I’ve heard great things over the years about the “Blue Solids” learning object. Things like “it’s a great ‘introductory’ solid state literature discussion,” or how the students really like the paper because it is easy to read.

As this semester comes ALMOST to a close, I’ve begun to think about my Inorganic course this semester.  What was the most successful? What would I have changed? What was I most excited about?

Today (March 31^st) is Robert Bunsen's 205 birthday. While many of us know him best as the scientist that developed the burner that bears his name, I can't help but wonder if the generation of chemists we are currently training will soon forget his name. I can't think of a single lab experiment at my institution where a Bunsen burner is used. And I imagine the same is true at many other institutions. And for safety reasons, I am perfectly fine with that. But it sad that he may soon be forgotten. Sure, he had some other very significant contributions to chemistry.

Hi everyone. It has been an exciting and busy ACS meeting so far. There were flight delays, airport shuttle snafus and a 7 hour overnight power outage at our hotel. But we have managed to overcome these difficulties to have a great conference. The teaching at the frontiers of inorganic chemistry sessions have been awesome. It's great to get people together discussing how we teach. And the research symposium got off to a wonderful start on Sunday and still has morning and afternoon sessions left on Tuesday. The poster session Sunday night was very busy.

Hello VIPEr-land. I wanted to post my experience with returning to the classroom after a 4-year hiatus. It was a little nerve-wracking at first (ok, a lot) but I quickly realized two things.

 It’s hard to believe how quickly the spring ACS meeting is approaching. In addition to our tremendous oral and poster sessions, IONiC VIPEr is once again pleased to announce that we will be holding a social ‘hour’. All of the details can be seen in the lovely flyer below that was hand-crafted by Joanne Stewart. These social hours have been a big hit in the past, and they are a great opportunity to bring the VIPEr community together. Appetizers are on us, sorry, you will have to purchase your own beverage(s). All you need to know to enter is the secret VIPEr handshake.

IONiC will be descending upon the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO this summer for the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) from July 31 through August 4. We would like to highlight the following opportunities:

Perhaps some of you have heard a student say “But I don’t understand what you expect.” Or maybe the student has been more direct and said “Tell me exactly what I need to do to get an A.”

The 2016 ACS DIC Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry submission site is now live!