Featured Speakers
Plenary Speakers
Deborah Blum
She was born in Urbana, Illinois and where both her parents were then students at the University of Illinois. However, she soon moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana after her father took a job at Louisiana State University. Her and her sisters kept snakes as pets, grew tadpoles into frogs, collected butterflies, and waded in neighborhood swamps where they lived in fear of crayfish climbing into their boots. “Can you write about something besides the way crayfish pinch?”
During this time, Deborah spent a bunch of her time working for her father by flying helium-filled balloons that carried chemicals designed to attract male bees. She decided to become a scientist herself, and, in 1972, started college at Florida State University
with a proposed chemistry major. She loved it – she still thinks chemistry is the most astonishingly beautiful science – but she did discover that a laboratory is no place for the absent-minded klutz. She decided to change majors the day she set her braid on fire in a Bunsen burner: “Do you smell smoke?” asked her lab instructor.
She transferred to the University of Georgia and graduated in 1976 with a major in journalism and a double minor in political science and anthropology. She worked for several newspapers during the course of time and while in Sacramento, she wrote a lot about science. She covered glaciers, volcanoes to the tragic explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. She continued to write about climate change, nuclear weapons, and received a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for beat reporting on primate research, which then turned into a book.
While she continued to work on books and articles for papers, Deborah was a professor at the University of Wisconsin before going to MIT as a . She has written many wonderful books, however, to chemistry teacher all over world we know her best with her book that used moments in history to explore the way that science works. She wanted to look at the way new ideas in science can change human culture.
The Poisoner’s Handbook – a story of two pioneering scientists determined to solve poison mysteries and murders - was published in hardback in 2010 and was named one of the top 100 books of the year by Amazon. The following year it came out in paperback and promptly became a New York Times best seller. In January 2014, it also became a widely praised documentary film on PBS’s American Experience. Her fascination with chemistry, crime and culture is also on display on her former Wired blog, Elemental and her New York Times blog, Poison Pen. Her newest book, about the history of poisonous food and food politics, is due to be released this fall. That book, The Poison Squad, will be published by Penguin Press on September 25th.
Adapted from: http://deborahblum.com/about-the-author/
Theo Gray
Theodore Gray went to University of Illinois Laboratory School High School in the Champaign Urbana area. He later received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1986. Later he attended the University of California at Berkeley for graduate school for theoretical chemistry, but left the program to work with Stephen Wolfram. The company which was created, Wolfram Research then would publish the user interface for Mathematica.
After amassing thousands of samples of elements, he assembled them into a four-legged physical table representing the periodic table. The finished table was awarded the 2011 ACS Grady Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, as well as the
2002 Ig Nobel Award for Chemistry. Gray's love of the periodic table would lead him to team up with photographer Nick Mann in creating "The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe" and "The Elements Vault."
For many years, Gray wrote a regular column for Popular Science entitled "Gray Matter." The column was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for Best Column in 2010. In 2009, a collection of articles by Gray was published under the title Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home—But Probably Shouldn't. A sequel to the book, Mad Science 2: Experiments You Can Do At Home, But STILL Probably Shouldn't was published in 2013 In 2010, Gray founded Touch Press together with Max Whitby, John Cromie and Stephen Wolfram. The company was created to develop innovative educational apps using the technology of the iPad to its full potential. The first published app was "The Elements," and in 2014 Gray released "Molecules", which allows users to touch and discover the basic building blocks of the world. Of Touch Press's "Disney Animated," which was named the best iPad app of 2013 worldwide by Apple, iTunes's App Editor noted, "We’re absolutely spellbound.”
Throughout his career, Gray has been an advocate for a broader engagement between the scientific community and the public at large.
Adapted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Gray; Photo credit: http://home.theodoregray.com/
Reg Friesen Lecturer
A & M University, Commerce. Following 10 years of teaching chemistry and mathematics at Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas, she returned to UT Austin where she earned her Ph.D. in science education with the emphasis in chemistry (1994). As an Associate Professor of Chemical Education at the University of North Texas (UNT), she graduated 10 doctoral students, published 17 research papers, 20 curricular documents, one chapter in an American Chemical Society book, and two books, one named Lone Star Chemistry Solutions for introductory chemistry instruction.
Dr. Mason is honored to be a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Regional Director of the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas (ACT2), appointed member of the TexasExes Chapter Advisory Board, Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Science Education and Technology, and President of the Advisory Council member of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the UNT for interested adults over 50 who like continuing to learn. In 2015, she received the E. Ann Nalley Southwest Region Award for Volunteer Service to the ACS, and the Excellence in Community Service Award from The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Currently, in her "retired" life, she leads a statewide team of chemistry educators interested in improving the mathematics and quantitative reasoning skills of general chemistry students who are enrolled in Texas institutions.
Diana Mason In Memory of: Reg Friesen
Diana Mason
The Reg Friesen lecture is a special part of the ChemEd conference. The honorary lecture was inaugurated at ChemEd '87 to recognize Reg Friesen’s outstanding contributions to the chemical education community. Reg was the founding editor of Chem 13 News in 1968 and was actively involved in the ChemEd conference series from its inception in 1973. Reg gave high school teachers a voice and encouraged them to share and learn together. The Reg Friesen lecturer is selected to reflect Reg’s belief that chemistry teachers can and do make a difference in students’ lives as well as in the chemistry community. After Reg passed away in 1998, the lecture took on additional meaning to the many in the ChemEd community who called him a friend.
Diana Mason has been selected as the 2019 Reg Friesen Lecturer.
Professor Emeritus Diana Mason received her B.A. (1974) from The University of Texas at Austin and her M.S. (1978) from Texas
Other Invited Guests
A Melodious Musichemical Manifestation
A Melodious Musichemical Manifestation was first performed in April of 1995. Since then, there have been 37 performances. Shows are performed twice a year at Creighton University. There are two performances in the first week in November to celebrate National Chemistry Week. In April there are performances for Creighton’s Chemistry Field Day.
It was the inspiration and enthusiasm of Dr. Michels and two students, Kiran Kuna and Derek Woodrum, who brought this demonstration program to Creighton. The performance has evolved considerably throughout its history, going from three performers in white lab coats to thirty-one performers mostly in costume. Throughout its 10-year history there have been 165 different student performers. Six Creighton Chemistry faculty members have contributed to the show. Most notable is Dr. Kelly Sullivan whose experience with theater enabled the show to reach levels it could never have achieved without her direction.
The show serves many functions. Our primary goal is to entertain you with the joy of chemistry in a unique way. The show also brings our faculty and students together to share our “talents” with the community.
Rhonda Reist Amy Clement
Rhonda Reist & Amy Clement Presenting: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blew!
Join us for an evening of engaging and entertaining demonstrations you can use in a variety of chemistry classes. You will learn the Vanadium Dance, how to make a liquid nitrogen night light, how to vaporize a mouse, and more!
Rhonda Reist and Amy Clement teach in the suburbs of Kansas City at Olathe North High School. Rhonda has won the Presidential Award in Science Education and the CMA Catalyst Award , was a finalist for the Kansas Teacher of the Year, and has presented several times for Flinn Scientific. She has thirty-one years of teaching experience, with twenty years devoted to AP Chemistry. Amy has won the ACS Midwest Regional Award for Excellence in High School Teaching and brings thirteen years of experience to teaching Honors Chemistry.
Together, Rhonda and Amy run a science outreach group called the Faraday Society and teach science in the Olathe Distinguished Scholars Academy. They have twice led their students to victory in the Burns and McDonnell "Battle of the Brains" competition, earning $100,000 in science education grants and building two museum exhibits for the science center at Kansas City's Union Station.
Rhonda and Amy both attended Olathe North, where they were bitten by the chemistry demo bug. Rhonda was Amy’s chemistry teacher – twice! You can follow Amy (@ClementChem) and Rhonda (@room203chem) on Twitter!
Michael Offutt
Michael Offutt taught chemistry and AP Chemistry, for 32 years in Barrington, Illinois. He is a recipient of the Tandy Award, the Davidson Award for Excellence in Chemistry Teaching, and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Math Teaching (PAESMT). He has been called the “Minstrel of Science” by the Chicago Tribune, and “America’s Chem Singer” by the National Mole Day Foundation. Having written and recorded the official Mole Day song for the past 29 years, Michael was awarded "Mole of the Year Award" in 2017. He was the 2017 inaugural winner of the "Enduring Voice award for excellence in teaching STEM through music!" by VOICES: Virtual Ongoing Interdisciplinary Collaborations on Educating with Song! For more than 25 years, Michael presented his original science demonstration program at schools, libraries, and theater venues all over the United States and Canada, including the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Science and Industry, Field Museum in Chicago, and the Bozo Show. He is currently working on a new album of Chemistry songs as well as singing and playing the tenor banjo for his Irish Band, "The Ragged Rascals."
Lee Marek
Lee Marek taught Chem 101, 472, 572 presented chemical demonstrations and teacher programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for 12 years. He taught AP & Honors Chemistry at Naperville North High School for over thirty years. His students have won numerous awards, including 3 chosen to be National Chemistry Olympiad participants and several for Westinghouse (now Intel) Science Projects. Lee has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the U of I at Urbana/Champaign, a MST in physics and a MST in chemistry from Roosevelt University. He has completed additional course work at more than 20 colleges and universities. He has a strong interest in the History of Chemistry and has traveled extensively in Europe, studying the history of science. For 13 summers he co-led a history of science program in Europe. Lee has helped to run or co-lead well over 600 workshops/programs for teachers, students and the general public. He was the catalyst behind the Weird Science demonstration team, a small group of inspired teachers that toured the country inspiring other teachers, and has presented to more than 300,000 teachers, students and general public. Lee worked on science programs with Fermilab for over 30 years and was on the Friends of Fermilab board for 20 years.
He was a Woodrow Wilson Chem Team leader for ten years and a Flinn Chem Team Leader for nine years. Lee is one of the authors on Flinn’s 23 volume set of Chem Topic’s and he helped develop the Flinn eLearning materials. He helped start and then ran CHEMWEST, a teachers alliance group of over 400 teachers, in the Chicago area for 30 years. He has presented via videos, laser disks, DVDs, some of the first streaming science videos on the web and consulted for a number of other science related projects. Lee was a regular [over 35 performances by him or his students] on "The David Letterman Show", with one of his segments as a finalist for an Emmy. He was highlighted on the 40th anniversary the Bozo Show and CBS news special Education: Our Nation’s Toughest Assignment, and numerous regional and national television programs. He authored several kid’s science books and kits and worked on several projects for Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman.
Among the awards Lee has received are the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Science, Christa McAuliffe Fellow, American Chemical Society's James Bryant Conant Award, ACS Helen Free Award for Public Outreach, CMA's National Catalyst Award for Teaching Chemistry, Chemical Industries Council of Illinois Davidson Award, Sigma Xi Outstanding Teacher Award, Those Who Excel Award Illinois, Tandy Technology Scholar Award for Outstanding Teachers, Governor’s Master Teacher, Dreyfus Master Teacher (Princeton) 1983, Association of Science & Technology Centers’ Honor Roll of Teachers, FMF Fulbright Program Japan 2000, Golden Apple Awardee and Chicago Section ACS Public Affairs Award.
His complete vita and other information on his programs and activities can be found on his web page: