E D U C A T I O N

Argonne Semester Enriches Science Training Midwest program gives students from small colleges advantages of working with experienced scientists and modern tools

Ten science majors from small Mid­west colleges are spending their spring semester this year at Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, 111. They work as technicians, do research, and study under the guidance of Argonne scien­tists. Successful completion of the Argonne program gives them the equivalent of a semester's credit to­ward their degrees.

The Argonne Semester program started as an idea in the mind of Dr. Blair Stewart, president of the Asso­ciated Colleges of the Midwest—a group of 10 small mid western schools. Dr. Stewart realized the plight of smaller colleges faced with the prob­lem of competing with the science facilities and' staffs of larger institu­tions. In an effort to find a solution to these problems, he talked them over with Dr. Norman Hilberry, direc­tor of Argonne. The two men then worked out the cooperative program that makes Argonne's facilities avail­able to ACM students and teachers.

The Argonne program started last September with three teachers and 10 students (chemistry, physics, and bi­ology majors) and is now on its second lap. The experiment also seems well along the way toward achieving its principal aims: to give the students a feeling for research and a preview of science in action and to strengthen the research training of teachers.

At the end of the first Argonne Se­mester in January, ACM asked the students, teachers, and scientists who were in the project to help evaluate it. One student says, "Instead of reading about research and reading about sci­ence, I feel that I did research and was involved in science." And, a teacher's view: "I was skeptical at first . . . but came away impressed with the potential of the Argonne-ACM plan, not merely for the mate­rial facilities which are available for the students, but especially for what obviously is a maturing and stimulat­ing intellectual atmosphere." Eight of

the Argonne scientists say they would like to rehire their student assistants, and all were impressed with the re­sults of the program.

Early in their visits, some students believed they might regret missing out on college activities while at Argonne —for example, working in campus or­ganizations, taking part in athletics and other extracurricular activities, and even the chance to take other courses available at their schools. But all agreed by the end of their Argonne term that these things became less im­portant.

Students Work at Research. Dur­ing an Argonne Semester, science students, generally seniors, work for four hours in the morning as techni­cians in Argonne's laboratories. They receive a technician's pay from Ar­gonne for this work. But the students pay full tuition to their home schools while they are assigned to Argonne.

Although the students work on re­search connected with Argonne proj-

PHYSICS SENIOR. Monmouth College student Jerome B. Heath spent the last school semester at Argonne National Laboratory under a plan designed to enrich the science train­ing of students in small Midwest colleges. Here, Mr. Heath places a sample in the source unit of a mass spectrometer

CHEMISTRY SENIOR. Grinnell College student Judith M. Anderson prepares a sample for a proportional beta counter. Her instructor is Argonne chemist Dr. Donald Cohen. Miss Anderson is another of the 10 science students from ACM schools who spent last semester at Argonne learning about science and research

48 C & E N M A R C H 13, 1961

CHEMISTRY JUNIOR. Monmouth College student Robert H. Feiertag also has had a semester of research experience at Argonne. As a junior, he received his training early. Most of the Argonne students are seniors. Here, Mr. Feiertag prepares to determine the amount of carbon dioxide in a sample of air

ects, it is carried out with a minimum of supervision. Last semester, in Ar-gonne's chemistry division, one stu­dent studied the properties of an anthracene-polystyrene-ethyl acetate system under ultraviolet excitation. He also studied the fluorescent yields and transfer efficiencies of the system. Another student used a mass spectro­graph to measure isotopic abundance of the rare earths.

Argonne students spend their after­noons attending seminars and lectures given by Argonne scientists, touring the laboratory's facilities, and keeping up on their college work in classes taught by the ACM faculty members. Here the ACM teachers in the pro­gram play an important role.

Teachers from the ACM colleges stay at Argonne for 15 months—a full academic year plus two summers. This year's staff includes Dr. Garrett W. Thiessen of the chemistry depart­ment, Monmouth (111.) College; Dr. Lila Abrahamson, biologist from Cor­nell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa; and Dr. Dino Zei of the physics depart­ment of Ripon (Wis.) College.

The instructor assignments at Ar­gonne are intended to broaden the teachers' research views. Besides con­ducting classes and helping students fulfill course requirements just as they would on their own campuses, the ACM teachers work on Argonne re­search. They receive their regular sal­aries plus $100 for relocation expense in return for their services. During the academic year, Argonne and ACM each pays half of the teacher salaries, but during the summer, the teachers work exclusively for Argonne.

Both students and teachers for the Argonne program are selected by a joint ACM-Argonne committee.

Colleges that belong to the ACM are: Beloit College, Beloit, Wis.; Carleton College, Northfield, Minn.; Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Cor­nell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa; Grin-nell College. Grinnell, Iowa; Knox College, Galesburg, 111.; Lawrence College, Appleton, Wis.; Monmouth College, Monmouth, 111.; Ripon Col­lege, Ripon, Wis.; and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.

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M A R C H 13, 1961 C & E N 49

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BRIEFS

Some 9000 talented high school stu­dents will attend summer science courses this year supported by the National Science Foundation. NSF has made 180 grants, worth $2 million, to 158 colleges, universities, and non­profit research organizations which will develop special projects to pro­vide these students with advanced sci­ence and math training. One phase of NSF's 1961 program is new and experimental. In a cooperative col­lege-school project, 2700 students and 50 high school teachers will be de­signing stiffer high school science and math courses for future use.

The 1961 Contest in Colloid and Sur­face Chemistry, sponsored by the Con­tinental Oil Co. and the University of Southern California, is open to stu­dents at all accredited colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. Contestants may enter a report on a research project or write an essay on the role of colloid and surface chemis­try in some aspect of petroleum tech­nology. The best report and best essay will each win a $500 prize; sec­ond best receives $200 each; and hon­orable mentions, $50 each. Entry blanks may be obtained from Prof. K. J. Mysels, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif. Dead­line for entries: July 3, 1961.

More than 200 high school teachers will be trained in the Chemical Bond Approach Course this summer at six institutes: Brown University, Provi­dence, R.I., Dr. L. B. Clapp; Earlham College, Richmond, Ind., Dr. L. E. Strong; Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, Dr. Eric Graham; Reed College, Portland 2, Ore., Dr. A. H. Livermore; Tufts University, Medford, Mass., Dr. M. K. Wilson; and University of Ken­tucky, Lexington, Ky., Dr. J. M. Car­penter. Teachers who wish to attend may write the institute directors, as listed, for further information.

A $3600 fellowship for research in high polymers at the Polytechnic In­stitute of Milan during the 1961-62 academic year is offered by Monte-catini Soc. Gen., Milan, Italy. The America-Italy Society, 22 East 60th St., New York 22, N.Y., handles the fellowship in this country.

5 0 C & E N M A R C H 13 , 1 9 6 1

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