The theme for National Chemistry Week is nanoscience as it applies to the environment, energy, materials and health. Nanotechnology: the smallest BIG idea in science! National Chemistry Week | Mole Day 2012 — Tuesday, October 23 at 6:02pm, Everywhere! Join San Diego's ChemExpo — Saturday, October 27, 11:00am-3:00pm at Casa Del Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. It's hands-on science and it's FREE.
Vitz, E. J. Chem. Ed. "Magic Sand: Modeling the Hydrophobic Effect in Liquid Chromatography" http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed067p512 Also NISEnet.org/catalog nanotechnology activity guide for NanoSand: hydrophobicity, scale/properties, etc. They send out kits for educators to do outreach!
This year, Kayla and her students at the W. M. Keck Science Department of Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges organized a hands-on demonstration table and stage presentation for the 2012 ChemExpo event in San Diego's Balboa Park. Nearly 1000 area high school students attended the ChemExpo to receive extra credit for their chemistry class by interacting with stage presentations, hands-on demonstration tables, and visiting chemists from academia, industry, and government labs. A video summary was kindly produced by Benjamin Alden, Assistant Director of SM & MM Web Content, Department of Public Affairs for Claremont McKenna College.
The W. M. Keck Science Department hands-on table involved everyday applications of nanotechnology, both old and new. A circuit containing red, green, and yellow light-emitting diodes (LEDs have been used for 50 years) was available at our table thanks to Pitzer student Danica Pacifici.
Scripps students Cori Fukushima and Shana Levenson embedded the Au and Ag NP and food dye in a 36" x 72" stained glass window depicting the W. M. Keck Science Department logo. This was placed in front of our table.
David Hanson provided funding for this art + science project, celebrating the theme of HMC's Nelson Lecture Series. Walter Cook and Tom Davis assisted in caulking and acquiring absorbance spectra of the Au and Ag NP and food dye solutions. Walter Cook supervised Danica Pacifici in soldering the LED kits. Boyle Ke assisted in printing a 36" x 72" poster displaying the absorbance spectra in full color, together with the structures of common food dyes.
Descriptions of nanotechnology in fashion were written by Scripps student Cori Fukushima and Pitzer student Amanda Leon, we called it the Nano Fashion Show. Volunteers from the audience were invited to model the accessories created to connect macro- and nano- behavior.
Clothing manufactured by the company Tactical 5.11 was obtained at the Los Angeles Police Department Police Academy. Accessories to model quantum behavior of nanoparticles and surface adsorption were created using recycled materials with advice from Carolyn Jamerson, who works at the FIDM Museum as the Study Collection Manager and Mount maker. She graduated from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2008 with an Associates of Arts in Fashion Design and a Professional Designation in Theater Costume Design.
ChemExpo 2012
Stage Presentations
Cal State San Marcos M Schmidt & Rae Mendelsohn (coordinators)
University of San Diego Chris Daley & Phillip Guichet
Point Loma Nazarene University Sara Chuong & Matthieu Rouffet
University of California San Diego Catherine Hsu & Sarah Asper
San Diego State University Brandon Rogers
Claremont McKenna-Pitzer-Scripps Colleges Kayla Kaiser
Company and Organization Tables
These are similar to the college student demos but may include some
particular aspect of the company or organization.
Illumina Randy Smith
Nanotechnology John Newsam
NanoComposix Michael Nyman
Chemical Modeling 1060 Discovery Engineering Rodney Harris
Association for Women In Science (AWIS) Diane Retallack, Amy Duncan
San Diego Air Pollution Control District (APCD) Jitka Perez, Keith Nichols, Suzanne Blackburn
San Diego ACS Smells table David Wallace
San Diego ACS Hands On Demo Whitney Fries
Claremont McKenna-Pitzer-Scripps Colleges Kayla Kaiser
Girl Scouts (front lawn area) Jackie Trischman & Rae Mendelsohn
Ask a Chemist
Jim Shih, Bill Szabo, Ken Poggensburg, Fiona Case
The San Diego Chemist Reporter
o John Schnidler, article write up
o Paul Michalski, photography
Coordinators
Stage Master of Ceremonies ( Raffle prize winners) Erica Campbell
Lunch coordinator Jim Shih
University Coordinator Julann Miller
General volunteer coordinator Julann Miller
Facilities Coordination Paul Bruinsma
Registration , Volunteers t-shirts, ACS Welcome table Renate Valois
To conclude: 953 San Diego school children attended to receive extra credit by participating in hands-on demonstration tables, watching stage presentations, and talking to scientists. 28 schools were represented. This was a total success which we aim to reproduce nearer to Claremont (at Montclair Shopping Plaza) sometime before Winter break. The script (v.1) composed via a Wiki collaboratively to commemorate Mole Day (6:02pm on 10/23) is available below.