64th Southwest Regional ACS Meeting
Little Rock, Arkansas
Oct. 1-4, 2008

   
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Symposia

The following are the list of planned symposia.  To submit an abstract to a symposium select Abstracts.

  • ACS Outstanding High School Chemistry Teachers of the Year in the Southwest Region
    Symposium Chair: Alecia Castleberry, Pulaski Academy
    Invited talks only.  This symposium will feature invited comments from past winners of the Teacher of the Year in the Southwest Region concerning their techniques in the classroom.

  • AP/IB Chemistry
    Symposium Chair: Steve Long, Rogers High School
    This symposium will present lesson ideas appropriate for the Advanced Placement Chemistry course or International Baccalaureate Chemistry course.

  • Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change
    Symposium Chair: Dr. Jeffrey Gaffney, UALR (jsgaffney@ualr.edu)
    This symposium will include current research in atmospheric chemistry and climate change.  Research submissions on photochemical and thermal chemical oxidation mechanisms, trace gas and aerosol measurements and characterization, analytical technique development, laboratory and field measurements for air quality and climate are encouraged.  Computer modeling on urban, regional, and global scales and links between air quality and climate change are also welcome for presentation at this symposium.  Special attention will be given to regional issues in the Southwestern U. S.

  • Best Practices in Secondary Education
    Symposium Chair: Valerie Ferguson
    This symposium will feature presentations by chemistry teachers of some of their best classroom ideas.

  • Bioactive Natural Products
    Symposium Chair: Cesar Compadre, UAMS

  • Bioanalytical Chemistry
    Symposium Chair: Dr. Ingrid Fritsch, UA - Fayettville (ifritsch@uark.edu)
    Sponsored by the University of Arkansas Local Section of the ACS
     Invited talks only.  Advances in bioanalytical chemistry are making it possible to solve critical problems important to biological systems.  The speakers in this symposium have been recognized for their accomplishments in this highly multidisciplinary field. Applications include analysis of lipids, proteins, DNA, metabolites and other small molecules in individual biological cells, tissues, and in vivo in animal models.  Recent results will be presented in the development and improvement of analytical methods involving electrophoresis, microdialysis, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and miniaturized devices and sensors. Bioengineering, biomaterials, and device fabrication that lead to successful bioanalysis will also be addressed.

  • Chemical Education Research
    Symposium Chair: Dr. Robin Lasey, ATU (rlasey@atu.edu)

  • Computational Chemistry
    Symposium Chair: Jerry Darsey, UALR

  • Cope Scholar Symposium
     Symposium Chair: Dr. Matt McIntosh, UA - Fayetteville (mcintosh@uark.edu)
    Sponsored by ACS Division of Organic Chemistry
    Invited talks only.  Mukund Sibi, a 2007 Cope Scholar, will be the speaker.  Dr. Sibi's main research interest is in the area of synthetic organic chemistry. The Sibi group is developing novel methodologies for the total synthesis of biologically active natural and unnatural products. Another area of focus is in the utilization of amino acids as chirons in the synthesis of chiral ligands and metal complexes. The development of synthetically useful radical reactions, which are generally inaccessible by ionic methods, is of high priority. Dr. Sibi has an emerging program on the development of organocatalyzed enantioselective transformations including radical reactions, and investigations of chiral Lewis acid-mediated enantioselective transformations is another area of active pursuit. The Sibi group is also exploring the utilization of agricultural materials as feed-stocks for the generation of commercially useful materials.

  • Green Chemistry: Applications to Research and Education
     Symposium Co-chairs: Dr. Tom Goodwin, Hendrix College (Goodwin@hendrix.edu) and Dr. Liz Gron, Hendrix College (gron@hendrix.edu)
    Invited talks only. This symposium will highlight local and national progress in applying green chemistry to research and education. The community of green scientists has grown significantly beyond the initial start in organic chemistry. The presentations at this symposium will describe the scope of green principles in different areas of the chemical enterprise.  Invited speakers will cover topics such as green chemistry in pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, analytical measurement, organic chemistry labs, and undergraduate education in general.

  • Inorganic Chemistry
    Symposium Chairs: Dr. Burt Hollandsworth, Harding University (bhollan1@harding.edu) and Dr. Mark Draganjac, Arkansas State University (mdraganj@astate.edu)
    Sponsored by Midsouth Inorganic Chemists Association (MICA)
    This symposium includes presentations related to the Midsouth Inorganic Chemists Association. Topics to be discussed include inorganic chemistry research by graduate and undergraduate students at member institutions and the MICA spectral database project.

  • Laboratory Safety
    Symposium Chair: Steve Zimmer, ATU (szimmer@atu.edu)
    This symposium will contain sessions related to the safe practices in a chemistry laboratory program.  This will include management of hazardous materials, chemical storeroom management, and safety concerns in the laboratory.

  • Nanostructural Materials and Applications
     Symposium Chair: Dr. Alexandru Biris, UALR (asbiris@ualr.edu)
    This symposium is dedicated to the area of nanotechnology and to its various applications in materials science, electronics, biology, and medicine.

  • New Frontiers in Natural Products and Medicinal Plants Research
    Symposium Chairs: Dr. Cesar Compadre, UAMS (cmcompadre@uams.edu) and Dr. Bill Gurley UAMS (bjgurley@uams.edu)
    This symposium will bring invited and contributing speakers to talk about the new frontiers in medicinal plants research. The scope of this symposium ranges from the search for natural products from novel sources and unique environments, to the current research on the safety of medicinal plant products.

  • POGIL
    Symposium Chair: Dr. Robin Lasey, ATU (rlasey@atu.edu)
    This symposium will feature presentations from practitioners of Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Learning (POGIL).  Speakers will present experiences with facilitation techniques, share curriculum materials, and/or present data on student performance.

  • Proteomics and Biological Mass Spectrometry
     Symposium Chair: Dr. Alan J. Tackett, UAMS (ajtackett@uams.edu)
    This session will have a range of talks covering the role of proteomics in disease research to the utility of mass spectrometry for the detailed analysis of proteins.

  • "Small Molecule" Mass Spectrometry
    Symposium Chair: Dr. Jack Lay, UA (jlay@uark.edu)
    This symposium will focus on the analysis of molecules smaller than proteins. Mass spectrometry continues to play a role in the characterization of toxicants and their metabolites in foods, the environment, and within organisms. This symposium will focus on applications ranging from DNA adducts and biomarkers for cancer to mechanistic studies involving metabolic pathways for specific toxicants. An understanding of the nature of toxicant biomarkers, their quantities, and metabolic pathways can provide data useful for understanding or predicting human health impacts. Such data may even provide a rational basis for extrapolating endpoints across species when human data is not available.

  • Space Chemistry
     Symposium Chair: Dr. Brian McFarland, University of the Ozarks (bmcfarland@ozarks.edu)
    This symposium is intended for those wishing to present on topics relating to chemistry and space; this includes chemistry relating to astronomical bodies as well as chemistry that can be related to applications for space flight, as well as the chemistry in systems simulating a space environment (zero-gravity, for example).

  • Teaching and Learning with Information and Communication Technologies
     Symposium Chair: Dr. Robert E. Belford, UALR (rebelford@ualr.edu)
    This symposium seeks papers on the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in both traditional and nontraditional learning environments.  What are the latest ICTs?  What are the best practices for the use of ICT in the classroom?  How has ICT changed the way students learn outside of the classroom?  How has ICT impacted chemical education research and what has that research taught us about the use of ICT?  The objective of this symposium is to assist educators in providing the best learning environments with the latest Information and Communication Technologies.

  • Topics in the History of Chemistry
     Symposium Chair: Dr. Joe Jeffers, Ouachita Baptist University (Jeffers@obu.edu)
    Sponsored by the ACS Division of History of Chemistry “See and Be Seen” program.
    A potpourri of chemical history topics based on research interests of presenters. Both invited and contributed papers will be presented. The session is designed to be oral, but posters are also welcome.

  • Undergraduate Research Symposium
     Organizers: University of Central Arkansas ACS Student Affiliates,  Contact: Dr. Bill Taylor (billt@uca.edu)
    Sponsored by the ACS Division of Undergraduate Education
    This session will be open to undergraduate students in all areas of chemistry.