NEWS tion of sulfur to sulfate produces an aerosol that also contributes to acidic rain. Basically, poor visibility reflects increased regional energy usage. However, weather patterns apparently also contribute to haze formation. For instance, the Great Lakes region pumped out 4 million tons of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the early 1980s compared with 2 million tons generated in the Southeast. Yet haze increased dramatically in the South, possibly because of higher humidity and increased air stagnation. The acid precipitation program was begun 10 years ago. The first public report on acid precipitation was recently generated—just in time to influence Congress and the Administration about passage of a revised Clean Air Act.
Los Alamos Implements SWOOPE Los Alamos National Laboratory has allocated $100,000 to launch SWOOPE—Students Watching Over Our Planet Earth. The project will supply elementary and middle school students and their teachers with kits and training materials for collecting data on some area of national concern related to the environment or energy. SWOOPE begins this summer as a pilot project in New Mexico. The kits will contain "low-tech" equipment for projects such as measuring nitrate levels in water, radon in homes, or UV levels in sunlight. Data gathered by the students will be collected in a national database at Los Alamos and should be of value to university and governmental researchers. A statistical analysis of the data will be returned to the students. SWOOPE's organizers hope that these hands-on projects will generate interest in science.
Schomburg Wins Golay Gerhard Schomburg of the Max Planck Institut has received the 1990 M.J.E. Golay Award, sponsored by Perkin-Elmer. Schomburg was honored for his contributions to capillary chromatography and electrophoresis, particularly for the development of column technology and instrumentation for GC, LC, and electrophoresis. Schomburg earned his Ph.D. at the University of Bonn. Since 1965 he has directed the chromatography departments at both the Max Planck Institut fur Kohlenforschung and the Max Planck Institut fur Strahlenchemie. This year he was also appointed to the chemistry faculty at the University of Wuppertal, FRG.
SACP Starter Grants Awarded The Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh has awarded $10 000 starter grants to Richard Crooks, University of New Mexico, and Vicki Wysocki, Virginia Commonwealth University. The grants are designed to encourage important and innovative work in the field of analytical chemistry by new faculty members. Crooks conducted undergraduate research with Larry Faulkner at the University of Illinois, received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas under the direction of Allen Bard, and completed postdoctoral work with Mark Wrighton at MIT. At the University of New Mexico he is
pursuing research in electrochemical sensing, molecularlevel engineering, and the application of electrochemical methods to novel media. Wysocki received a B.S. degree from Western Kentucky University and completed her Ph.D. and postdoctoral work at Purdue University under the guidance of R. Graham Cooks. As a member of the faculty at VCU, Wysocki is studying the collisions of polyatomic ions with surfaces and applying this information to analytical and materials research.
For Your Information The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released three databases of interest to spectroscopists. Published information on the vibrational fundamentals of ground-state 3-16 atom transient molecules, excited-state transient 3-6 atom molecules, and the electronic energy levels of transient 3-6 atom molecules have been collected in a new PC database. Also new to NIST is the Mass Spectral Database of Common Compounds for PCs, which lists 10 215 complete spectra and data for commercially available chemicals, widely used drugs, and environmentally important compounds. In addition, more than 4000 new spectra have been added to the NIST/EPA/MSDC (Mass Spectral Data Centre) database, used to identify unknown compounds. For more information on any of these databases, contact the Standard Reference Data Program, A323 Physics Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (301-975-2208). The National Science Foundation is soliciting nominations for the 1991 Alan T. Waterman Award honoring an outstanding researcher 35 or younger in any field of science, engineering, or mathematics. The winner of this prestigious award receives up to $500 000 for up to three years. For more information, contact Susan Fannoney, NSF, 1800 G Street, N.W., Room 545, Washington, DC 20550 (202-357-7512). Deadline is December 31. IUPAC's Analytical Chemistry Division has established a new commission entitled Chromatography and Other Analytical Separations, which is responsible for developing and publishing critical guidelines and recommendations for the operation of analytical separation methods, and for recommending nomenclature and defining terms for use in separation methods. Peter Uden (Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts—Amherst) chairs the commission, and C.A. Cramers (Laboratorium voor Instrumentele Analyse, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, the Netherlands) serves as secretary. The International Society for Clinical Laboratory Technology (ISCLT) has published A Guide to OSHA Requirements for Clinical Laboratories, which features current and proposed OSHA laws and regulations. For more information, contact ISCLT, Suite 918, 818 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63101 (314-241-1445). The National Science Foundation is requesting $47 million in fiscal 1991 to begin construction of two observatories, 1500 miles apart, for the detection of gravity waves from major astronomical disturbances such as supernovae. Postulated in the general theory of relativity, these very small displacements in space-time have never been directly measured. Sites for the two observatories have not been determined, but the total construction cost is estimated to reach $192 million.
824 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 62, NO. 15, AUGUST 1, 1990
