Report from the 11th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education E. K. Mellon, E. J. Pulliam, and T. G. Berger 8. The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-3006
The l l t h Biennial Conference on Chemical Education was held a t the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, August 5-9, 1990. Approximately 1200 attendees were treated to some 500 papers, 11Birds-of-a-Feather sessions, and 28 workshops. Several tours, social events, and workshops were designed especially for accompanying persons. Of the workshops, several, including Chemical Demonstrations, Chemical Microscopy, Chemistry in the Toy Store, Theory and Practice of Modem IR Spectroscopy, ChemCom, and the Travelling Chemistry Demonstration Presentation, were associated with Symposia. The FIPSE Follow-Up Sessions were cross-listed both a s workshops and symposia, and allowed participants to use technology in support of introductory, upper-division, and descriptive chemistly. Other workshops were devoted to Project Seraphim offerings, safety, polymers, solid-state chemistry, and microscale laboratories. Seventy-five high school teachers, from Operation Progress, members or teachers of groups traditionally underrepresented in chemistry, participated in the full week's worth of conference activities in addition to a schedule of lectures, laboratory exercises, and computer work during the weekend preceding the conference. Operation Progress was directed by Jane and Glenn Crosby and a staff of six. Other preconference meetings were held by ChemSource, the Task Force on the Undergraduate Curriculum, and the ACS Exams Institute. We present here a brief report on the program of the Conference. More extensive information is contained in the " l l t h Biennial Conference on Chemical Education Abstracts". Information concerning ordering the "Abstracts" may be found a t the end of this article. The Plenary Lectures The Conference began on Sunday, August 5 , with opening remarks bv Tohv Block. General Chair: and Roben Pierotti, Dean, ~ c h b ooiscienck, l Georgia ~ e c h . The kick-off olenarv lecture. "Future Chemistw: Expanded i.'rontiAs vers"us ~onst'raincdfie source^" r ~ r e s c n tation 001 I. was dclivcred bv Mark Wriehton. MIT. Accnrding to ark Wrighton, the>hemical ezucation of today is driven by several rationales. Members of our society need to be scientifically literate and should be exposed to the intellectual challenge of the study of chemistry. In this changing world, America must produce scientists and engineers in order to remain competitive in the international arena. Competitiveness is necessary for economic security-the chemical industry is one of only two which had a positive effect on our balance of trade last year. Although the future of chemistry is bright, problems abound. At the federal level, the erosion of funding for basic chemical research continues in real dollars per researcher. Mergers and the short-term corporate mentality have cut into our industrial competitiveness. Our academic plant is aging, especially with respect to research equipment, and to safety concerns. We chemists must overcome our inertia and he aggressive about seizing opportunity. ~~
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Chemistry is an enabling science, supplyingthe expcnisc in synthesis and analysis. Lt is indispcnsable to electronics and comuutation, to biolom and biotechnolom, and to the development of high-perfoTmance materials. However, our funding mechanisms are too oRen directed a t the support of "scratching the surface". Without the all-important support of idea development in depth, we lose important technology and profits to overseas companies. The next decade will see maior chemical advances in energy (highly efficient fuel cell4 and materials (superconducting materials and conducting polymers). The techniques required to make advances will include NMR, X-ray diffraction. seoaration and uurification, surface techniques I W S , AES, R'Rs, STMS, end thc various muoscopies ioptical. S E X acoustic. electnxhemical, err.,. Simulation and visualizati'on by computer will be important. Chemical uroducts and services from industry will become more k p h ~ s t ~ c a t cwith d , molecular cngmccring approaches and r a p ~ dadvances in technology -~ towards work on increasingly complex systems. Aleksandra Kornhouser from the International Centre forChemica1 Studies of Ljubliana, Yugoslavia presented the Brasted Lecture entitled "Chemical Education for the International Transfer of Knowledge and Technology" (Presentation 002)ouMonday,August 6. The Centre is involved in development of methodology for linking chemical education with industrial develo~mentand environmental urotection. There are four main criteria for quality che&ical education: making objective observations, application of information methods and techniques in forming hypotheses and testing them with laboratory experiments, identifying opportunities for the use of results, for example, in industry and environmental protection, and 'catalyzing actions. Practical examples were demonstrated for the research and oroduction of soecialtv chemicals. for hazardous waste management, and for water-pollution control. I t was stressed that biblioerauhic. factual. and knowledge bases are essential teaching tbols: computer modelling was mentioned a s a choice in teaching chemical. environmental, and economic aspects of produc
