Chemists Identify New Way to Create Photovoltaic Devices
(PhysOrg.com) -- A promising new polymer-based method for creating photovoltaic devices, which convert sunlight into electricity, has been identified by chemists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Their new technique should lead to more efficient power production than achievable by the current generation of semiconductors.
The American Chemical Society has been awarded a $1 million chemistry public outreach grant from NSF. According to C&EN editor Sophia L. Rovner, the grant will be used to communicate the contributions of chemistry to society. This chemical education grant from NSF is timed perfectly because, 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry.
The grant "enables ACS efforts to sustain the momentum of IYC 2011," says ACS Executive Director and CEO Madeleine Jacobs . "Our members, committees, local sections, technical divisions, and our external IYC Partners—and their networks—will be vital to help the project be a success."
To learn more go to C&EN article ACS Wins $1 Million NSF Grant.
The 242nd American Chemical Society is approaching fast. This year the conference will be held on August 29 - August 31st in Denver. 
The theme of this years conference is " The Chemistry of Air, Space and water". Ironically the theme fits the current heat and drought conditions plaging many areas of the US and the sad ending of the space shuttle program.
Here is a breif list of some of the more interesting programs at the conference.
Foods for Extreme Environments
Modern Agriculture and Biotechnology – Tools for Sustainability
Chemistry in Mobile Spaces: Chemical Apps for Mobile Devices:
Novel Solutions to Water Pollution
Urban Greehouse Gas Emissions, Climate Change, and Mitigating Impacts
Irv Levy, The Division of Chemical Education program chair has created a great program line up for this years conference.
Greening Undergraduate Education: Lecture and Laboratory Innovations
Jerry Bell and the Joy of Chemistry
Celebrating IYC 2011 through Education and Community Outreach
Research at Community Colleges: Strategies for Enhancing Student Transfer and Success
Creating Innovation by Collaboration in Green Chemistry Between Industry University Centers and Students
Chemistry on Stamps Exhibition
For a complete program list - 242nd ACS Program.
Please make sure to take some time to visit the Vendor exposition. MeasureNet will be at booth 1505, Mark Hoffman will be manning the booth this year. Mark will be happy to tell you about some of the new products MeasureNet has introduced this year. Here are of some the exciting new additions to our Multifunctional Chemical Analysis Network ( MCAN ) technology for chemistry lab.
Cloud based Student Lab Report feature has been added to student data storage site - LabLinx. Students will now be able to submit their lab reports online saving time and paper. We have also a Click and View capablity so students can instantly view their laboratory data without having to download and import into Excel to view their data, another big time saver.
For upper level courses we have added a cloud based experiment remote monitor and alert feature. This allows students and researches to monitor their experiments over the internet with computers or smart phones. It even has a text alert feature to let you know if something has gone wrong. We will be adding many more features to this remote monitor capability in the coming months.
We look forward to another great conference in Denver and hope to see you there.