Candidates for Office

Kristene Kae Surerus received her Ph.D. in Physical Biochemistry in 1989 from the University of Minnesota. She then received a Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship from Los Alamos National Laboratory followed by a postdoctoral position at Carnegie Mellon University. Currently Kristene is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she has been employed since 1993. She teaches courses in biochemistry, physical chemistry and general chemistry and her research program is focused on the chemistry of iron, with an emphasis on how iron is utilized by biological organisms. She is a member of ACS and AAAS and is a past secretary of the Milwaukee section of ACS

Beth Shepard joined Aldrich Chemical Company in 1986, where she is currently employed. After two years in the Technical Services Department, Beth transferred to the ESHRA (Environmental, Safety, Health & Regulatory Affairs) Department where she has worked on a variety of projects, including SARA Right-To-Know reporting and facility off-site plans for the Milwaukee County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).

Beth Shepard received a BSc degree in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Kevin W. Glaeske (b. 1966) is an assistant professor of chemistry at Wisconsin Lutherin College. He received two bachelors degrees from Beloit College (1988) in both Chemistry ansd Classics. Upon graduation, he studied synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Utah under F. G. West. He received his PhD in 1995 (The Synthesis of α-Amino Acid Derivatives and Study of Transfer of Chirality in the Stevens Rearrangement) and was called to teach chemistry at Wisconsin Lutheran College the same year. Additionally, he has had a brief postdoctoral stint at Marquette University in the laboratory of Dr. W. Donaldson.

Thomas Holme is an Associate Professor and Director of General Chemistry at UW-Milwaukee. He has served as Councilor for the Milwaukee Section for the past two years. As a Councilor he has been appointed to the Committee on Public Relations and Communications. He has served as Chair of the National Chemistry Week activities for the section for the past two years. He is a speaker for the ACS Speakers Service, traveling on six circuits in the past three years. This summer he will take over as the Director of the ACS Examinations Institute which will be moving to UWM. His scientific interests lie in computational chemistry of main group elements, particularly boron or silicon, and the role they play in physiological processes.

Diana has been an active member of the Milwaukee Section of ACS for the past 2 years. She is currently Chairman of the Membership Committee for the Milwaukee Section. Diana also serves on the Curriculum Advisory Board for the MATC Chemical Technology Department, and is a member of the local organization, Women In Science. She is Associate Technical Manager at Hydrite Chemical Company, where she has been employed since 1997. She has also worked at U.S. Oil Company in Kimberly, WI (1996-97) and Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, MO (1995-96). Diana graduated with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 1994 and completed graduate courses at the University of Kansas. She was the recipient of the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Scholarship and spent 3 months at the University of Utah.

ACS Exam Institute

Starting this summer, UW-Milwuakee will be host to the ACS Exam Institute. It is being moved from Clemson University where it has been housed for the last several years. The Exam Institute will be housed in the teaching wing of the Chemistry Building on the UWM campus. The institute will be under the direction of Thomas Holme, who is currently a councilor for the Milwaukee Section.

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Please congratuale the following members of the Milwaukee Section for reaching their 50^th year as a member of the American Chemical Society this year.

The Council of the ACS is considering by-law changes that will considerably change the way that Local Sections and technical Divisions receive their funding. The primary objective of this change is to increase the amount of funding in both categories. There is no proposed increase in dues to accommodate this change.

The Presidential Task Force that devised the recommendations upon which these changes are predicated has created a web site. It can be found at: http://web.umr.edu/~fblum/acs/bylaws.info.html. All members are welcome to investigate this change and contact your councilors with feedback. Councilors for the Milwaukee Section are Dimitri Gorjestani whose email is dimitrig@prodigy.net and Thomas Holme whose email is tholme@uwm.edu. Clich here for the complete councilor report.

The process for by-law changes involves two steps. At the National Meeting in Boston in August, the petition to change the by-laws will be considered by the Council and comments from the floor will be part of the consideration. Then, the petition will come before the Council for a vote at the Spring National ACS meeting in New Orleans. Input to councilors from the broader membership is encouraged in advance of either step in the process.

The fully computerized and Internet-accessible NECH, debuting at the Boston meeting, is a vast improvement over the previous method which required many employers to scramble to set up last-minute interviews onsite. Among the many improvements is that job seekers can post their resume online weeks before the meeting. This affords job seekers additional time to prepare for their interviews such as researching the prospective company.

For employers, the principal benefit of online interview scheduling is that they can immediately setup interviews after reviewing resumes. And they can use the private NECH email system to contact job seekers for more information.

For both job seekers and employers, NECH's "new way of doing business" will allow attendees to set up their calendars more effectively, thus leaving more time for their onsite interviews. Visit the following web site for more information: http://chemistry.org/careers

The National Science Foundation Chemistry Division has instituted a program of Research Sites for Educators in Chemistry (RSEC) in recognition of the need to encourage research and experiential learning at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) in the US. The Site at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville offers US PUI faculty in chemistry, biology, and other related fields opportunities for NSF-supported fellowships aimed at enhancing both research and teaching in chemistry and related disciplines at Fellows' home institutions. Postdoctoral fellowships are available (at lower priority) for prospective PUI faculty who are US citizens or permanent residents

NSF/RSEC now offers Fellows flexible research visits of 2-15 months at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK) and/or at a research-active institution, including Oak Ridge National Lab, UT-Chattanooga, University of the South (Sewanee), University of North Carolina-Asheville, Berea College, and Procter & Gamble. Research hosts at UT and the "partner" institution(s) will help each Fellow establish collaborations sustainable beyond the term of appointment though "catalyst" grants of up to $7000 upon completion of the Fellowship. Funding is also provided for sabbatical and/or summer salary, displacement and travel expenses, and supplies.

Teaching activities will be limited to no more than one course per semester (none in the summer), providing an opportunity to share teaching ideas while being actively engaged in state-of-the-art research. Support is now available for a qualified student from the Fellow's home institution for research with the Fellow during and/or after the Fellowship.

Details about the program, including an on-line application form, are available at http://www.chem.utk.edu/~rsec/, or by contacting the RSEC Program Director: Dr. Kelsey D. Cook, Department of Chemistry, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1600, rsec@utk.edu 865-974-8019

Applications can be submitted at any time, but should be received by mid-January for Fall start dates and mid-July for Spring start dates.

The Examinations Institute of the Division of Chemical Education has moved its office and changed Directors. After operating from Clemson University for the past 10 years, this institute is now hosted by the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

The new Director of the Institute is Professor Thomas Holme of the UW-Milwaukee Chemistry Department. He assumed his responsibilities on July 1. The former Director is Professor Dwaine Eubanks of Clemson University.

The Exams Institute traces its roots to 1930, soon after the Division of Chemical Education was established. Currently 45 different exams at the college and high school level are offered to the Chemistry Education community through the Institute. National norms for these exams are calculated and published so educators can reliably compare the performance of their students to these national norms. All exams sold by the Institute are considered "secure" exams.

Many of the 45 exams currently marketed by the Institute are for college level general chemistry. In addition to exams for the full year course, separate exams are available for the first or second term as well as exams that emphasize conceptual questions with less reliance on numerical manipulations.

All exams are produced by committees of volunteers. Committee members meet at national meetings to craft and revise multiple choice questions. These questions are pulled together into two trial exams. Volunteers from around the country give the trial exams to their students and report student answers for the questions. The committees then meet to select the final set of questions based on statistical analysis of performances on the trial versions. A typical general chemistry exam takes two years and 4-5 meetings of the committee to develop. Many volunteers describe their experience on the committee as a significant learning opportunity.

In addition to the examinations, test-item banks, drawn from former exams and trial exam questions that are not included in the final version can be purchased. A packet for assessment of small-scale laboratory experiments is also available.

Recently, student study guides have been produced and are popular items. The study guides can be purchased at a reduced price by Student Affiliates groups to be used in fund-raising activities for their clubs. Currently study guides have been produced for general chemistry and organic chemistry.

The new Director, Dr. Holme, is a Professor of Chemistry at UWM and is Director of General Chemistry there. He received his PhD from Rice University in 1987 and has been on the faculty at UWM for 8 years. The Associate Director of the Institute is Dr. Joseph Bariyanga. Dr. Bariyanga is a native of Rwanda and is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Chemistry at UWM.

The Examinations Institute is overseen by a Board of Trustees appointed by the Division of Chemical Education. The Trustees meet on Sunday morning at each national meeting of the Society and they set policies for the Institute. Institute operations are financed by the sales of the assessment materials it produces.

More information about the Institute can be found at its web site at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/chemexams. The site includes information about materials available and their cost, the history of the institute, national norms of exams that are available and volunteer opportunities. Contact information is available at this home page as well.

The ACS Committee on Professional Training (CPT) is in the final stages of revising the guidelines for the chemistry education option as part of the ACS approval process for undergraduate chemistry programs. In addition to revising the guidelines, CPT is considering the addition of a chemistry education minor. The Committee would like your comments on the proposed changes to the guidelines. For more details, please visit the CPT website at http://chemistry.org/education/cpt.

The highlights of the proposed revisions to the requirements for the chemistry education option would include the following:

• the same first two years as any other ACS certified major, except that only one semester of organic chemistry lab would be required.
• comparable exposure equivalent to one-semester to other areas of chemistry: analytical (environmental), biochemistry, inorganic, and physical.
• in-depth study of one area of chemistry via course work or research, equivalent to three semester credit hours.
• reduction in lab hours (minimum of 300 lab contact hours vs. present 500 hours).
• three semester-credit hours (or equivalent) in chemistry teaching methods (new).
• No change in ancillary course requirements (one year each of calculus and physics with lab)

The requirements for the minor would be:

• 23 semester-credit hours (or equivalent) of chemistry with two or more of the following areas represented beyond general chemistry: analytical, biochemistry, environmental, inorganic, organic, and physical.
• 200 lab contact hours from two different areas beyond general chemistry.
• eight semester-credit hours of physics.
• three semester-credit hours (or equivalent) in chemistry teaching methods (new).

The 23rd Annual ALMA (Analytical Laboratory Managers Association) Conference is scheduled in St. Louis on Thursday, October 17, 2002. Preceding the conference will be three workshops that may be of particular interest to ACS Members.

Both the conference agenda and the workshop descriptions can be viewed at our website at http://www.labmanagers.org.

The mission of our Association is to share and disseminate information about the management of analytical services and instrumentation laboratories.