UNC Asheville to Host Talks by Noted Chemist Catherine Middlecamp October 20; Events are Eighth Annual S. Dexter Squibb Lecture Series

Noted Chemist Catherine Middlecamp will be the featured speaker at UNC Asheville’s eighth annual S. Dexter Squibb Lecture Series on Thursday, Oct. 20. Middlecamp has gained a national reputation as an expert on teaching chemistry to non-science majors. Middlecamp’s two public talks will focus on the theme of this year’s series, “Chemistry in Context.” Events are free and open to the public.

Middlecamp will give a historical talk on “The Firecracker Boys and the Radium Girls” at 12:15 p.m. in UNC Asheville’s Robinson Hall room 125. The radium girls were radium dials workers, women who in the 1920s used radium paint to create glow-in-the-dark watches and dials. Firecracker boys relates to Edward Teller and his band of physicists who in the 1950s proposed to use nuclear devices to blast out a harbor in Alaska.

Middlecamp will discuss “Uranium and U” at 7:30 p.m. in UNC Asheville’s Robinson Hall room 125. This talk will focus on the effects and potential hazards of radioactivity, which often stems from uranium and its byproducts. Middlecamp will discuss the uses of uranium and its implications throughout history.

Middlecamp is a Distinguished Faculty Associate and Director of the Chemistry Learning Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is co-author of “Chemistry in Context,” a textbook project of the American Chemical Society that introduces liberal arts students and non-chemistry majors to chemistry through topics encountered in everyday life. She has served on the National Executive Board of the Association for Women in Science since 2000, is a senior scholar for the National Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities, and was recently elected as a Fellow of the Association for Women in Science.

The S. Dexter Squibb Endowed Distinguished Lectureship brings well-known scientists to the UNC Asheville campus to give public and campus lectures, and meet with University students, faculty, high school science students and administrators. The lecture series honors S. Dexter Squibb, former UNC Asheville Chemistry Department chair. Squibb joined the faculty in 1964 and was instrumental in developing UNC Asheville’s Chemistry Department into a certified four-year program.

For more information, call UNC Asheville’s Chemistry Department at 828/251-6443 or email bhenderson@unca.edu.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. John Stevens, UNC Asheville Chemistry Department Professor, 828/232-5173

• Dr. Keith Krumpe, UNC Asheville Chemistry Department Chair, 828/251-6957

• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526