ISOTOPICS
The Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society
Volume 89
Issue 1
Jan 2013
January Meeting Notice
On Deck:
February 20, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Sterle's Country House Restaurant, Cleveland
4:30 pm
5:30 pm
6:30 pm
7:30 pm
Location:
TBD
Plenary Speaker:
Vivien Yee
Cleveland ACS Officers
Chair:
Don Jaworske
NASA Glenn Research Center
216-433-2312
Donald.A.Jaworske@nasa.gov
Chair-Elect:
Michael J. Kenney
Case Western Reserve Univ.
216-368-3736
mjk56@case.edu
Treasurer:
John Moran
Department of Science and
Mathematics
Phone: 216-373-6380
jmoran@ndc.edu
Secretary:
Anna Cronin
cronina@glsc.org
Cleveland Section Web Site:
http://www.csuohio.edu/sciences
/dept/cleveland_acs/
Executive Committee Meeting
Social Hour
Dinner
Speaker
START A COMPANY? A GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST?
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! WELL GUESS WHAT..!
Dennis Flood
Dennis Flood spent 33 years at NASA Lewis/Glenn telling anyone who asked
everything he knew about whatever he was doing. He left in June 2000 to start his
first company. Now, a few companies later he has learned not to do that! What
else has he learned? A bunch, it turns out, and he will share as much of it as he
can in the 50 minutes allowed for this talk. Among the lessons learned: write (and
file) patents on as much of your new IP (you will surely have some or you would
not think about starting a company) as you can (a corollary here is to get a good
patent attorney); find a good person with business experience to help manage
your company (they can even be the CEO); get a good lawyer with startup
company experience; have an air-tight story that shows how your technology
meets a market need; make realistic projections of when your company will break
even (not the same as when the company will start earning revenues); expect to
work more than you ever have in your life; remember that typically 4 of 5 startups
fail; be prepared to be humbled when you try to raise money; and establish a
network of contacts who can give you good advice. So why do it? If it works,
nothing can compare to the satisfaction of bringing something of value to the
world. It doesn’t hurt to make a little money doing it, either!
DINNER RESERVATIONS REQUIRED:
Please RSVP by contacting Don Jaworske by email at
silver5695@hotmail.com (preferred) or by phone at 216-534-9690 by com
by Friday January 11 at noon with your name, total number of guests in
your party, phone number, and entrée choice(s). Checks made out to
“Cleveland ACS” are greatly appreciated; cash otherwise. $20 for members
and guests, $10 for retirees or unemployed, $5 for students. Dinner will
include Garden salad; an entree choice of roast pork, chicken paprikash, or
pirogues; mashed potatoes; steamed vegetables; and desert.
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Isotopics Jan 2013
Directions to Sterle's Country House
Restaurant
1401 East 55th St.
Cleveland, OH 44103
Take I-90 and exit at E. 55th Street. Proceed south
on E. 55th St. Sterle's will be on the left, about 2
blocks south of St. Clair Ave.
Message from the Parting Chair
Dear Members of the Cleveland Section,
I never truly appreciated all the activities of the
ACS Cleveland section until I was honored to be
asked to be the section Chair. Meetings have
included joint sessions with the Cleveland section
SAS and the Akron section ACS, Past Chair’s
Night, the Morley Award speaker and tours of
Lincoln Electric and the Market Garden Brewery.
The annual Education Awards Night celebrated
teacher awards as well as Chemistry Week and
Science Fair student winners.
Additional
activities included a celebration at the Great Lakes
Science Center for DayGlo’s National Historic
Chemical Landmark award, multiple local
students went to the National Chemistry
Olympiad, undergrad and graduate students
presented at the Meeting-in-Miniature; and the
National Chemistry Week Committee presented
over 30 library presentations and received another
ACS national ChemLuminary award.
I wish the ups and downs in my personal life these
past two years would have given me more time to
work more on these worthy endeavors. I would
like to thank the Executive Committee officers,
committee chairs, committee members and all the
various volunteers for working to keep our section
active in providing science education and growth
opportunities to students and teachers, sharing
knowledge with the general public, and providing
opportunities for growth and development to our
fellow chemists in academia and industry. They
have helped me oversee the section's activities
and keep things running smoothly this past year; I
am very grateful for their service and friendship.
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
As I now transition to become a "past-Chair", it is
my pleasure to announce the winners of our latest
election.
Chair-Elect: Michael Kenney
Treasurer: John Moran
Counselor: David Ball
Alternate Counselor: David Orosz
Trustee: Elizabeth Dabrowski
Director: Jeff Mathys
Please join me in congratulating these latest
additions to our leadership team. I look forward to
a very bright year under Don Jaworske's
enthusiastic leadership.
All the best to you,
Kat (Kathleen) Wollyung
2012 Chair
2013 Past-Chair
Cleveland Section of the American Chemical
Society
2013 Meeting-in-Miniature
March 13, 2013 – Mark your calendar!
The 2013 Meeting-in-Miniature of the Cleveland
Section of the American Chemical Society will be
held on Wednesday, March 13 in the Dolan Center
for Science and Technology at John Carroll
University. We will open with technical sessions of
15-20 minute talks starting at 3:00 pm. Monetary
awards will again be given for outstanding talks by
undergraduate and graduate students. Although
awards are given to encourage participation by
students, we welcome talks by faculty members and
practicing chemists at the MIM. The meeting will
also have a key note address followed by dinner and
awards presentation.
In January a call for papers and instructions for
submitting abstracts will be sent out. In the
meantime if you have any questions or suggestions
as the meeting details come together, please contact
Mark Waner (mwaner@jcu.edu).
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Isotopics Jan 2013
Selected from ACS Discoveries!
Speed limits on cargo ships could reduce their
pollutants by more than half
Environmental Science & Technology
Putting a speed limit on cargo ships as they sail
near ports and coastlines could cut their emission
of air pollutants by up to 70 percent, reducing the
impact of marine shipping on Earth’s climate and
human health, scientists have found. Their
evaluation of the impact of vessel speed reduction
policies, such as those proposed by the California
Air Resources board, appears in ACS’ journal
Environmental Science & Technology.
David R. Cocker III and colleagues explain that
marine shipping is the most efficient form of
transporting goods, with more than 100,000 ships
carrying 90 percent of the world’s cargo.
However, engines on these vessels burn low-grade
oil that produce large amounts of air pollution.
Because fuel consumption and smokestack
emissions increase exponentially with speed, the
authors explored how speed limits could reduce
pollution.
They found that slowing container ships to about
14 miles per hour (mph) reduced emissions of
carbon dioxide by about 60 percent and nitrogen
oxides by 55 percent compared to emissions at
traditional cruising speeds of 25-29 mph. Soot
emissions fell by almost 70 percent. The authors
suggest that imposing these speed limits on
vessels near ports and coastlines could
significantly reduce their pollution and protect the
health of people living in those areas.
Cleaner fracking
Chemical & Engineering News
The technology that opened a wealth of new
natural gas resources in the U.S. is producing
millions of gallons of dirty water — enough from
one typical gas well to cover a football field to a
depth of 9-15 feet. Cleaning up that byproduct of
“fracking” is the topic of the cover story in
Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical
Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
Melody M. Bomgardner, C&EN senior business
editor, explains that hydraulic fracturing, or
fracking, uses a mixture of water and chemicals
injected into the ground to break open rock and
release natural gas. Some of that water comes back
out of the ground, laden with various salts,
minerals, heavy metals and other substances that
pose health and environmental risks. The article
describes how water treatment firms are
responding to that challenge, developing new
ways to treat fracking wastewater and competing
for business.
Some companies have developed chemical
treatments to remove contaminants and microbes
from the wastewater, which can then be reused,
while others use evaporators to separate fresh
water from the brine. Bomgardner notes that
treating the wastewater is a special challenge in
the Marcellus Shale area of the Appalachian
Basin, where wastewater — millions of gallons
per well — must be trucked away for disposal.
The cost of disposal is spurring oil and gas
companies to adopt these and other technologies
that could limit the amount of contaminated water
that reaches people, plants and animals, the article
notes.
2013 Call For Heller Award
Nominations
Nominations for the Heller Award should be
presented to Jeff Mathys, 11535 Cherokee Lane,
Brecksville, OH 44141 by close of business
Friday, March 15, 2013. The nominations should
consist of information on the candidate's
education, professional experience and activities,
awards and honors, offices held and specifics on
significant contributions. The letter of nomination
should highlight these significant contributions.
Seconding letters are suggested. Nominations
should be sponsored by at least one member of the
Cleveland Section. If you do not know a local
section ACS member willing to serve as
Champion for your candidate, contact Jeff Mathys
and he will provide one for you. The Cleveland
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Isotopics Jan 2013
American Chemical Society Cleveland Section
Section is geographically confined to the counties
of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lorain, Medina, Huron,
and Erie. Nominators of candidates who work
outside of these counties may contact the
Cleveland Section of the American Chemical
Society for more information about High School
Chemistry Teacher Awards. A detailed
curriculum vita of the candidate may also be
included. Electronic nominations using Word or
PDF
Files
mailed
to
jeff.mathys@emeraldmaterials.com
will
be
greatly appreciated. Jeff may be contacted at 440812-9666 for assistance with submissions.
The award will be presented at the April, 2013
meeting of the Cleveland Section.
Webinar Recap
The webinar on "Chemistry and Cadets:
Teaching at the US Air Force Academy" by David
W. Ball, Professor of Chemistry, Cleveland State
University was a success. Those on line learned
about the students, organization, and some of the
traditions of the US Air Force Academy.
Champions for Heller Award Nominees
Sought
The Heller Award, described below, is in need of
Champions to sponsor highly deserving High
School teachers for the Award. In the past these
Champions have been critical in successful award
nominations. Nominees and/or their major
nominator request Champions to assist with the
nomination process. The job of Champion consists
of reviewing the nominee’s credentials and
perhaps other supporting letters for effectiveness
and to ensure they address the criteria for the
award. It also typically requires a supporting letter
for the nominee, often based on the nominee’s
package and/or a telephone interview with the
nominee. If interested in working with and
sponsoring a nominee, please respond to Don
Jaworske at Donald.a.jaworske@nasa.gov by
January 31, 2013.
ISOTOPICS STAFF
Editor:
Daniel Tyson
Day-Glo Color Corporation
Phone: 216-391-7384
daniel_s_tyson@yahoo.com
Business and Advertising:
Anna Cronin
cronina@glsc.org
Associate Editor
Dwight Chasar
dwight.chasar@yahoo.com
Associate Editor
Richard L. Middaugh
Phone: 440-785-0293
rlmiddaugh@ameritech.net
Associate Editor
Meenakshi Hardi
Phone: 440-941-6467
minaxie@gmail.com
Associate Editor
Daniel Scheiman
QSC/NASA GRC
Phone: 216-433-3223
daniel.a.scheiman@nasa.gov
Isotopics is looking to highlight local chemistry professionals, companies, teachers, research groups, students,
events, and more. If you have an idea for an Isotopics article, please contact the editor. Isotopics is also looking
for local members to join our staff. Time commitments for staff members are minimal (a few hours a year!) and
your contributions will be invaluable to our local section. If you are interested in joining Isotopics, please
contact the editor.