Thursday June 26 2008

This morning Greg did his polymer "Road Show". I have seen it four times now, but I still get something new out of it each time. The Elmer's Glue/borax mix to create "slime" is a great experiment to show what cross linking is in polymers, but today I realized I could use it to show the difference between starch (no side chains) and cellulose (side chains). I plan on using it in Sept.

Al Crosby came to lunch with us to discuss our expectations for the experience. The two
Jennifers will focus on crumpling; I will do some work with them but will focus on writing the curriculum and the expectations for the High School Research Experience program we piloted this year. Doug Farmer, Chelsea Davis and Yuri will be working with us. C.J. should finish his dissertation and have his defense before we leave. I would like to attend.

Al was appointed full professor this week...so richly deserved in my opinion. Just wonderful. He will be away for a week while we all get started.

First Day, June 25, 2005

I am so excited to be back! There are nine others, some local (Westfield, West Springfield, and Belchertown), some from the Boston area, and two from New Hampshire. The farthest traveler is from Florida. I am a little nervous about making my presentation on Friday, but as GReg said, I know more than any of them do, so it should be just fine. I want to be sure to blog the experience again this year as it was so helpful last year. I dont know if I remember how to do all the fanch things Efron taught me though!