Division of Chemical Education

by David Wren and Sonia Underwood 
 
Introduction:

Congratulations! You worked hard and finished your degree and are now ready to put all your dedication and hard work to practice. In other words, you need to get a job. A real one. Scanning through pages of ambiguous job postings, you are not sure what jobs entail, what are the qualifications (what does “or related field” really mean, anyway?), and how to filter those for which you can be competitive. Added to the fish-out-of-water feeling, you may have other restrictions of location or coordinating a job hunt with a significant other (see “Navigating the Two-Body Problem”). Applying for jobs can be daunting, especially when you are in the middle of finishing up your Ph.D. program, post-doctoral fellowship, or teaching 5 classes a semester. Your application writing will most likely not happen in a nice coffee shop during the morning, but at night, while your friends/significant other are laughing at the new season of Orange is the New Black. But there is good news! Actually, two very good bits of news for you. Good news bit one: your degree sets you apart from most applicants, which is HUGE in the screening process. The second bit of good news is there is a process that can maximize your success in your job hunt (see below).

The 2016 Spring ConfChem online conference has begun. The title of this conference is "Science, Disarmament, and Diplomacy in Chemical Education: The Example of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons". This conference will run May 2 - June 30, 2016. Visit http://confchem.ccce.divched.org/2016SpringConfChem to participate.

by Jordan Harshman

Fresh from graduate school, I was really looking forward to my first shot at teaching at the University of Iowa. Being a visiting assistant professor was finally my time where I could exercise autonomy and teach the class how I wanted to teach it. No more being a teaching assistant where everything was prescribed for me, no more asking anyone else “is it okay if a student does x, y, or z?”

If you see a fork in the road, take it!
As a beginning researcher wondering how I was going to make anything out of my interest in chemistry education, the international travel award from the CHED International Activities Committee was just such a fork. And boy, am I glad I took it!

by William Marmor, Rochester Institute of Technology

An Unexpected Beginning
So many people wonder how the influential and prestigious men and women of the world end up where they are today. Who would not want to be successful and admired for years of hard work finally paying off. For some it happens, accepting a Nobel Prize in front of your family, friends and that one high school teacher who never believed in you. As you reach out and grasp that medal a grin comes across your face as cameras flash and an applause erupts! Then, the sound and lights instantly disappear as the medal shoots out of your hand. Your grin slips away and your eyes open wide, as only the sound of the shower head fills your ears. Groggy and tired you bend down and grab the bar of soap, once a gold medal, off the shower floor. Brought back to reality, you can’t help but enjoy the day dreams of an early morning shower. Time to get ready for work.

Colleagues:

As some of you know, the software used to submit nominations for ACS national awards recently “crashed.” This was particularly disconcerting for those of us associated with the national award program because it happened near the deadline for submitting nominations. Please note the following:

• We believe the software is functioning at this time.
• The deadline for submitting nominations has been extended until November 16th.
• If you experience any difficulties with uploading documents into the national award software, send them to awardselection@acs.org and ACS staff will upload the documents for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions by contacting me at gmbodner@purdue.edu.

George Bodner
ACS Board of Directors
Grants & Awards Committee

Dear Member of the Division of Chemical Education:

The ACS Green Chemistry Institute invites you to participate in our Green Chemistry Education Roadmap Initiative Survey. We are seeking your input about current chemistry teaching practices, the importance of teaching certain chemistry concepts, and barriers to curriculum changes.