Home
    Contact Us
    Organization Chart
    Site Map/Search

Reports from:

Please visit the POLYED HOME PAGE at http://www.polyed.org. POLYED continues on-line and has started delivering our pre-meeting reports and other national meeting information via the web site. This has been running smoothly and we thank the POLYED subcommittee chairs for providing reports in advance of the meeting.

At the Chicago ACS meeting, several changes to the web site were suggested, especially with regards to the dual browser setup issues (Netscape vs Explorer). These have now been resolved and users no longer need to specify which browser they are using in order to access all features of the site. With both browsers, the menu system is now on the left side and all features of the site are fully functional, including the Teaching Resources" which includes both script and "RealAudio" taped definitions of key polymer terms and several examples of modern applications of polymers. The web site also contains links to the POLY, PMSE, and ACS web sites.

If you have any suggestions for changes to the web site, please let us know. We also would appreciate hearing about polymer education-related URLs that would be appropriate for linking to the site. Send your comments and suggestions to polyed@uwsp.edu.

The Divisions’ help in identifying new and ongoing sponsorship is most appreciated. The continuation of the Unilever Award and the ICI Award are examples. Please encourage potential sponsors to contact either the POLYED committee chairs or the educational funding committees of the POLY and PMSE Divisions.

We thank both POLY and PMSE for all of their support for POLYED’s polymer education efforts.

AWARDS

The POLYED Award for Excellence in Polymer Education recently has been reviewed and restructured under the leadership of David Cocuzzi. Highlights of the revised award program was presented at the ACS meeting in Orlando. David reports that pending final approval at the POLYED meeting, plans are being made to announce the new award widely this Spring, with the award being made at the August ACS meeting.

The recipient of the 2002 Unilever Award for Outstanding Graduate Research is Dr. Kristi L. Kiick, who received her doctorate in May 2001 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, under the tutelage of Professor David A. Tirrell, now of the California Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Kiick directed her research to the preparation of proteins using non-natural amino acids, with functional groups different from those of the natural amino acids. She manipulated the activity of a single enzyme in the bacterial host to prepare engineered proteins with novel chemical and physical properties. The Unilever Award will be presented at the Boston, MA, ACS meeting (Warren Ford, organizer) and consists of a $2,000 prize, a plaque, and travel expenses. This award is administered by POLYED and was established in 1991 and is sponsored by Unilever, a global manufacturer of consumer products, foods and specialty chemicals. Guy Berry, Warren Ford, and Unilever are commended for their fine efforts to recognize these outstanding doctoral students.

POLYED ICI Student Award in Applied Polymer Science

We congratulate the past-chair of this award, Elsa Reichmanis,  for her election as ACS President. We congratulate Elsa and also thank her for her fine efforts with this award program. Elsa has now passed the torch to John Thomaides of National Starch and Chemical, who is the new chair of this award.

Brian E. Priore was the winner of the 2001 ICI Student Award in Applied Polymer Science. Brian was a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University where his advisor was Professor Lynn M. Walker. The Award, consisting of $750 and a plaque, was presented to Dr. Priore at the PMSE Division Awards Luncheon on Monday, April 8, 2002, at the Rosen Center Hotel.

The other finalists who presented papers at the Award Symposium were: Christopher L. Lester (University of Southern Mississippi); Robert T. Mathers (The University of Akron); Denise Wade Rafferty (Case Western Reserve University); Osman Rathore (Cornell University); and Sucharita Roy (University of Massachusetts Lowell).

As is customary, the announcements for other POLYED Award programs, such as the Outstanding Student in Organic Chemistry, the Curriculum Development Award, and the Undergraduate Polymer Research Recognition Award have been mailed to all chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, and polymer departments in the United States. Award winners for these programs will be announced at the Boston ACS meeting.

Visit the POLYED HOME PAGE at http://www.polyed.org. The POLYED Directory, which provides contact information for all committee members, also is available on-line.

Two important programs are currently being developed that resulted from the POLYED PIPELINE. One of these programs is the Polymer Science Learning Center or PSLC. The PSLC evolved from Macrogalleria, a USM web-based polymer education resource that originated with seed money from POLYED and subsequently others. The PSLC is now funded by the National Science Foundation and involves three sites, the University of Southern Mississippi (main site, L. Mathias, Director), the Chemical Heritage Foundation (M. Michalovic), and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (J. Droske). With this NSF support, the PSLC is developing web-based as well as written text and laboratory materials for an undergraduate course in polymer chemistry. The laboratory experiments that were developed at the POLYED Center with previous NSF support are being incorporated into the PSLC.

Another program that has its origin in POLYED is a benchmark polymer education program for elementary students. Sue Hall, an elementary teacher, became acquainted with polymers by participating in POLYED programs and Sue was hired as a lead teacher for the NSF-supported MATR Institute. With this start, she has now launched a novel program to incorporate polymers into elementary classrooms. This outstanding program recently was awarded an Improving the Public Perception of Polymer Award by POLY.

In an effort to provide educational opportunities within all of the POLYED’s directorates, POLYED currently is considering a program to identify the educational needs of current POLY and PMSE members in light of the many changes that the polymer industry has seen in recent years. A cross-disciplinary effort to promote polymer education in other areas is also being considered.

This year, the POLYED Center assisted IPEC in implementing a web site for the Polymer Ambassadors, http://www.polymerambassadors.org. This web site came online in Summer, 2001, and is being hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The POLYED Center also assists IPEC in publishing the annual Polymer Ambassadors Action Plan booklets. IPEC also has a web site, http://www.ipeconline.org.

POLYED Summer Research Scholarships of $3500 each were awarded in 2001 to three outstanding undergraduate students Donde Anderson (Professor SonBinh Nguyen, Northwestern University), Anna Salamone (Professor Paul Miller, U Wisconsin — La Crosse), Erin Shaneyfelt (Professor Michael Nichols, John Carroll University).

Dr. Shu Yang is the 2001 recipient of the Unilever Award for Outstanding Graduate Research. The award was presented at the Chicago meeting. He received a cash award, a plaque, and travel expenses to the meeting.

Six finalists presented papers in the ICI Student Award in Applied Polymer Science Symposium held at the Chicago ACS meeting. Each of the finalists received expenses from ICI to attend the meeting and make their presentations. The student who presents the winning paper will be recognized at the Spring ACS meeting.

The Outstanding Student in Sophomore Organic Chemistry Award annually recognizes the top chemistry student at several hundred colleges and universities in the United States.

POLYED Report Submitted By:

J. Droske and C. Carraher, Jr.

POLYED Report Submitted by:

Steven Cohen, John P. Droske, and Carraher, Jr.

POLYED continues on-line and for the first time is delivering pre-meeting reports and national meeting information for San Diego via our web site. As is typical, this trial run had some kinks, but everything is now in place and should run smoothly in the future.

Please visit the POLYED HOME PAGE at http://www.polyed.org. As reported at the last meeting, the web site has been extensively redesigned and expanded and now contains updated information about POLYED, links to the POLY, PMSE, and ACS web sites, and teacher resources including audio clips with definitions of polymers, molecular weight distributions, and other key terms, and examples of modern applications of polymers.

If you have any suggestions for changes to the web site, please let us know. We also would appreciate hearing about any particularly interesting developments or polymer education-related URLs that would be appropriate for inclusion on the site.

We continue to seek sponsorship to augment the two Divisions’ support for our programs. We have not yet heard a final response to our pending requests. Your help in identifying new sponsors is most welcome and needed. Please encourage potential sponsors to contact either the POLYED committee chairs or the educational funding committees of the POLY and PMSE Divisions.

We thank both POLY and PMSE for all of their support for POLYED’s polymer education efforts.

Twelve completed applications for the POLYED Undergraduate Summer Research Scholarship Program have been received. This program, headed by Steve Cohen of Amoco, provides important recognition and opportunities for outstanding undergraduate students interested in polymers. The applications are being reviewed and winners and alternates are expected to be announced in mid-April. The number of applications is down this year compared to seventeen each in 1999 and 2000 and thirty in 1997 and 1998. Steve had indicated that this most likely is due to the increasing number of other summer research opportunities that are available to undergraduates. He recommends continuation of the program based on the fact that the applications continue to be of a high quality and because the program continues to be competitive with more applications being received than there are awards available.

The Unilever Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering in 2000 was given to Linda Chen for research on rod-coil block copolymers that phase separate at unusual length scales. She earned the Ph.D. at the University of Rochester with Prof. Samson Jenekhe. The award symposium at the Washington ACS National Meeting in the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering drew a large and lively audience.

A decision on the 2001 Unilever awardee will be reached soon, and the winner and the winner’s mentor will be honored with a half-day symposium at the ACS National Meeting in Chicago in August 2001.

The number of nominations for the award has declined substantially over the last few years. For 2001 there were only one new and three holdover nominations despite the usual publicity in C&EN and at the division web sites. Guy Berry has done an excellent job of chairing the selection committee and getting out the publicity. Unilever should be thanked graciously for its support for the last eleven years.

The POLYED ICI Student Award in Applied Polymer Science, chaired by Elsa Reichmanis, reports that Ms. Amy K. Poshusta (Burkoth) was selected as the recipient of the year 2000 ICI Student Award based on her presentation at the Fall ACS Meeting in Washington, D. C. Amy was a graduate student from the University of Colorado, where her advisor was Professor Kristi S. Anseth. The title of her paper was "Photocurable Polyanhydrides Engineering for Orthopaedic Applications".

The Award was presented to Dr. Poshusta at the PMSE Division Awards Luncheon on Monday, March 30, 2001, in San Diego.

The other finalists who presented papers at the award symposium were: Guruswamy Kumaraswamy (Cal Tech), Rob G. H. Lammertink (Univ. of Twente, The Netherlands), Haiying Li (Georgia Tech), Royale S. Underhill (Univ. Florida), and Qing Wang (Univ. Chicago).

The ICI Student Award continues to attract applications from students involved in polymer science and engineering related research. This year, 6 finalists were selected from approximately 20 applications to present their work at the Chicago ICI Student Award Symposium to be held this Fall.