From chemistry-request@ccl.net Wed Jan 1 20:45:18 1992 To: compchem Subject: Comp Chem Workshop Leader Date: Wed, 01 Jan 92 20:20:20 EST From: Robert Gotwals Status: R I am looking for a practicing computational chemist (or talented grad student), preferably in the Washington DC area, to present a hands-on workshop on computational chemistry to master chemistry teachers from the national consortium of specilized secondary schools (schools specifically geared to gifted science students). My original workshop leader has come up against some scheduling conflicts. The purpose of this day-long workshop (part of the preconference workshops for the consortium) is to introduce chem teachers to comp chem techniques using high performance computers. The majority of teachers attending this workshop will have access to high performance computers and the Internet, such as the Cornell National Supercomputer Facility and NCSA. This workshop will be on March 19, 1992. Unfortunately, there are funds for travel and housing, but none for stipends or honoria. What I envision for this workshop is a general intro to what's happening in computational chemistry. I'd like to see participants have a chance to do something simple using GAMESS or GAUSSIANxx, such as electron density calculations. Hopefully they would also be able to see demos of scientific visualization and maybe the use of something like NCSA Datascope or Image software. I would be more than happy to do the majority of the prep for this workshop; however, we're trying to get experts in to actually present the workshop. We will have access to graphics workstations at NIST in Rockville MD, and access to the Internet. Access to NCSA and CNSF for the participants is also not a problem. Access to other machines, including the CRAY at NISt or any of the Univ. of Maryland platforms is not a problem. The general format is for participants to start about 8:30 Am, work until lunch, have an our break, and finish up around 4 or 4:30. The idea is to get teachers on the machines, trying things that can be used with students. Most of the schools coming to this preconference activity will be active players in the SuperQuest Supercomputing competition for secondary students sponsored by CNSF, NSF, NCSA, IBM, and others. Anticipated participation for this workshop is from 5 to 10 teachers, although this number is extremely flexible. We'd like everyone to get a chance to manipulate the tools, so we're trying to keep enrollment down. We will also be doing a number of other chemistry and physics workshops, many of them at NIST. Thanks in advance for help with this. I feel that this is a prime opportunity for practicing computational chemists to make a serious impact on the use of comp chem. techniques in the secondary schools. We have the tools and the students to be doing some serious teaching and research. ************************************************************* * Bob Gotwals * Blair Magnet Program * * suvx@eagle.tc.cornell.edu * 313 Wayne Avenue * * gotwals@vax.mbhs.edu * Silver Spring, MD 20910 * * SuperQuest '91 * (301) 650-6688/6690 * * * * "What in the world ISN"T chemistry?" * **************************************************************