Extreme Outreach: Ncw Tour

I made you look! sometimes it takes being a little unusual to attract the attention of our distracted media, get a turn at the microphone, and remind people about the essential benefits of chemistry. To that end, I'd like to tell you about something I'm doing this fall in conjunction with National Chemistry Week (NCW).

Last year, we talked about how important it is in a world where negative stories abound to get the microphone and create our own positive stories. We don't have the ear of the public ourselves, and to deliver a message, we have to manufacture the opportunities. I suggested service projects-gifts to the community-and also being a little, well, unusual to attract attention.

To that end, I sponsored the Presidential Extreme Outreach Awards for local sections that took me up on the challenge last year. For the first time anywhere, here are the winners: the Minnesota, Central Texas, Pittsburgh, and California local sections. They took NCW to grocery stores, the sides of public buses, lighted billboards over the city (even incoming airplanes could see them), and the Berkeley football stadium big screen, respectively.

I'll be visiting each of these sections in the next year to present a special award honoring these extreme thinkers. And I'm challenging all the sections and student affiliates again: Think harder-keep it safe, but break new ground. Make 'em look. Get the microphone, and then tell people why chemistry makes a difference in the quality of modern life.

In the realm of living my own challenge this year, I have scheduled the Presidential NCW Extreme Outreach Tour. Over 10 days, Oct. 14-23, visiting at least 15 local sections, I will be crossing the continent from Toronto to San Juan and from Boston to Los Angeles. Total miles: nearly 13,000.

And I've got lots to talk about. First of all, in keeping with the theme-"The Joy of Toys"-I have a few giveaways of plastic flying discs made from recycled materials. It gives me an opportunity to talk about how plastics are made, fabricated, recycled, and in this case made to fly.

I also have some new ACS programs to talk about. The Education Division recently launched a pilot program with tools for high school teachers on how to start a chemistry club. As you know, secondary education has been an important part of my presidential agenda, and I'm anxious to provide teachers with another opportunity to interest future chemists and informed citizens.

Finally, I'm working to raise money for Project SEED. We recently raised the stipends for these economically disadvantaged high school students who spend a summer in the laboratory, and now we need to generate additional funds to maintain the number of students in the program at last year's level. I'm encouraging friends and members to become tour sponsors. Help this old geezer celebrate NCW and promote science literacy at the same time. Go to the Extreme NCW Tour website-chemistry.org/extremencwtour-and make a gift, and encourage others to do so as well. Your gift will be used solely for SEED student stipends. NCW and SEED go hand-in-hand in communicating positive messages about chemistry.

At the same website, you will find ACS's first foray into Internet radio. We're collecting nominations of good music for driving-songs about cars or those that simply make your accelerator foot twitch-and they'll be available by streaming audio. Feel free to send me your nominations at extremencwtour@acs.org.

You can see a map of the stops we have planned and follow our progress on the ACS website at that same address. We'll publish a blog and maybe some podcasts -funny stuff always happens to me on the road. If I'm close to where you are, please come out and support what we're doing. Even if I'm not, why not make NCW a personal project this year? Visit a school and do some demos; organize a toy collection drive and donate the goods to a local charity; get a group of kids to count up to Avogadro's number; convince the university marching band to form a periodic table at halftime. (Smaller universities may want to start with one element.)

When a curious public meets a creative chemist, opportunity happens. Be that creative chemist. Get the microphone. Make the most of the opportunity. See you on tour.

Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS.

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