A publication of
The Illinois-Iowa Section of
The American Chemical Society
 

If you have items to be included in the next newsletter, submit the items by March 15 to the Secretary.
For the latest information about upcoming events, visit our website at http://membership.acs.org/I/ILIA/

Sponsor-a-Student: We are again looking for volunteers to sponsor a college student at the October meeting. Your part is to pay the meal cost of one student - or ask your employer to pay the cost - and spend the social and dinnertime visiting with the student that you are matched with. Whether you are currently employed, retired, or between jobs, you have much to offer to a student planning a science-based career. Additionally, after this brief mentoring experience you will likely find that you too have gained a lot. Please take part by signing up when you make your dinner reservation.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Yorke Rhodes received a B. S. in soil chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1957, as Senior of the Year in the College, and then earned an M.S. in organic chemistry in 1959 with William A. Mosher and Darrel Lynch. After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois in 1964 with Prof. James C. Martin, he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow with Kenneth B. Wiberg at Yale University. He joined the faculty of New York University at the University Heights campus in 1965 and developed research areas in SO2 solvent chemistry, electrocyclic reactions, small ring chemistry, and carbocations, especially neighboring group cyclopropane-assisted cation rearrangements. He moved to the Washington Square campus in 1973 after a sabbatical leave with Horst Prinzbach at the Universitat Freiburg in West Germany. Work at the Square continued in carbocations, led to alkyl group migratory aptitude studies and to synthetic studies in silyl ketene acetal chemistry for synthesis of quaternary neopentyls. He was a State Department exchange visitor to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1977 and was also Gastprofessor with Ivar Ugi at the Technische Universitat Munchen (TUM)in 1977, followed by a stay in 1978 as Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Awardee at the TUM with Ugi. Nasa/IEEE Summer Fellowships were held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories at Cal Tech in Pasadena with Wes Huntress in 1980 and 1981 (astrochemistry). In 1987, he was professor associe at the Centre d'Astrophysique, Universite de Grenoble, France, with Alain Omont (astro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon chemistry). Rhodes was awarded the Golden Dozen Award for Teaching Excellence in the College of Arts and Science in 1991, and again in 1996. Professor Rhodes is director of the Dual Degree Program in Science and Engineering at New York University and Stevens Institute of Technology, resides as Professor in a Residence in a University residence hall, and is very active in the New York Academy of Sciences and American Chemical Society local section activities, sponsoring a variety of symposia, poster sessions and other activities for students. He was recently elected chair-elect for 1997 and chair of the ACS New York Section for 1998. As an ACS Concilor he is also a member of the Local Section Activities Committee and welcomes discussions about local sections. He has served on Department of Education review panels and is an educational consultant/evaluator for several undergraduate and high school research mentoring programs.

ABSTRACT

At the dawn of the space age in the 1960s, a handful of molecules were known to exist off Earth. Since those days of early robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars, fly-bys with spectroscopy of the outer planets and radio astronomy of distant areas of our own galaxy and parts of the universe have brought forth a burst of molecular information. About 120 molecules, some new and some known, have been identified to date. What types and kinds of molecules exist? What varieties of molecular species have been found? How did they form, where do they occur, and what mechanisms exist for molecular formation? Can we model and predict what other molecules may occur? How has interstellar organic chemistry evolved? The content of the talk varies and the level of the talk is adaptable to the audience present.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Wednesday, April 5th, is the date set for the April meeting; it will be held at Ashford University. Ned D. Heindel, a tour speaker, will give a presentation on Folk Medicine in the 19th Century.

UPCOMING EVENTS

THE CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD BENEFITS STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS

• The Chemistry Olympiad is an event designed to stimulate interest, appreciation and enjoyment of Chemistry.
• The 2006 Chemistry Olympiad will be hosted by Ashford University in Clinton on Saturday, March 18 from 8:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.
• The Illinois-Iowa Section of the American Chemical Society offers this event specifically for Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois high school students.
• High school chemistry students and their teachers have the opportunity to “network” with students and teachers from other high schools and with college chemistry teachers and professional chemists and engineers.
• Prizes are awarded to the top students in first and second year exams.
• Students find participating in the testing to be useful in preparing for the ACT, SAT and Advanced Placement exams.
• Teachers learn new laboratory activities, demonstrations and effective teaching strategies designed to make chemistry an appealing and enjoyable course.
• High schools receive free college textbooks, laboratory equipment and instructional material from the American Chemical Society.
• The top eight students on the second year exam qualify to compete for a place on the United States team in International competition.
• The Chemistry Olympiad receives significant help from area businesses and industries.
• Participation in the Chemistry Olympiad is an indication of a serious interest in chemistry and a strong recommendation for awarding scholarships.
• Participation is a significant influence on the selection of a student to receive the American Chemical Society section scholarship which is awarded each year to a student pursuing studies in a chemistry related field.
• Chemistry teachers who have attended this event have developed an e-mail network through which they share ideas with other teachers throughout the year.

Dr. John Bonte, Clinton Community College, jbonte@eicc.edu
Dr. Todd.Miller, Ashford University, Todd.Miller@ashford.edu
Richard Kissack, rkissack@clinton.net

ENHANCING CHEMISTRY CONFERENCE

The 19th Annual Enhancing Chemistry Conference will be held March 17, 2005 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Enhancing Chemistry is an opportunity for high school and community college-level instructors to attend sessions that are specifically geared towards teachers of Chemistry. Past conferences have included how-to sessions on educational software for use in the classroom, informational sessions on current research in the chemistry field, and discussions of teaching methods promoting maximum student engagement. This conference is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois, Department of Chemistry and the Illinois Association of Chemistry Teachers.

For more information, please contact Conferences & Institutes toll-free at 877-455-2687or visit the conference Web site at http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu/enhancingchem/

BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
FROM THE OFFICE OF LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

The Office of Local Section Activities has put together a newsletter. Topics include call for papers, Regional and National meeting activities, Education programs, This Month in Chemical History, thoughts to ponder, etc. If anyone is interested in the entire newsletter from the Office of Local Section Activities, it can be accessed at http://chemistry.org/localsections/editors.html .

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