This award by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program to Professor Raymond Schaak of Pennsylvania State University - University Park, addresses world wide web communications with the public on a variety of chemistry themes using YouTube videos. Professor Schaak and his group will solicit three categories of three-minute (or shorter) videos highlighting chemistry concepts presented as: songs and skits, chemistry demonstrations, and discussions of chemical research. The goal of the project is to enlist the main users of this relatively new electronic media - undergraduate and high schools students - in educating their peers and the general public about chemistry and science, in general. Technical oversight of the project by a review committee composed of university and high school chemistry faculty and students will ensure that the content contained in the videos is correct, and thus, that the electronic documents can be used as a reliable source of information for teachers, students, and non-scientists. The best videos will be selected by this judging panel and the lead authors will be invited to present their work (as both a poster and a part of an oral presentation) at a national American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting. Undergraduate students from NSF-Research Experiences for Undergraduate sites, American Chemical Society student chapters, and a large number of college chemistry departments from geographically, ethnically, and economically diverse locations will be invited to participate.
