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 September 20^th to the Secretary.
For the latest information about upcoming events, visit our website at http://membership.acs.org/I/ILIA/

ABSTRACT

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHS

C. Marvin Lang is a native of Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Elmhurst College (1961), a Master of Science in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin - Madison (1964) and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of Wyoming - Laramie (1970).

Dr. Lang has been on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point since 1964 where he is currently Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. During the academic year 1976-77 he was W. B. King Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University. As part of his faculty position, he has served on numerous college and university committees including the UWSP Academy of Letters and Science. He was the recipient of the Academy's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1993. In April 2001 he was named Eugene Katz Letters & Science Distinguished Faculty Member at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point and he was recipient of the 2002Harry & Carol Mosher Award given by the Santa Clara Valley (California) Section for distinguished service to chemistry, education and the ACS. In 2006 he was appointed Honorary University Associate at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Dr. Lang has long been active in the affairs of the American Chemical Society at the local, regional, and national level including six years service as an elected member of its Board of Directors (1989-94). He currently is in his 20th year as Councilor (1972-1988, 1997-2005) representing the membership of the Central Wisconsin Section to the ACS Council. In 1994 he was given the Visiting Scientist Award in chemical education by the Western Connecticut Section, ACS. He was named recipient of the 1997 ACS national Helen M. Free Award in Public Outreach for his long-time efforts of interpreting science to the public. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1991-97) and the Advisory Board of the Vesterheim Genealogical Center and Næseth Library in Madison, Wisconsin. In April 1999 he was elected Corresponding Member of the Finnish Chemical Society - a lifetime honorary membership "for outstanding contributions to chemical education and for success in presenting chemistry to the public."

It has been one of Dr. Lang's special interests to present the science of chemistry to the public-at-large. Through chemical demonstrations and science workshops, he has presented the allure of visual reactions to the classroom of colleges, high schools, grade schools, to civic groups and senior citizen centers as well Most recently (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003), he conducted science workshops numerous and made presentations in Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Vaasa, Kuopio, Tampere and Oulu, Finland. In addition, invited presentations have been made to the 1998 Gordon Research Conference on Chemical Education at Oxford University, UK as well as numerous chemical demonstration presentations at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center, Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Lang's research interests include application of electron spin resonance spectroscopy to the study of macromolecular aspects of fluids, semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations, chemical demonstrations, and chemistry as portrayed on postage stamps. The latter topic has resulted in development of a presentation entitled CHEMICAL PHILATELY: A Perforated History of Chemistry which has been given to numerous audiences across the United States.

Professor Emeritus DONALD L. SHOWALTER

Donald L. Showalter is originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He received a B.S. degree from Eastern Kentucky University (1964) and a Ph.D. degree in Inorganic/Radiochemistry from the University of Kentucky (1970). He spent a year as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Oregon State University Radiation Center (1971).

Dr. Showalter began his teaching career at the University of Wisconsin -Stevens Point in 1971. He left Stevens Point in 1973 to join the faculty of Iowa Western Community College as Professor of Science and Mathematics. After three years in Iowa, he returned to Stevens Point where he is currently Professor of Chemistry.

In 1980 and in 2002, Dr. Showalter received the UWSP Outstanding Teaching Award. He was selected in 1984 to be the first Director of UWSP's Center For Faculty Development. He frequently serves as a Teaching Consultant for University faculty. Dr. Showalter was the recipient of the 1990 Visiting Scientist Award from the Western Connecticut Section of the American Chemical Society. In 1992 he was given Distinguished Achievement Award by the Academy of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. In 1994 he received the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2002, he was named as a UWSP Academy of Letters and Science Eugene Katz Distinguished Faculty. Most recently, he was presented with the Tom Hayes Memorial Award for Excellence in Teacher Education - 2005. Dr. Showalter retired from full-time teaching in 2006 and was subsequently designated Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and made an Honorary University Associate.

Dr. Showalter has been very active in promoting the use of chemical demonstrations in all levels of science education. He has presented or co-presented with Marv Lang over five hundred chemical demonstration programs or workshops intended to excite and educate students, teachers and the general public as to the wonders of chemistry. Programs have been presented at Epcot, Disneyland, the U.S. Congress, the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the Great Lake Science Museum in Cleveland, the Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, the Oxford University in England, and at Helsinki University in Finland. Television appearances include The Ira Joe Fisher Show in Cincinnati and Newton's Apple in Minneapolis. In 1987, Dr. Showalter began serving as the television demonstrator for "The World of Chemistry" - a twenty-six part videotape series sponsored by the Annenberg CPB Project. The series is shown on Public Television throughout the United States and in twenty-five foreign countries. However, the videotape series has found its greatest use in high school chemistry classes.

Dr. Showalter's research interests continue to lie in the area of radiochemistry and its application to the analysis of environmental samples. For many years, he served as a consultant to the Radiation Protection Group at the State Laboratory of Hygiene in Madison, Wisconsin. Another interest is in the area of chemical education - how to best communicate the concepts of chemistry to students, K-16, and the general public.

CALL FOR OFFICERS

It is time to elect 2006 officers for the Illinois-Iowa Section of ACS. If you are interested in serving, especially Chair-elect, please contact Dr. Brian Mundell brian@bio-researchprod.com, or Dr. Mel Peterson, chpeterson@augustana.edu

NOMINATIONS FOR AWARDS

Salutes to Excellence is an award program that gives ACS members an opportunity to conduct an event within their communities that recognizes the positive impact on everyday life made by a product of chemistry, a practitioner of chemistry, or a place of importance in chemistry. A central part of the event is the presentation of a commemorative plaque, furnished by the Office of Community Activities (OCA), for the honoree(s) for the chemistry achievement being honored. The local section is now searching for nominees for this prestigious award for 2006.

Please submit the following information by mail to Jerod Corbin, Sethness Products, Inc. Beaver Channel, Clinton, IA 52732 or by email to sethnesslab@revealed.net by November 1, 2006:

-Your name, address, preferred phone number, and email address
-The nominee's name/company name/product name/location
-A brief description (approximately 100 words) of the positive impact over several years that this product, practitioner, or place of importance in/of chemistry has had on the local section and the cause of chemistry

The nominee should be a current section member in good standing (national dues must have been paid for the year 2004), a product invented by a person/company in the section, or a location within the section.

. We are also soliciting nominations for Outstanding High School Chemistry Teacher. Please send nominations to Jerod Corbin, Sethness Products, Inc. Beaver Channel, Clinton, IA 52732 or by email to sethnesslab@revealed.net by November 1, 2006

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The October meeting will be held Wednesday, October 11 at Loras College. Dr. Henry Bungay, tour speaker, will present "Bioenergy."

KISER SCHOLARSHIP

This annual scholarship is awarded to a high school senior who has demonstrated academic achievements and who will pursue studies in natural science or engineering at a post-secondary educational institution. The 2006 award went to Bryant Koons, Northeast High School. Bryant is a freshman at Iowa State University, pursuing a degree in Chemical Engineering.

NATIONAL CHEMISTRY WEEK

It is time to plan our sections NCW activities. This year NCW is October 22-28, 2006 and the theme is "Your Home-It's All Built on Chemistry". This would be a great opportunity to investigate adhesives, insulation, building materials and other household chemicals. This link http://acswebcontent.acs.org/celebrate_chemistry/cc_ncw06.pdf will lead you to an ACS publication, "Celebrating Chemistry" with some ideas for activities. There is also a NCW Poster Contest again this year.

The section does have monies allocated to help support your activities. Please submit your request to Rick Rogers or any exec committee person (see below) by October 1st. This request should include what are your planned activities, how much money you need, and how you plan to spend it. Be sure to include all pertinent contact information as well. We will notify you by email by October 6th and let you know if your proposal has been accepted and how much the section will be sending to you. The section will be obtaining a case of the young person's magazine "Chem Matters" as well as some other NCW goodies like balloons, pencils, and zipper pulls. Please let Rick Rogers know how many of each you would like or if there is something else you think the section should obtain for all to use. The section will also run some public service ads on local TV stations advertising NCW and we are trying to set up a demonstration on the "Paula Sands Live" show to further promote this worthwhile endeavor. Feel free to use any local contact to help promote your own activity.

To keep up with what this Section is doing please visit the following website: http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=ncw\ncw_index.html .

As always, whether you receive funding or not for your activity, please document what you do in writing and with suitable pictures and forward them to Rick Rogers as you have them.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY

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 .

Please Post

Through a series of chemical demonstrations, comments and activities Lang and Showalter will present chemistry in an entertaining way … but it will be more than entertainment! A dramatic demonstration or a hands-on activity makes the observer pay close attention and graphically illustrates an otherwise abstract concept. The program will show that you can learn a good deal of chemistry and have fun at the same time. Perhaps in some small way the "fear factor" associated with science and especially with chemistry can be diminished and "Boiling Cold will become Freezing Hot!