2009 Enhancing Chemistry Program

8:00 AM – Registration, Networking, Professional Resource Exhibits
Illini Union–Lobby area 314 A/B

"New Biomolecular Analysis Tools for Personalized Disease Diagnostics"

Ryan Bailey grew up in a small town in southern Illinois and received his B.S. in Chemistry from Eastern Illinois University in 1999. He completed his Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 2004 after which he was a joint postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology and the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, WA. In 2006 Ryan joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois, where he also holds Affiliate appointments in the Institute for Genomic Biology and the Micro- and Nanotechnology Laboratory. Ryan won a 2006 Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award and was the recipient of an inaugural National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award in 2007. His group is developing new multiparameter biological analysis technologies based upon high density optical biosensor arrays and novel surface patterning strategies.

With the genome effectively fully sequenced, scientists now have in hand the “parts list” for a human being. By checking this parts list, disease can be thought of as a car with only three tires or an extra steering wheel. While this picture is highly simplified, it does help to reveal an opportunity for analytical chemists to contribute to disease diagnosis simply by determining the concentration of molecules in a sample. Our group is developing several new analytical tools to measure and understand the relationships between many different biological molecules in a single, clinically-relevant sample. This talk will focus on our application of robust, scalable, and highly sensitive arrays of silicon photonic microcavity resonators as a label-free, multiparameter bioanalytical platform.

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick is Associate Professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Prior to coming to UIUC in 2000, he was a faculty member at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon. He holds a Ph.D. in Science Education, with minors in history and philosophy of science, from Oregon State University, and master’s and BS degrees from AUB. His research focuses on the teaching and learning about nature of science (NOS) in grades K-12, and in preservice and inservice science teacher education settings. Currently, he is investigating the developmental appropriateness of NOS understandings that current national reform efforts in science education deem central to developing informed views of NOS. He is also researching the interaction between students’ global epistemologies and worldviews, and their learning about more specific aspects of NOS. He led an NSF-funded initiative that established an innovative alternative route to science education certification for teachers from underrepresented groups. He is currently leading another large-scale NSF-funded initiative aimed at preparing a new generation of science teacher leaders by integrating social and entrepreneurial leadership into existing modalities for preparing teacher leaders. He maintains an active international program of research in support of science education in Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon. Dr. Abd-El-Khalick served as an elected member of the Executive Board of the National Association for Research on Science Teaching (NARST) (2004-2007). He currently serves as associate editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and sits on the editorial boards for Science Education, Journal of Science Education and Technology, and Science and Education. From NARST, he has received the Early Research Career Award (2003), Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award (2001), and Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award (1999). From UIUC, he received the College of Education Distinguished Scholar Award (2005) and was recently named University Scholar (2006-2009).

This study assessed the representations of nature of science (NOS) in high school chemistry textbooks and the extent to which these representations have changed during the past four decades. Analyses focused on the empirical, tentative, inferential, creative, theory-driven, and social NOS, in addition to the myth of “The Scientific Method,” the nature of scientific theories and laws, and the social and cultural embeddedness of science. A total of 14 textbooks, including five “series” spanning one to four decades, were analyzed. The textbooks commanded significant market shares in the United States and were widely used in some of the most populace states. Relevant textbook sections were scored on each of the target NOS aspects on a scale ranging from –3 to +3, which reflected the accuracy, completeness, and manner (explicit versus implicit) in which these aspects were addressed. The textbooks fared poorly in their representations of NOS. Additionally, with a few exceptions, textbook scores either did not change or decreased over the past four decades. These trends are incommensurate with the discourse in national and international science education reform documents, which has witnessed an increasing emphasis on the centrality of NOS to scientific literacy and pre-college science education during the same time period. Assessment and evaluation strategies, and policies need to be targeted if substantial and desired changes in the ways NOS is addressed in science textbooks are to be effected.

Terry Koker currently teaches A.P. Chemistry, Chemistry I, and Chemistry II at Mahomet-Seymour High School. Terry was a ChemViz team member during the 1990s and has been involved with the NanoCemms suumer workshops for the past several years. He has been teaching for over 20 years and has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in the Teaching of Physical Science and a Master’s of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering, both from UIUC.

The NanoCemms education division is committed to bringing nanoscale science to the K-12 classroom. Working with David Bergandine from University High School and others, Terry has been concentrating on the chemistry and possible nanotechnology applications of silver sulfide. Samples of solid silver sulfide are prepared by mixing powdered silver and sulfur in micro test tubes and heating in a sand bath at 300 Celsius for at least 24 hours. The stoichiometry of the process can be verified by the student at each stage using silver nitrate and copper wire to make the silver crystals. The silver sulfide formed is quite pure and shows crystalline properties. However, unlike most ionic solids, the silver sulfide is malleable and can be embossed by pressing against a hard patterned surface such as a coin. The mobility of the silver ion also allows the material to be a conductor of electricity. Pressing the embossed surface of the silver sulfide pellet against a thin silver film, a voltage will cause silver to ionize and diffuse into the pellet. The embossed image will be transferred to the silver film. Extremely small patterns have been demonstrated with this process by NanoCemms researchers. Possible applications in patterning microelectronics circuitry have been suggested. Participants will be shown the various stages of this experiment and they will be allowed to do a hands-on etching of silver film using pre-made silver sulfide crystals.