BIENNIAL SHEDS LIGHT ON PERENNIAL ISSUES

Abstract

YOU COULD SAY THE WHOLE TOWN of Bellingham, Wash., turned out for the recent 17th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE). At least for a while. On the second morning of the conference, a transformer malfunctioned and the power went out all over town. After five years of planning, George S. Kriz, professor of chemistry at Western Washington University, which was the conference site, and Sara Selfe, a chemistry instructor at Edmonds Community College in Lynwood, Wash., thought they had prepared for anything. But they didn't expect this. The Bellingham Herald called the event the Blackout Biennial. But chemists — especially chemistry teachers—are a hardy bunch. Some teachers held sessions in rooms lit by flashlights or gathered on the quad for more informal sessions. As they say, the show must go on. The lights came back on after several hours, though, and nearly 1,300 conference attendees got down to business in rooms with more of ...