Looking Towards National Chemistry Week

October 21st - 27th, 2007

"The Many Faces of Chemistry"

For many years, the Rochester ACS Section has celebrated National Chemistry Week (NCW). This year marks the 20th anniversary of NCW, which will be celebrated from October 21-27. The 2007 NCW theme is "The Many Faces of Chemistry". The theme's goal is to create awareness of the wide diversity of career opportunities involving chemistry and to recognize and celebrate the many people whose dedication to a chemistry-related occupation improves the quality of life for those around them.

This year, the Rochester Section's NCW team of Calvin Uzelmeier, Deb Janes, and Tim Wilson are beginning an expansion of our NCW efforts with the goal of filling an entire week of activities. Current plans are to have programs at the Rochester Museum & Science Center on both weekends bookending NCW. The first weekend will tie directly into the "Faces of Chemistry" theme, while the second weekend will dovetail with the RMSC's spooky-science program. The hope is to reach a larger audience by diversifying the program.

For this year's theme, the focus will be on highlighting not only what chemists, professors, technicians and teachers do, but also how chemistry can be combined with almost any other interest to find a career path. Efforts are underway to involve local industries, colleges & universities, patent lawyers, publishers & book editors, conservators from the Memorial Art Gallery, and representatives from the Monroe County Crime Lab. The Rochester Section has also received a grant that will allow us to unite students from RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) with younger students from the Rochester School for the Deaf and begin a mentorship program between the two schools.

We have also purposely scheduled our Annual Recognition Dinner on the last Friday of NCW at Hawthorne's Restaurant on October 26. Please look for the info for this dinner in this issue of "The CHEMunicator" or on our web page. Plan on joining us as we honor our 50- and 60-year members, the "Rochester Chemical Technician Award" winner, the "Rochester Chemical High School Teacher Award" winner, and the winner of the annual "Rochester Section Volunteerism Award". This year, we will also be recognizing five students from NTID who recently won National ACS awards. The speaker for the event will be the President of Encore Chocolates, so you won't want to miss a wonderful chocolate tasting!

You can see the theme in the plans being made - bringing together "The Many Faces of Chemistry". In 2008, there will be an extra effort to partner with local schools, and the 2008 NCW theme, "Chemistry and Sports", should provide many opportunities for activities!

Sound like fun? It is! Feelers have gone out to members of the section who have been active in NCW in the past to solicit additional ideas. We can also use your thoughts, ideas and energy to be a part of our new, exciting NCW efforts. Whatever time and energy or ideas you can offer, please contact:

Calvin Uzelmeier at: uzelmeier@yahoo.com
Deb Janes at: deborah.janes@kodak.com
or
Tim Wilson at: timothy.e.wilson@kodak.com

For further information about ACS's National Chemistry Week, visit the official NCW web site.

Please take the time to consider these volunteer opportunities and join us during this special week honoring Chemistry!

"The Chemical Influence of Making Mountains: What Fossil Geochemistry Tells Us about the Uplift of the Bolivian Andes"

Date: Saturday, September 15
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Location: The "Green Lounge" in Hutchison Hall, University of Rochester (in front of Hubbell Auditorium).
Host: Peggy Higgins

Refreshments will be served

Event Flyer (PDF) with Info and Abstract

The 2007 Rochester ACS Section's Annual Recognition Dinner will be held Friday, October 26, at Hawthorne's Restaurant (formerly The Maplewood Inn) at 3500 East Avenue.

Among those being recognized at this year's dinner will be:

• 50-Year and 60-year ACS Members
• The Rochester Section Volunteerism Award Recipient
• The High School Chemistry Teacher Award Recipient
• The Rochester Chemical Technician Award Recipient
• Local recipients of the "ACS Chemical Technology Student Recognition" awards
  

The dinner will also feature a special presentation on "The Chemistry of Chocolate", including a chocolate tasting, by
Nancy Stiebitz, President of Encore Chocolates.

Agenda:

5:30 PM Social Hour (Cash Bar)
6:30 PM Buffet Dinner
7:30 PM Program

$29 each per ACS member and one guest
$34 for non-ACS members

The deadline for reservations and payment is October 23, 2007. Please make checks payable to 'Rochester Section, Inc.' and mail your payment to:

Mark Heitz
377 Brockport-Spencerport Road
Brockport, NY 14420-2803

Reservations may also be made online at the Rochester Section's website using Pay-Pal.

A flyer for the dinner is also available for printing or posting.

For additional information, please contact Mark Heitz (mheitz@brockport.edu, 585-395-5586).

On September 30, 2007, the National ACS will unveil its new website at www.acs.org. Years in the making, the new ACS web presence motto is "building value online every time". The new website will feature enhanced "findability", consistent navigation, and an improved visual design.

Mark your calendars and check out http://www.acs.org when it debuts on 9/30/2007.

What's new with the Rochester Younger Chemists Committee?

Check out our new website at
http://www.chem.rochester.edu/ycc. On the site you can find information about chemistry programs and job postings in Rochester, as well as information about upcoming YCC events. Our new email address is RochesterYCC@gmail.com.

Upcoming YCC Activities

Horseback Riding and Hiking at Letchworth State Park
Join us for an exciting day at Letchworth State Park Saturday, October 13. There will be a guided tour of the Lower Falls, a picnic, and horseback riding (no prior horseback riding experience is required). The cost is $30 for all three activities and $5 for the picnic and hike. RSVP by 10/5. Please see the flyer for more details.

YCC/RCC Poster Session Luncheon
Learn about the exciting research younger chemists are doing in the Rochester area at the Fall Retired Chemists Committee Luncheon, which will be at the Wishing Well Restaurant (1190 Chili Avenue) Tuesday, October 23. The audience will vote for the top three poster presenters, who will win cash prizes. The event costs $14 per person and includes the poster session with snacks, buffet lunch, and invited talk by Steve Locke. See the YCC/RCC flyer or the Retired Chemists Committee announcement, below, for further details.

Mole Bowl
Here's your chance to finally compete at Jeopardy instead of just yelling at the TV! The YCC is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Mole Bowl, a Jeopardy-style trivia contest, to be held Saturday, October 27 at 1 PM in Hubbell Auditorium at the University of Rochester. If your name is Ken Jennings, or you think you have what it takes to compete, please register! Teams of three will be competing against each other; you may sign up your team of three or as an individual and we'll place you on a team. Please RSVP to RochesterYCC@gmail.com by 10/19. All are welcomed to participate! Please see the Mole Bowl flyer for more details.

Tuesday, October 23

The Wishing Well Restaurant
1190 Chili Avenue
YCC Poster Session: 11:00 a.m.
Luncheon at 12:00 noon

Prior to lunch, YCC members will present research posters to the retired chemist audience and their peers. To encourage YCC members to participate, cash prizes will be offered for the top three posters as voted by the audience. Snacks (cheese, crackers, and vegetables) will be served throughout the poster session.

Luncheon will be a buffet at $14. For reservations, contact Lew Allen (585-586-9983, lallen10@rochester.rr.com) by Friday, October 19. Spouses, Guests and Friends are welcome.

Guest Speaker: Mr. Steven Locke, Byron-Bergen High School

"The Rochester ACS Section's GRAND Award Ceremony for High School Chemistry Students"

Abstract: Each year, the Rochester ACS Section sponsors a Chemistry Recognition Award Ceremony for high school chemistry students.  In 2007, the program celebrated its 20th anniversary, and over 1100 students from 75 different high schools were recognized at three separate ceremonies.  The history of the program's growth and its logistics will be presented. This "over-the-top" ceremony for high school chemistry students is unique among all ACS local sections, and is a yearly highlight of the Rochester ACS calendar.

The next Rochester Section networking mixer will be held at MacGregor's Bar & Grill in Henrietta Tuesday, September 25, from 5:00 - 8:00 PM.

Further info and Directions...

Ken Schlecht of SUNY Brockport is offering a 1-credit hour course on Chemical Lecture Demonstrations.  The course is designed to help teachers practice and develop chemistry lecture demonstrations. Participants will obtain detailed instructions and then be required to practice several demonstrations and present them to their fellow classmates.

The course takes two full Saturdays, October 6th and November 3rd.  It is listed as a "Natural Science" course on the SUNY Brockport website (http://www.brockport.edu) under "Online Services". The course number is:

NAS 695 Chemical Lecture Demonstrations (A)
Minimum enrollment = 8, Maximum enrollment = 12

Contact Dr. Ken Schlecht (kschlech@brockport.edu, 585-395-5585) if you have any questions.