the Science Planning Committee and the College of Arts and Sciences. Talks are Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 PM in 101 Snygg Hall, with a pre-presentation social gathering at 3:45 PM. For more details, see http://www.oswego.edu/academics/colleges_and_departments/departments/interdisciplinary/science/index.html. The talks in the chemical sciences are:

-March 22: Ruth E. Baltus (Department of Chemical Engineering, Clarkson University), "Room Temperature Ionic Liquids: Will they move from Curiosities to Commodities?"

-April 5: Bing Gong (Department of Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo), "Specifying Non-Covalent Forces: Nanostructures from Directed Inter- and Intramolecular Interactions"

Individuals and institutions of the Syracuse Section will be represented in several areas of programming at the 231st ACS National Meeting scheduled for late March in Atlanta. Not surprisingly, most of the contributions from the Syracuse Section reflect work done at the institutions that have Ph.D. programs in chemistry and related areas, namely Syracuse University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Faculty and students of Colgate University have six offerings on the meeting’s program. Hamilton College, Le Moyne College, and SUNY Oswego are the affiliations for authors of one presentation each, as is an area business, Cubic Communications.

Two very large divisions, those of Physical Chemistry and Chemical Education, will be the venues for nine presentations each of research from Central New York. Seven of the presentations in Chemical Education will be in poster sessions devoted to undergraduate research. Other area faculty and students will make presentations in the divisions of Cellulose and Renewable Materials, Colloid and Surface Chemistry, History of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry.

Authors, titles, and area affiliations are listed below. (Note: in some cases, the order of authors was changed in order to list Central New York contributors first.) If there are omissions from this list, please contact Carmen Giunta (giunta@lemoyne.edu) so that those contributions can be listed in a future newsletter.

Abstracts of these and all other presentations scheduled for the upcoming national meeting can be found on the ACS website at http://chemistry.org/meetings/Atlanta2006; follow the links to the full technical program.

Openings at several area colleges and universities came to our attention this month. In all cases, review of applications will have begun before or at about the same time as the Syracuse Chemist goes to press, so time is of the essence.

Full-time assistant professor (tenure-track) to teach General Chemistry to science and engineering students. A Ph. D. in chemistry or related discipline is strongly preferred, however a M.S. in chemistry will be considered. College teaching, beyond graduate teaching assistant level, is required. Review of applications will begin March 1, 2006 and will continue until the position is filled. Further information and instructions are available at http://www.esf.edu/chemistry/teece/chemjob.html.

Successful candidate will be responsible for all aspects of operation and maintenance Chemistry department instructional laboratories and chemistry stockroom. Duties include preparation, set up and take down, safety management and EPA and OSHA compliance, inventory control, and supervision of evening labs by monitoring and training temporary lab staff. Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry plus three years of related work experience required. Application Review begins February 27. Further information and instructions are available at http://www.sunyocc.edu/hr/openings.html.

Temporary lab assistant responsible for conducting small-scale syntheses of organic compounds in research lab. Associates degree in Chemistry plus three years experience required; a BA or BS degree in Chemistry desirable. Full-time position responsible for purchase, preparation, and distribution of reagents and equipment for General Chemistry lab. There are also responsibilities related to safety, disposal of waste, and maintenance of instrumentation for the lab.

Both positions are open until filled. Further information and instructions are available at http://chemistry.syr.edu/about/positions.html.

Last September, a group of 17 engineers, biologists, and chemists came together with a common goal – to learn more about bioprocessing technologies and products produced through bioprocess. This June, that same group will become the first graduates of the Bioprocess Engineering Certificate Program offered by the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY), in cooperation with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) and Syracuse University.

During the last six months, program participants have learned how diverse industries such as pharmaceutical companies, breweries, winemakers, and sewage treatment facilities can use biorefineries to create alternative fuels and other bio-based products. The demand for these fuels and products continues to increase, and graduates of the program will possess the unique skills and knowledge required to develop and manufacture new products to benefit the region.

The Certificate Program is offered annually, and will begin again in the fall of 2006. The program brings together people with diverse backgrounds in biology, chemistry, and engineering to address emerging technology issues. Participants attend a total of five graduate level courses in topics such as Microbiology for Bioprocessing, Bioseparations, Process Engineering and Qualification, and Bioprocess Design. The program lasts one year, and graduate level credit is earned for each completed course.

Classes meet one or two evenings per week to accommodate the schedules of working professionals.

The program faculty includes recognized scholars and researchers from SUNY-ESF and Syracuse University, as well as leading industry experts associated with companies in Central New York.

Applications are currently being accepted for fall of 2006. For more information, check out the certificate program website or download an application at www.reinventcny.com or contact Susan Palé, Certificate Program Recruiter, at 315-469-1736 or sspale@pobox.com.

The Overcoming Challenges Award (OCA) acknowledges the efforts of women and undergraduates who have overcome economic, personal, and/or academic hardships in pursuit of an education in the chemical sciences.  The award consists of a plaque, a $250 honorarium, and $1,000 for travel expenses to the fall ACS National Meeting where the award is presented.  Award candidates must be women matriculating as an undergraduate chemical science major/minor in a two-year program or at a four-year school not granting a doctoral degree in chemical-related disciplines.  Nominations are due May 1, 2006, and should be sent to:  Women Chemists Committee, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036.  For additional information, contact the WCC at wcc@acs.org or visit http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC.

The Hach Scientific Foundation would like to offer second career chemical education scholarships to chemists. Scholarship money is available for second career chemistry teachers! The Hach Scientific Foundation is a private multi-million dollar foundation dedicated to chemistry and chemical education. The Hach Scientific Foundation is providing scholarships across the country to chemists interested in pursuing a Masters in education and teachers certificate.  For more information, visit:  http://www.hachscientificfoundation.org/teachers.shtml.

April Monday, April 3: 
Peter Zugenmaier (Clausthal Technical University, Germany),
"Materials of Cellulose Derivatives and Cellulose Composites: Characterization and Application,"  
SUNY-ESF, Moon Library Conference Room (Room 110).

May: Monday, May 8: Ralph Blomster, (University of Maryland at Baltimore), "Plants as a Source of Drugs"