CINTACS Newsletter of the Cincinnati Section of the  American Chemical Society  Vol. 39, No. 4 - December-January, 2002

CINTACS is published nine times a year (September through May) by the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society. All changes of address should be sent to Emel Yakali at Raymond Walters College, 9555 Plainfield Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236, phone 745-5686, FAX 745-5767, or email mc.acs@uc.edu.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES

The submission deadline will be approximately January 22, for the March 2002 issue.  Electronic submission is strongly preferred, except for original photos. All materials should be sent to:

Dr. Bruce Ault
Department of Chemistry
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221
Phone: 513-556-9238
FAX: 513-556-9239
E-mail: bruce.ault@uc.edu

Great news - we’ve received $50,000 as an anonymous donation for National Chemistry Week, Project SEED, and the Chemistry Olympiad!  (Yes, that’s not a typo, it IS $50,000!)  We’ve also received a matching grant of $50,000 from National ACS. (For details, see the article about this from Al Pinhas.)  Thanks, Al, for arranging the details of this donation!  And, thanks to our anonymous benefactor, we should be able to expand our efforts in the educational front!

Did you catch the Enquirer between November 5 and 10?  We had a spread in each of the papers.  This was made possible by a grant from P&G of $5,000 (arranged by Kathy Gibboney), plus a matching grant of $5,000 from National, in cooperation with the Enquirer’s “Newspapers In Education” program.  We were able to send 850 information packets concerning National Chemistry Week and the Chemistry Olympiad to K-6 teachers, plus some 95,000 newspapers to K-12 schools throughout the tri-state.  We’ve received several unsolicited letters of thanks from teachers and students, which we’ll have on display at the January meeting.  (Some of you will have seen the display at the December meeting.)

I believe there was a great boost to NCW demonstration attendance because of the publicity we had in the Enquirer.  Thanks to all who helped - there are too many to list here.  Your help is very much appreciated.

The calendar year 2002 includes the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Women’s Chemists Committee within ACS.  We plan to celebrate this event starting with the January 16th meeting.  Iota Sigma Pi will be joining us for the celebration!  Shirley Corriher, biochemist turned nationally known chef, author, and educator will give us the lowdown on what goes on chemically and physically when we cook, undercook or overcook our food, and how to recoup from many of our disasters.  She comes with high recommendations from several of our members who have heard her presentations at previous National WCC events!  In addition to our event, Shirley will be at Joseph Beth Bookstore on the following day (January 17) for a book signing for her book “CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking.”

Thanks to George Rizzi, our sponsor for this meeting!  Be sure to shake his hand at the meeting.

I trust you all will have a prosperous and rewarding 2002!

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Featured Speaker
Renowned Chef and Author Shirley O. Corriher

"The Secret Life of Food"

At a Shirley talk, you will laugh a lot and learn a lot--maybe more than you wanted to know!

Think about all those mysterious, startling things that seem to just happen! You were cooking red cabbage. You didn't do a thing. You were just standing there and the cabbage turned disgusting blue. Your perfect bananas on a gorgeous fruit bowl--overnight they are overripe with brown spots! You made the most wonderful flavoured vinegars for gifts, but the next day the garlic was violently intense blue. What happened? What happened? Not to worry, it's just chemistry.

About the Speaker

"If you want to know why and it concerns food, Shirley Corriher, Atlanta cooking teacher and food consultant, is the person to figure it out." (FOOD & WINE, November 1988) Shirley has been lecturing and writing about food for over 20 years and has been: research scientist, working chef who fed 140 people three meals/day for 10 years, Classic French Cuisine teacher, writer, and consultant. She teaches everyone from beginning cooks to top professionals and keeps audiences spellbound with her explanations of how food and recipes work.

 She has made presentations to many prestigious groups such as the Smithsonian Institution, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and, in Europe, at international symposia on Gastronomy and Science. In addition to her teaching and speaking schedule, she currently writes a regular column for Fine Cooking magazine and for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate in their Great Chefs series. She also serves as consultant to Cook's Illustrated and Fine Cooking, and occasionally writes for Food and Wine, Martha Stewart Living, and others. Her book, CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking, has sold over 140,000 copies. The book won the 1998 James Beard Award for Food Reference & Technique and is a top selling book available in bookstores or on-line stores.

 Shirley appears on many TV programs--Good Eats, Smart Solutions, Sara Moulton Cooking Live, Homecooking, and Nathalie Dupree, to name a few and has been featured in publications such as Art Culinaire (Industry Spotlight, Fall, 1999), Self magazine (Self's 1999 Food Influentials, February, 1999), Gourmet (Gourmet At Large, August, 1997), Bon Appetit (Cooking Class, March, 1989), US News & World Report (News You Can Use, March, 1998).

Ms. Corriher’s professional credentials include a B.A. in Chemistry from Vanderbilt in 1956, research biochemist at Vanderbilt Medical School, 1956-58.  She has studied cooking at several prestigious schools, including Rich’s Cooking School, Lav Varenne and Cordon Bleu.   She is co-founder & teacher, Brandon Hall (Private School), 1959, where she was food service manager from 1959-1969.  She cofounded First Montessori (Private School), 1963.  She has consulted with many organizations, including Time-Life Books, National Geographic, and Procter & Gamble.
 

Program:

5:30-6:30 p.m.
WCC Discussion Group - “Alternative Careers,” Shirley Corriher, Cheryl Brown, and distinguished panellists.
(Augusta Room, entry level)

6:00-7:00 p.m.
Registration & mixer with light hors d’ouvre, ($12.00, students, elementary/secondary school teachers,
unemployed members, first time non members, and retirees, 1/2 price)  (Garden Room, lower level)

7:00-8:00 p.m.
“The Secret Life of Food” Shirley Corriher (Garden Room, lower level)

8:00-9:00 p.m.
Reception and WCC 75th Anniversary Celebration, with more hors d’ouvre, birthday cake, etc.
(Garden Room, lower level)
 

Reservations: Send your reservations to Robbin Rolfes <rolfes.rl@pg.com> , or if you have difficulty remembering this address, send to <cinacs@greeb.net>.  If absolutely impossible to make reservations via the Internet, telephone 513-385-8363.  Deadline for childcare reservations is noon Wednesday, January 9, and for dinner reservations Monday, January 14, 2002.  (It will save a lot of trouble if you use e-mail, but we don't want to discourage those who like the "olde fashioned" means of making reservations).  Include your name, affiliation, and state if you're in one of the 1/2-price categories.

Child Care:  The section provide childcare for this event.  For childcare we early reservations, with number and age(s) of your children, since we need to know the number of sitters to hire.  Pebble Creek has a large room suitable for toddlers on up (no facilities are available for infants in cribs, sorry.)  We will provide pizza or something similar for the kids and sitters.  As a reminder, if you decide you must miss a meeting after you have made reservations, please e-mail or call to cancel.  If you do not cancel, the Section will have to charge you because it will have been charged by Pebble Creek.

Directions: Pebble Creek Golf Club is reached from Downtown (or UC), by taking I-75 North to I-74 West, to I-275 East, to Colerain Avenue (US-27).  Go North on Colerain Avenue to the third traffic light (at Lowe's Home Center), and turn left, onto Dry Ridge.  You will go around two curves, and come to a "stop except when turning right."  Bear right (still on Dry Ridge Road) to the second left, which is Prechtel Road.  Turn left. Go about 3/4 mile to the end of Prechtel, and bear right into 9799 Prechtel Road.  In case of difficulty you may call the club at 513-923-1188.

From the north take I-71 or I-75 South to I-275 West to Colerain Avenue (US-27).  Go North on Colerain Avenue to the second traffic light (at Lowe's Home Center), and turn left, onto Dry Ridge.  You will go around two curves, and come to a "stop except when turning right."  Bear right (still on Dry Ridge Road) to the second left, which is Prechtel Road.  Turn left. Go about 3/4 mile to the end of Prechtel, and bear right into 9799 Prechtel Road. In case of difficulty you may call the club at 513-923-1188.

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Cincinnati Chemist of the Year

 The Section Awards Committee requests nominations for the 2002 Cincinnati Chemist of the Year. This award, given annually since 1950, recognizes professional accomplishments of a member. The 2002 Chemist of the Year will be the featured speaker at the February meeting.

Deadline for nominations is December 12, 2001.

Cincinnati Research Assistant of the Year

 The Section Awards Committee requests nominations for the 2002 Cincinnati Research Assistant/Chemical Technician of the Year. This award, given annually, recognizes job skills, safety, teamwork, leadership, publications and presentations, reliability, communications skills, and additional professional and community activities. A Chemical Technician/Research Assistant is defined as a person whose training includes successful completion of a two year post-high school chemistry curriculum or equivalent work in a Baccalaureate program, or equivalent knowledge gained by experience. The 2002 award will be presented at the March meeting. The winner will be the section’s candidate for the National award.

Deadline for nominations is December 12, 2001.

Outstanding Teaching Awards

 Do you know a teacher who inspires his/her students? Fills them with a curiosity about the world of science and chemistry? The Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society is looking for these people - and honors three each year.

The High School Chemistry Teacher of the year is awarded annually, to recognize accomplishments of those of us who teach chemistry at the secondary school level.

The Middle School/Junior High School Science Teacher of the Year is awarded annually to honor science teaching at this level.

The Elementary School Science Teacher of the Year is awarded for excellence in elementary teaching.

 All three awards recognize teaching ability, enthusiasm, mentoring skills, and other leadership activities. Nominees need not be members of the American Chemical Society. Generally speaking, anyone teaching in these capacities within 35 mile radius of downtown Cincinnati is eligible.   These awards will be given at the April Meeting.

Deadline for nominations is January 16, 2002 (at the meeting).

Nomination forms for each award may be requested from, and returned to:

Tim Cassady                                    Work:  513-482-2294
Cognis Corporation                          FAX:  513-482-2862
4900 Este Ave.                                Email: Tim.cassady@cognis-us.com
Cincinnati, OH  45232-1491

Are you looking for a career change?  Have you ever wondered what types of “non-traditional” opportunities exist for scientists?  Our panel of special guest will be able to provide insight and dialogue around such thought provoking questions.   Before her keynote speech, we will have Shirley kick-off a WCC discussion group on "Alternative Careers" where she will speak on how she became a chef (from being a biochemist).  In addition to Shirley, the discussion group will feature a panel of speakers that will include Cheryl Brown, ACS Staff Liaison for WCC, to discuss ACS and WCC resources for those looking into “alternative careers."

We are honoured to have Cheryl H. Brown as our guest for this celebration.  Cheryl is the Program Manager for Women and Minorities in Science at the American Chemical Society (ACS).  She is responsible for development, coordination and implementation of programs that encourage and support greater participation and leadership of women in the chemical sciences.  Ms. Brown also serves as the staff liaison to the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) of the ACS and has oversight on issues relative to women in chemistry.   She began her career at ACS 14 years ago as staff assistant for the National Chemistry Week Program.  Four years later she was promoted to create the Local Section Public Relations program.  Since leaving that position she has served as the program manager for Membership Activities and the ACS Awards Program.

Ms. Brown has a varied marketing background that includes several years as a corporate convention hotel sales manager in Nevada, Miami and Atlanta.  Prior to her hotel experience, she was a corporate travel agent, and before that she spent seven years in marketing at IBM, which she joined after attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The first date for submission was Nov. 1 and several grant applications were received. Hopefully, applicants will be notified by Christmas.  The next deadline for submission is Feb. 1.  Rules and copies appeared in the October issue of CINTACS or can be found on the Section Web page at http://www.che.uc.edu/acs/cinacs.html.  Go to the bottom of the  page and check the Archives of CINTACS.

If you have questions, please E-mail. Voice mail at school rarely works.

E-mail: RStricklin@aol.com

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Chemical Information Update - Missing Links
Edlyn Simmons, Chair, Chemical Information Discussion Group

Remember the great website you bookmarked last year?  The one with a chemical dictionary or the publications of Nobel Prize winners or links to all the other great websites.  Have you clicked on the bookmark lately?  And was the site still there?  Were the links?  No?

As the World Wide Web ages, this happens more and more.  Often, the webmaster's enthusiasm wanes, and he stops updating the site.  Or he finishes his PhD and moves to a new job, leaving the website behind.  Or he takes the content to a new URL without leaving a forwarding address.  Or the sponsoring company merges with another company and changes its domain name.  Worst of all, the URL can be acquired by another owner, replacing the valuable chemical content with something quite different.  For example, the URL http://www.webmolecules.com, was purchased by a company that redirects visitors to a pornographic site.

The Virtual Library Links for Chemists site (http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/Links/cobwebchemistry.html) calls these sites Chemical Cobwebs. It suggests that aspiring visitors to the sites can help to clear up the problem of broken links by following some simple suggestions.
 

"If you find such a site with broken or out dated links, e-mail the page owner and tell them what was wrong. If nobody reports the links they might never be fixed.

Search engines often produce dead links in their outputs. If you find a dead chemistry link in a search engine, such as AltaVista, make sure you feed the link back in to the search engine, e.g. for AltaVista there is a Dead Link removal facility. "

Footnote:  This year, the Chemical Information Discussion Group is offering hints and updates on chemical information resources available to most chemists and techniques for using them.  Contributions from any ACS member are welcome, and so are requests for information you'd like to see in a future column.  If you have any comments, suggestions, or contributions, please email them to simmons.es@pg.com

On Wednesday evening, January 30th, the teachers will gather at St. Ursula Academy to explore a web-based nuclear chemistry unit developed by Joy Henderson. Teachers will be given enough information to lead a class through the basics and applications of nuclear chemistry. The unit includes laboratory exercises, question packets, worksheets, and on-line resources. This unit is easily adapted to the individual teacher’s needs. Joy would appreciate your RSVP at jhenderson@saintursula.org or 513-961-3410 (ext.  27003) by January 29th. The evening will begin with light refreshments and announcements at 6:30 PM followed by the program from 7 to 8:30 PM.

Directions to St. Ursula: From I-71 north, take the Reading Road exit and turn right onto Eden Park Dr. Turn left onto Gilbert Avenue. Turn right onto E. McMillan Avenue. From I-71 south, take the Dana Avenue exit. Turn right onto Madison Rd. Bear right when Torrence Ave. splits off of Madison. Turn left onto Victory Parkway. Turn left onto E. McMillan. The school is at 1339 E. McMillan, but turn right onto Upland Avenue just before the main school drive. You will see “FAB” building on the right just before Upland. Park on this street and follow the walkway to the building at the corner of Upland and Fleming. Joy will post signs to the meeting room.

BRING A NEW COLLEAGUE! Our group steadily grows in numbers, but it can certainly serve the professional needs of more teachers. If you have a friend who is not on the teachers’ e-mail list, contact Linda Ford at Linda.ford@7hills.org.

An anonymous individual, with past ties to Cincinnati, recently has donated $50,000 to the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society.  Due to the donor's desire to get young people interest in science, in general, and chemistry, in particular, this money will be used to establish the Cincinnati Section Education Fund.  The interest that is generated by this fund will be divide, in perpetuity, among Project Seed (which encourages economically disadvantaged high school students to pursue careers in chemistry), Chemistry Olympiad (which promotes achievement in high school chemistry), and National Chemistry Week (which shows the general public the significance of chemistry in our everyday lives). Thus, this generous contribution will help students for many years to come.

The National ACS matches all donations over $2,500 to Project Seed, Chemistry Olympiad, or National Chemistry Week.  The $2,500 donation can be made all at once or spread over a five-year period.  Thus, the $50,000 from the anonymous donor will be matched dollar for dollar by ACS National.

 On behalf of all the members of the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society, and especially on behalf of all the students who directly will benefit, the Officers would like to thank the anonymous donor and ACS National for each of their generous contributions.

When some people retire, they really retire. For others, activity remains at a fever pitch, as with Bob Laughlin. I thought you might be interested in Bob's activities since his Oct. 8, 1999 retirement from Procter & Gamble after 42 43 years of service.

Most Cincinnati section members know Bob from work related contacts with him over his long career at Procter & Gamble. Others know him for his extreme generosity, including the endowment of a Chair at Cornell in the Chemistry Department and the sponsorship of our first local section meeting on October 5th. He was unable to attend that meeting because he was visiting and lecturing at Clarkson University, so attendee accolades for his generous sponsorship had to wait till the November 1st meeting.

Bob has written and published a book " The Aqueous Phase Behavior of Surfactants " which is becoming the Bible in this specialized area of chemistry where he is an internationally known and respected expert.

In fact in the ten days before our October 5th meeting, he gave a string of invited lectures in Germany on phase phenomena and measurements. This included a visit to Leipzig, where he was the guest of Professor Konrad Quitzsch, former head of the Ostwald Institute in the University. Bob visited both Ostwald’s estate and the University while there. Bob then traveled to Bayreuth, where he gave a short course (at the invitation of Heinz Hoffmann) which included nine lectures spanning five days. He also received the first Otto von Warburg prize and gave the required lecture. Bob spoke on the thermodynamic definition of phases and interfaces.  Next he went to Cologne at the invitation of Reinhard Strey where he gave the short course again, condensed to three days, and another lecture.

Altogether Bob gave 20 lectures in two weeks, and, all this in a partially disabled condition. On Halloween of 2000 he fell off a ladder, sustaining a multiple fracture of the leg. He continues to walk with a cane. This is very unfortunate, as another of Bob's talents is/was ballroom dancing, where he has successfully competed in Fred Astaire events.

Many will also remember Bob as Cincinnati Chemist of the Year in 1985.

So you can see we have in our midst in the Cincinnati Section a man we can be very proud of, a technically talented, internationally famous organic chemist turned physical chemist, an outstanding scientist who continues to spread his expertise around the world even in his retirement. And he has just informed me that he is accepting an adjunct professorship position at Clarkson University.

At the next section meeting, talk to Bob about his activities, and don't forget to thank him again, as we all do, for the sponsorship of the October meeting.

Ted J. Logan, Councilor, Cincinnati Section, ACS

Over 125 volunteers from the Procter and Gamble Company, Cincinnati Specialties LLC, HG Consulting, Cognis Corporation, The Cincinnati Museum Center, Louis Trauth Dairy, Wright Patterson’s Air Force Research Laboratory, Tekmar-Dohrmann, Xavier University, College of Mount St. Joseph, Miami University, University of Cincinnati, Wilmington College, Summit Country Day High School, Seven Hills High School, Oak Hills High School, and Hughes High School provided NCW programs for 28 local library branches and several schools.  We closed the week with seven weekend programs at the Cincinnati Museum Center’s Museum of Natural History and Science.  The NCW volunteers “celebrated chemistry and art” with over 1,440 kids, students, parents, and teachers.

Kathleen Gibboney (Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals) organized a donation of $5,000 from P&G to help spread the word about NCW to over 800 local schools.  With a matching grant from the National ACS, the Cincinnati Enquirer Newspaper provided a weeklong “News In Education” program that gave all the students a daily copy (95,000 copies in all) of the newspaper during NCW as well as information packets from the ACS to their teachers.  Each day, the Enquirer published an article in the Kids’ Corner section highlighting local chemists that made important contributions to science and society.  Publicity for NCW was spread throughout the area by the Enquirer, the Hamilton County libraries website and flyers, the Cincinnati Museum Center’s Museum of Natural History and Science flyers, and the local ACS section’s website and flyers produced by Gwen Baumann, the local section’s media relations chair.  As reported in an earlier CINTACS article, Richard Sunberg (head honcho of the local section’s NCW elementary school contest) and his 30-member team stuffed 850 contest activity packets and distributed them to area schools.  Winners will be invited to receive their awards in a future section meeting.

Thanks to Gary Holliday at Air Products for donating a 230-liter tank of liquid nitrogen and the Procter and Gamble Company for donating 50 pounds of dry ice for the museum programs.  We’re looking forward to next year!

Scenes from National Chemistry Week Activities

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ACS Women Chemists Committee
Travel Awards - 2002

Once again Eli Lilly & Company is sponsoring a program to provide funding for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral women chemists to travel to scientific meetings in 2002-2003 to present the results of their research.  Awards will be granted to women presenting research for the first time at a national or major meeting.  Grants may be applied only for registration, travel, and accommodations and are restricted to travel to meetings within the United States.  Grant funds are limited, but there are some funds set aside for undergraduates.  Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible. Applications should be limited to one per research group.  Women who have received a prior award under this program are ineligible.
The deadline dates for receipt of applications for 2002 and 2003 meetings are as follows:

February 15, 2002  – Meetings between July 1 and December 31, 2002
September 15, 2002  - Meetings between January 1 and June 30, 2003

 In order to apply for the award, please visit:

http://membership.acs.org/w/wcc/travflyer2001.htm

Being a Member is the right MOVE!

Being a member of the American Chemical Society means you benefit. Allied Van Lines has partnered with ACS to give you, the member, discounts on your next move. Allied offers reduced cost for moving services, relocation discounts for family members and quality service for local, interstate and international relocation and storage needs. Call your designated Bayshore point of contact at 1-800-874-6683 and ask for an ACS Coordinator.

Curious about the non-technical skills that many employers increasingly are asking for in today’s chemical workplace ? Need some tips about writing a curriculum vitae ?

You can download new publications on each of these subjects as well as gain access to an entire library of career-development publications and other resources at ACS’ Department of Career Services website, www.chemistry.org/careers.

Interested in sizing up an employment situation you may be considering ? While at the above website, you may wish to use the Salary Comparator which allows members to evaluate their salaries with other members in their employment situation.

This new tool also allows members to examine any employment situation within the scope of the ACS surveys, including new graduates’ starting salaries. The comparator is available only to ACS members. For further information, email:
careers@acs.org or (voice) 1-800-227-5558.

Are you an active member, the kind that would be missed?
Or are you just contented that your name is on the list?
Do you attend the meeting and mingle with the flock?
Or do you meet in private and criticize and knock?

Do you take an active part and help the work along?
Or are you satisfied to be the kind to just belong?
Do your work on committees?  To this there is no trick,
Or leave the work to just a few, then talk about the clique?

Please go to meeting often, and help with hand and heart.
Don’t be just a member, but take an active part.
Think it over, you know what’s right from wrong.
Are you and active member, or do you just belong?

(From the Liskeard Royal Naval Association, magazine, Great Britain, reprinted by permission)

Formatted and uploaded January 2, 2002, by acs@www.che.uc.edu