Sci Pop Talks! Presenter Guidelines

Presenter guidelines for the nUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Sci Pop! Talks series

Sci Pop Talks! Presenter Guidelines

Presenter guidelines for the nUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Sci Pop! Talks series

Where Science Intersects Pop Culture: An Informal Science Education Outreach Program

Attracting a general audience to STEM topics can be a challenge, and developing engaging and interactive instruction is important for educators in all fields. While many chemical educators have successfully used pop-culture themes to introduce their students to scientific concepts, these encounters are largely limited to formal classroom environments. Inspired by the successes of community science programs such as Science Café and Nerd Nite, science educators from two Nebraska campuses sought to broaden the exposure of their pop-culture themed class lectures, and created the SciPop Talks! program. Now entering its fifth year, this informal educational outreach program has become a model of faculty/librarian partnerships and successful campus outreach. In this article, we discuss the program’s formation, outline its strengths and challenges, and stress the importance of using interactivity to engage with learners. We report on findings from a survey of our attendees, which revealed surprising differences along gender lines. By sharing the motivations, strategies, operational specifics, outcomes, and future goals, we hope that scientists, science educators, outreach coordinators, and librarians will be inspired to launch their own SciPop Talks! programs

#67 Chalmers short stories

What\ub4s the science behind self driving cars, hospital entry architecture and faster computers? In this episode\ua0we meet\ua0eight PhD-students\ua0presenting five minutes\ua0stories about their research projects at Chalmers University of Technology.\ua0We also talk to Dr. Raychelle Burks from\ua0St. Edwards University in\ua0Texas and\ua0Professor Lars 6hrstr\uf6m\ua0from\ua0Chalmers, about how they work to get science out to the society.\ua0Come along with\ua0RadioScience to a workshop on science communication, a warm and sunny day in June. We went to Gothenburg\ua0to give\ua0tips and tricks on recording and editing a podcast. In return we got\ua0eight really interesting short stories within the field of technology.In addition, Raychelle Burks reads the post ”Because she didn’t die” from her blog thirty-seven and Lars 6hrstr\uf6m gives us a taste from his book ”The rhubarb connection – the everyday world of metal ions”\ua0– to be published in December.This episode was a collaboration with teachers and students at the workshop on popular science communication at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Producers: Lisa Beste and Natalie von der Lehr,\ua0RadioScience.se, Uppsala.Listen at:\ua0http://www.radioscience.se/forskning/67-chalmers-short-stories

Redefining Value: Alternative Metrics and Research Outputs

Slides for a panel presentation on metrics of scholarly communication. Talks included are: Practical Applications for Altmetric Data: Funding Requests by Sara Rouhi Measuring Science by William Gunn Outreach & Engagement (OE) by Raychelle Burks What\u27s My Impact? by Kiyomi Deard

Characterization of Novel Macrocyclic Polyether Modified Pseudostationary Phases for use in Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography and Development of a Chemiluminescence Presumptive Assay for Peroxide-based Explosives

This work describes the first use and characterization of macrocyclic polyether (MP) modified sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) pseudostationary phases (PSPs) for use in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), as well as the development of a presumptive chemiluminescence assay for peroxide-based explosives. In MEKC separation and detection, resolution is optimized by using various PSPs or by altering the properties of a single PSP using different class I or II modifiers. Class I modifiers target the PSP through direct interaction with micelles, while class II organic modifiers operate by altering the BGE. The of MPs 18-crown-6, 15-crown-5, and 12-crown-4 were used to modify SDS, with their effect on the SDS PSP and solute partitioning characterized using a linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) and select thermodynamic properties. Over two dozen solutes were used to probe the MP modified SDS PSPs, many of them nitro-based explosives (NBEs), precursors and/or additives to NBE compositions. Easy-to-monitor presumptive assays are routinely used by forensic scientists, law enforcement and military personnel to screen for drugs of abuse and explosives. For peroxide-based explosives (PBEs), such assays are often indirect, monitoring the PBE precursor and degradation product hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by utilizing peroxidase-based luminescence. As with most enzyme-based methods, peroxidase methods can be a challenge to integrate into field test kits. Presented here is an attractive alternative based on the H2O2 - acetonitrile - luminol (HPAL) chemiluminescence reaction. This assay requires four simple reagents and no instrumentation for the visual detection of commonly encountered PBEs (TATP and HMTD) as well as H2O2(l). Limits of detection were in the low mg range for PBEs and 4 µg/mL for H2O2(l). This HPAL assay can also act as a color test, with reaction solutions changing from colorless or white to yellow, probably due to the formation of 3-aminophthalate anion

Applied Circular Dichroism: A Facile Spectroscopic Tool for Configurational Assignment and Determination of Enantiopurity

In order to determine if electronic circular dichroism (ECD) is a good tool for the qualitative evaluation of absolute configuration and enantiopurity in the absence of chiral high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ECD studies were performed on several prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs. Cotton effects (CE) were observed for both S and R isomers between 200 and 300 nm. For the drugs examined in this study, the S isomers showed a negative CE, while the R isomers displayed a positive CE. The ECD spectra of both enantiomers were nearly mirror images, with the amplitude proportional to the enantiopurity. Plotting the differential extinction coefficient (Δε) versus enantiopurity at the wavelength of maximum amplitude yielded linear standard curves with coefficients of determination (R2) greater than 97% for both isomers in all cases. As expected, Equate, Advil, and Motrin, each containing a racemic mixture of ibuprofen, yielded no chiroptical signal. ECD spectra of Suphedrine and Sudafed revealed that each of them is rich in 1S,2S-pseudoephedrine, while the analysis of Equate vapor inhaler is rich in R-methamphetamine