NJIT Hosts 16th Annual Chemistry Olympics

NEWARK, April 24- The Department of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Environmental Science in Newark College of Engineering (NCE) at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) proudly sponsors once again the 16th annual Chemistry Olympics, May 2, 9 a.m.-noon, at NJIT, says Reginald Tomkins, Ph.D., professor of chemistry.

Events include a laboratory experiment with chemical reactions that change color; an environmental analysis; a demonstration of electrolysis principles; and creation of a web page explaining the greenhouse effects.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: To cover this event, contact NJIT public relations department.)

NCE professors started the Olympics to make learning chemistry more fun for New Jersey high school students, says NJIT Chemistry Professor James M. Grow, a founder. "It's rewarding to impart knowledge to the next generation and see the students' positive reactions," says Grow.
This year more than 400 students from 24 New Jersey high schools will participate in 10 different events. The students must complete six of the ten events to compete. Corporate New Jersey donors and the North Jersey local section of the American Chemical Society fund the program. The Chemistry Olympics is the only event of its kind held in New Jersey that focuses only on chemistry, although groups in other states sponsor similar competitions, says Grow.

To create the event, chemistry and chemical engineering professors at NJIT and chemistry high school teachers throughout New Jersey donate their time. Preparation begins the previous September. This year, steering committee members include Reginald Tomkins, chemistry professor, NJIT, Borislow Bilash, II, a chemistry teacher at James Caldwell High School, Caldwell; George Gross, a retired Union High School chemistry teacher; Ann Marie Reardon, chemistry teacher, Dwight Englewood High School, Englewood. The day of the event more than 30 New Jersey industry leaders, high school teachers and professors donate their time to judge the ten events.

Other events include a demonstration of atomic theory; a test of chemical names;
answering five questions about chemistry using Internet sources; an organic chemistry laboratory; a choice of performing five laboratory experiments; another laboratory experiment to determine the concentration of a colored solution; the qualitative analysis of ions using micro-laboratory techniques; and a research paper.

First, second and third place teams for each of the ten events, plus first, second and third place overall winners for the entire program will receive engraved plaques. A luncheon and awards presentation follows completion of the program.

Corporate program sponsors include: The American Chemical Society-North Jersey Section, the Teachers Affiliates; C.R. Bard Foundation; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; The Dow Chemical Foundation; Engelhard Corporation; Infineum U.S.A.; L'Oreal U.S.A.; National Starch & Chemical Company; and NJIT. More sponsors include: The North Jersey Section of the American Chemical Society; Schering Plough Corporation; Sun Chemical Corporation; Tosco Refining Company; Uniqema. Participating publishers include Academic Press; Addison-Wesley Longman; H. Harcourt, Inc; Houghton-Mifflin Company; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; Prentice Hall, Inc.; Saunders College Publishing; WCB McGraw-Hill.

NJIT is a public research university enrolling over 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 80 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science. According to Yahoo! Internet Life magazine rankings, NJIT has been America's most wired public university for three consecutive years.