CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 (202) 872-4600 or (800) 227-5558
F ROM THE EDITOR
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: A. Maureen Rouhi DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Josh Fischman MANAGING EDITOR: Robin M. Giroux
In Praise Of Volunteers
EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Rudy M. Baum SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER: Marvel A. Wills NEWS William G. Schulz, Editor BUSINESS Michael McCoy, Assistant Managing Editor NORTHEAST: (732) 906-8300 Melody M. Bomgardner (Senior Editor), Lisa M. Jarvis (Senior Editor), Rick Mullin (Senior Editor), Marc S. Reisch (Senior Correspondent), Alexander H. Tullo (Senior Correspondent), Rachel Eskenazi (Administrative Assistant). HONG KONG: 852 9093 8445 Jean‑François Tremblay (Senior Correspondent). HOUSTON: (281) 486-3900 Ann M. Thayer (Senior Correspondent). LONDON: 44 1494 564 316 Alex Scott (Senior Editor) GOVERNMENT & POLICY Susan R. Morrissey, Assistant Managing Editor Britt E. Erickson (Senior Editor), Glenn Hess (Senior Editor), Cheryl Hogue (Senior Correspondent), Jeff Johnson (Senior Correspondent), Andrea L. Widener (Associate Editor)
DURING THIS SEASON of giving, let’s
pause to celebrate the often-unsung work of chemists who volunteer generously to promote scientific awareness. The power of volunteering comes through in several parts of this issue. On page 55, Cheryl B. Frech, chair of the American Chemical Society’s Committee on Public Relations & Communications, shares some of the reasons members enjoy participating in the ACS Chemistry Ambassadors
ball; its rope climb resembles a nanotube. The people behind the chemistry-themed playground are University of Wisconsin, Madison, chemists Jim Maynard, Andrew Greenberg, and John W. Moore. They hope the chemistry-inspired play equipment “gets children interested in nanoscience.” The transformation of a waiting room in a pediatric office of the St. Vincent Medical Group, in Zionsville, Ind., as described by Assistant Managing Editor Sophie Rovner
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY/EDUCATION BOSTON: (617) 395-4163 Amanda Yarnell, Assistant Managing Editor, (973) 922-0175 Bethany Halford (Senior Editor). WASHINGTON: Stuart A. Borman (Deputy Assistant Managing Editor), Celia Henry Arnaud (Senior Editor), Carmen Drahl (Senior Editor), Stephen K. Ritter (Senior Correspondent), Lauren K. Wolf (Associate Editor). BERLIN: 49 30 2123 3740 Sarah Everts (Senior Editor). CHICAGO: (847) 679-1156 Mitch Jacoby (Senior Correspondent). WEST COAST: (925) 4851034 Jyllian Kemsley (Senior Editor), (206) 595-4788 Deirdre Lockwood (Contributing Editor), (510) 390-6180 Elizabeth K. Wilson (Senior Editor). JOURNAL NEWS & COMMUNITY: (202) 872-6039 Lila Guterman (Senior Editor), (626) 765-6767 Michael Torrice (Associate Editor)
EDITING & PRODUCTION Kimberly R. Twambly, Assistant Managing Editor Craig Bettenhausen (Assistant Editor), Emily Bones (Assistant Editor), Sophia L. Cai (Assistant Editor), Nader Heidari (Assistant Editor), Arlene Goldberg-Gist, Senior Editor Jeff A. Huber (Assistant Editor), Gail M. Mortenson (Associate Editor) ART & DESIGN Robert Bryson, Design Director Robin L. Braverman (Senior Art Director) Yang H. Ku (Associate Designer) C&EN ONLINE Rachel Sheremeta Pepling, Editor Tchad K. Blair (Visual Designer), Luis A. Carrillo (Production Manager), Ty A. Finocchiaro (Web Associate), Pamela Rigden Snead (Web Products Manager) PRODUCTION & IMAGING Renee L. Zerby, Manager Production & Classifieds Tim Bauer (Lead Digital Production Specialist), Shelly E. Savage, Richard C. Smith, and Steven J. Lovasz (Digital Production Associates) SALES & MARKETING Elaine Facciolli Jarrett (Marketing Manager) Wendy Wise (Marketing Manager) Angela Yeo (Associate Marketing Manager) ADVISORY BOARD Gary D. Allred, Paul T. Anastas, Sherwood L. Boehlert, Paul J. Bracher, Jean-Claude Bradley, Yves J. Chabal, Seth M. Cohen, Kendrew H. Colton, Brian D. Coppola, Christopher C. Cummins, Joseph M. DeSimone, Michelle M. Francl, Donald Hilvert, Malika Jeffries-El, Rohit Khanna, John LaMattina, Abraham M. Lenhoff, Scott P. Lockledge, Derek Lowe,Michael W. Major, Michael A. Marletta, Cheryl A. Martin, Harold Meckler, Stephen A. Munk, Michael O. Okoroafor, Nick Roelofs, Melanie Sanford, John M. Schwab, Francis X. Sherman, Michael Strem, Linette M. Watkins, Christopher Welch, Frank D. Wicks, Vicki Wysocki, David Zimmermann, Dorothy Zolandz Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY Madeleine Jacobs, Executive Director & CEO Brian Crawford, President, Publications Division EDITORIAL BOARD: Ned D. Heindel (Chair); ACS Board of Directors Chair: William F. Carroll Jr.; ACS President: Bassam Z. Shakhashiri; Stephanie L. Brock, John N. Russell Jr., Leah Solla, Peter J. Stang Copyright 2012, American Chemical Society Canadian GST Reg. No. R127571347 Volume 90, Number 50
program. ACS launched the program in 2009 to educate the public about chemistry’s value. Meanwhile, on page 49, Senior Editor Bethany Halford describes a program of the Girl Scouts of the USA and the New York Academy of Sciences “to bring more science to girls in middle school.” Volunteer mentors and role models drive the program; one of them is Mary Ellen Heavner, who is working on a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the City University of New York. Despite the time commitment—90 minutes to prepare for a two-hour troop meeting, 90 minutes to travel from her home in Queens to the Girl Scout troop in Brooklyn, and 90 minutes to return home, every week for five weeks— Heavner wants to do it again. “The girls are so energetic,” she tells Halford. “When their eyes turn on and they have an answer to a question, it’s really exciting.” Volunteers not only work directly with people, but sometimes they also work with spaces, making them enticing for those who use them. Take the Newscripts item by Senior Editor Linda Wang, on page 64, about the playground at the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford, Ill. The playground’s jungle gym is built in the shape of a buckyPAUL LEWER (BOTH)
ACS NEWS & SPECIAL FEATURES Sophie L. Rovner, Assistant Managing Editor Linda Wang (Senior Editor). DALLAS: (972) 529-4351 Susan J. Ainsworth (Senior Editor)
on page 56, is almost magical. With help from an ACS local section Innovative Project Grant, volunteers led by Sibel Selcuk, chair of the Indiana Section, converted the waiting room from drab and nondescript to colorful and exciting. Selcuk’s volunteer brigade included Linda Osborn, a local section member; Osborn’s husband, Gary, an electrician; and their son, Nick, an engineer, shown above installing the nuclear chemistry panel on a wall that’s headlined “Think Like a Molecule.” Other walls tell different chemistrybased stories; for example, the green wall is about recycling and green chemistry. The waiting room is a crowd-pleaser, Rovner says, eliciting from one little boy the wondrous response, “Wow, cool, chemistry.” Cool volunteers, too.
Editor-in-chief
Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS. WWW.CEN-ONLIN E .ORG
5
D EC E M BE R 10, 20 1 2
