Dear Readers,

Very sorry for such a long absence from this blog! I recently came back from an ACS (American Chemical Society) speaking tour, which was a very interesting and enriching experience for me. Currently, I am working on a couple of potential book proposals as well. There might be an upcoming opportunity for you to contribute to a book on a subject related to chemical kinetics and computer modeling. So stay tuned!

This was the first time I have gone on an ACS speaking tour and it was a very interesting experience. I would recommend it to anyone looking to grow as a professional in a technical field.

This is how the volunteer speaker service works: ACS puts together a list of experts in various chemical fields who would like to volunteer to be traveling speakers. Various ACS local sections then go through the list and choose which speakers they would like to invite to a specific local meeting.

If you are one of the speakers who has selected by a particular group of local sections (a circuit), you get to travel around that area for a week and present a new talk each day in a new location. I did not realize that the more options for talk topics you provide, the more likely are the chances of various locations picking different topics . So I ended up giving 6 talks in 5 days on 4 different topics. My circuit covered a good portion of Wisconsin, which turns out to be a relatively large state, so I had 3- 5 hours of driving in between different locations.

In case you’re interested, here is what my schedule looked like:

Monday, April 19, 2010

Location: La Crosse, WI

Venue: University of Wisconsin - La Crosse

Topic: Economic Crisis and the Need for Computer Modeling

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Venue: ACS Annual meeting

Topic: 10 Ways to Increase Your Value

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Location: Appleton, WI

Venue: Lawrence University

Topic: A Wife, a Mother, and a PHD

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Location: Stevens Point, WI

Venue: ACS meeting + university campus talk

Topic : A Wife, a Mother, and a PHD and Economic Crisis and the Need for Computer Modeling

Friday, April 23, 2010

Location: Houghton, MI

Topic: Importance of Perception - Why You Should Care About What Others Think

During each presentation I had a completely different audience. One day it was a large group of students. Another day it was a small mix of professors and graduate researchers. Yet another day I presented to a mixture of chemists from industry and academia.

One of my favorite audiences was in Eau Clair, where I presented the “Computer Modeling” talk to a group of retired industry chemists. Considering that half of my audience has never used a computer for so much as e-mail, it was an interesting presentation. But I have to say the retired chemists were one of the most inquisitive and interested audiences I had on this trip!

Going into the talk I had a bit of a panicky moment. Some of these people have been doing experiments in the lab for longer than two of my lifetimes. How in the world was I going to explain to them that we are on the path of moving more and more of these experiments into this teeny box called a “computer”?!

Amazingly, my audience stayed curious and interested through the whole talk. Afterwards, some of the listeners shared a few stories about how back in the day, you had to use stacks of punch cards to program just a few lines of code. Maybe because the have seen such evolution of science and technology over their lifetimes, the idea of more and more experiments being done virtually, inside of a computer did not seem surprising to them.

Now if only I can have such an open-minded audience at TurboExpo next month!

I am looking for Speakers for the ACS Fall 2010 National Meeting and Exposition in Boston. And it just might be YOU!

DISCLAIMER: this is not a give-away or a lottery. I am offering you an opportunity to work hard to do something uncomfortable (public speaking); to take time out of your day job (or search for a job) in order to prepare a presentation, travel to a conference and to present in front of a bunch of strangers.  If you’re thinking  that that is a pretty crappy “opportunity”, read on

Dear MVP Readers,

I am organizing a session at 2010 ACS Fall meeting, titled: Computer Modeling - The Wave of the Future. The session is co-sponsored by the Division of Computers in Chemistry, Division of Chemical Information, and Division for Small Chemical Business.

Why you should care:

I am selecting speakers for this session and it is a wonderful chance  for many of you to:

-Present yourself as an expert in computer modeling, chemistry, biochemistry, engineering and/or small business development area

-Network with industry professionals in chemical, biochemical and engineering industry

-Grow professionally

-Boost your resume

-Learn what’s new in the chemistry field

-Develop you communication skills

Why might you want to do any of these things? (If you do not know the answer already, you REALLY need the info in my Toolkit!) All of the above can be instrumental in helping you get a job, grow your business, or help you become a more valued industry professional.

What you need to qualify:

- Ability to travel to Boston and attend ACS meeting on August 22-26 (you’ll be responsible for your own travel expenses, but if you are NOT an ACS member, you will get free admission to the conference on the day of presentation).

-Be working (or have worked) in area of computer modeling that has something to do with chemistry, biochemistry, biology or chemical or bio engineering

- Be able to say something about how modeling and simulation can help small businesses (I’d be happy to help you with this part, just contact me at masha@mvpmodelingsolutions.com, if you’re stuck on this one)

I am interested! What to do next:

If you have any questions for me about presenting at ACS, please submit them in comments below. I promise to answer all of them! If you are seriously thinking of presenting, please contact me at masha@mvpmodelingsolutions.com.

Finally, please pass the link to this post to any of your colleagues or friends who are looking to grow as a technical professional!

Best of luck!

UPDATE

You will need to formally submit a brief ( 1-3 paragraphs) abstract of your talk to ACS. Simply follow instructions below.

Please note: If chosen as one of the presenters, you will need to be able to travel to Boston and attend ACS meeting. You will be responsible for your own travel expenses and conference registration, however if you are NOT an ACS member, you will get free admission to the conference on the day your presentation.

TO SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT:

1) Go to: http://abstracts.acs.org

2) - If you are an ACS member and have already created on-line account, sign-in using your ACS ID.

- If NOT a member, click on “Registering is easy” button. Create your username and password and select the appropriate relationship to ACS.

3) Once signed in, choose the 240th meeting in Boston and select:

Submission

• Create New Abstract

4) Select SCHB: Division of Small Chemical Businesses - > Computer Modeling the Wave of the Future session

5) Follow the instructions. When you get to “Preferred Presentation method” select “Oral Only”

Please contact me with any questions. Best of luck!!

I just found out that my American Chemical Society courses have been officially added to the ACS spring schedule:

Computer Simulation of Reactive Flows: http://www.proed.acs.org/courses/course_overview.cfm?course_code=RFWEB

Essentials of Chemical Kinetics: http://www.proed.acs.org/courses/course_overview.cfm?course_code=KNWEB

This inspired me to write on the subject of teaching – specifically, why most engineering courses are taught in such boring ways, and what can be done about it.

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