Chemistry education researchers and scholars are invited to submit an abstract and participate in the 72nd American Chemical Society Northwest Regional Meeting from June 25-28, 2017 in Corvallis, Oregon. The Oregon Section of the American Chemical Society is pleased to host NORM17 at the LaSells-Stewart Center on the Oregon State University campus. Chemistry educators from Oregon State University, Oregon Institute of Technology University, the University of Oregon, the University of Utah, and The Ohio State University have committed to presenting papers and being symposium chairs. Scholarly and research presentations will delve into timely topics relating to the teaching and learning of chemistry. You do not have to be a member of the ACS Northwest Regional group to participate and present a paper or poster at NORM17. There are six chemistry education tracks: (1) “Topic modules in undergraduate education”, (2) “Best practices in undergraduate education”, (3) Two-Year Curriculum, (4) “Pre-College Topics”; (5) “On-line education” and (6) Outreach. The URL for the conference web site is https://www.norm2017.org/
There are two other excellent chemistry education conferences occurring the week of June 25. We hope NORM17 will catch your interest. Corvallis's central location on the West Coast is an hour’s drive south of Portland. Opportunities for visiting scenic sites such as waterfalls, lakes, rivers, mountains, dormant volcanoes, and lava flow fields are plentiful. Adventures in the wide open spaces occur everyday: fishing, hiking, birding, kayaking, canoeing, camping, whale watching, etc. Within an hour’s drive from Corvallis one can visit the Pacific coast, the beautiful snow capped Cascade Mountain range, and Mt. Hood. Crater Lake National Park will still have six feet of snow pack in June. Some of the USA’s best Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris vineyards and wineries, as well as Oregon’s famous hop oriented micro-brews, are a 30-minute drive from Corvallis. No rain, no humidity, no bugs and no sales tax.
Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a number of social events, including a Sunday night reception, a tour of the Linus Pauling chemistry collection at the Oregon State University Valley Library, a Monday evening fund your own dinner with chemistry educators at restaurants in Corvallis, the Tuesday NORM 2017 Awards Banquet, and a surprise performance on Tuesday night by “Al D. Hyde and the Lac Tones,” a reduced form of “Al D. Hyde and Key Tones”. Band members have been performing at the Biennial Conferences on Chemical Education for past ten years and are all chemistry educators playing classic rock & roll, rock & soul, pop, and on occasion Surf cover songs. We hope you will make the decision to join us at NORM17!
Richard Nafshun, Oregon State University, Norm17 General Chair and Tom Greenbowe, University of Oregon, Norm 17 Co-Program Chair