Discusses employment opportunities in optical engineering. States that demand is expanding faster than the supply of degree holders in the field. Points out that graduates from other fields are being used to fill the demand. Identifies programs that offer degrees in optical engineering. (CW)

Describes Chemical Reaction Engineering (CRE) as the discipline that quantifies the interplay of transport phenomena and kinetics in relating reactor performance to operating conditions and input variables. Addresses the current status of CRE in both academic and industrial settings and outlines future trends. (TW)

Explores some of the ways that lead is being replaced in the production of gasolines. Discusses the effects these changes are having on the chemical industry. Contrasts the use of ethyl alcohol from renewable sources with alcohols depending on the availability of isobutene. (TW)

Described are the Howard Hughes Medical Institute programs for providing funds to assist science education. One program is designed to assist private liberal arts colleges that are not affiliated with a graduate school. Other programs have been established to provide support for postdoctoral research and laboratories. (RH)

Describes some of the activities of the Association for Media-Based Continuing Education for Engineers (AMCEE) which was formed by representatives of 12 engineering schools. Discusses AMCEE's attempts to update the technological skills of its members. (TW)

Describes an algorithm that provides more rapid convergence for more complicated forms of phase separation requiring the use of a digital computer. Demonstrates that this "inside-out" algorithm remains efficient for determination of the equilibrium states for any type of phase transition for a binary system. (CW)

Describes an experiment designed to give accurate values for both the absolute zero of temperature and the gas constant using very simple apparatus. (TW)

Discusses the difficulties that some students have in understanding the concept of chemical reactions. Proposes that instructors try to consider the various difficulties during a chemistry course when students form their concepts of element conservation. (TW)

Describes two experiments in college chemistry which use microcomputers. One experiment deals with chemical oscillations, while the other involves colorimeter titration with laser excitation and computer-interfaced endpoint detection. (TW)

Describes several chemistry demonstrations that use an overhead projector. Some of the demonstrations deal with electrochemistry, and another deals with the reactions of nonvolatile immiscible liquid in water. (TW)

Editorially reviews the history of reform in science education from the 1920s to 1983. Highlights agreement among the various reports. Specifies the role of chemistry education in science reform. Announces a new book from the National Research Council, "Opportunities in Chemistry, Today and Tomorrow." (CW)

Discusses the variety of explanations in organic chemistry textbooks of a physical property of organic compounds. Focuses on those concepts explaining attractive forces between molecules. Concludes that induction interactions play a major role in alkyl halides and other polar organic molecules and should be given wider exposure in chemistry texts.…

Provides a listing of 35 demonstrations designed to generate interest in organic chemistry and help put points across. Topics include opening lecture; molecular structure and properties; halogenation; nucleophilic substitution, alkenes and dienes, stereochemistry, spectroscopy, alcohols and phenols, aldehydes and ketones; carboxylic acids, amines,…

Describes a program in which senior engineering students are given the opportunity to design, make, and test apparatus intended for an upper-level teaching laboratory. Discusses such projects as a vapor compressor test stand with refrigerant mass flow measurement, a double-walled concentric annular heat pipe, and a vacuum filling station. (TW)

Presents a chronology of scientific efforts designed to determine the age of the earth. Summarizes scientists' attempts at dating the planet's formation, including the examination of lead in the environment, the calculation of the earth's cooling temperature and time, the study of geological sedimentation and the analysis of moon rocks. (TW)