The blog for the 2009 US National Chemistry Olympiad

MEDALS - Gold and Silver!

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:05:39 -0400

Today the medals ceremony was held in the 15th century King’s College Chapel, one of the most beautiful buildings in the western world. The U.S. team had one of its best years ever, with one gold medal (to Yixiao Wang) and three silver medals (to Nathan Benjamin, Brian Seifried, and Colin Lu).

The ceremony, reception, dinner, and entertainment were memorable. See the photos (medal ceremony and party) for a glimpse of the event.

The final results of the competition are on the website for the 41st IChO. See the “download” link at the top of the Welcome page.

One note on King’s College: a fellow of the College told us that people are allowed on the law only once or twice a year. A mentor who was a student at Cambridge university told us he had never walked on the lawn.

It was quite a privilege to be at King’s College and an even great privilege to be associated with the wonderful young men of the US team and the other students from around the world.

Friday & Saturday_Cambridge

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:10:55 -0400

The mentors and students are all back at Cambridge University. The students are still in St. Catharine’s College and Trinity College, and the mentors have returned to Robinson College.

On Friday the students went to outside -- in the rain -- to try their skills at riding a zipline. One American students was quoted in the IChO newsletter as saying it was hard to land.

The mentors job on Friday was to grade the theoretical and practical exams. At the same time, teams of graders for the organizers are grading the exams as well. This took us only about 3 hours as we had only to grade four students. But the organizers reputedly took virtually all night as they have over 250 papers. This meant the mentors have a bit of free time on Friday.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, and it may be the only rain-free day we have had. The students all have a free day in London! Can you imagine over 250 young chemists from all over the world free for the day in London!

Saturday morning the organizers gave the mentors the scores for their students. We all check very carefully to make sure they have earned all possible credit. If not, we can discuss this with the grading team at a scheduled time during the day on Saturday.

In the evening the most important discussion occurs -- who gets what medal. But the mentors see only a series of numbers that are carefully massaged so that we cannot tell what numbers correspond to our students. [photos] So, whether our students earn medals will only be known when we all meet in King’s College Chapel on Sunday afternoon.

Finally, Saturday evening the mentors finished with a pint or two in the College bar and then a magic and animation show by Pelle from Sweden [photos].

Thursday - party - London

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:43:49 -0400

The mentors left Oxford about 10 AM and went by bus to London. We first went to the headquarters of the Royal Society where we had a reception and lunch. Most then went on a short bus tour of London, and then we were left at the Natural History Museum in Kensington. We had the next 4 hours to do as we wish. Some photos were taken on a walk from the Museum to Westminister Abbey and back.

The students took the 5-hour theoretical exam starting at 9 AM, and then following the exam came to London to met the mentors at the Natural History Museum for a reunion party. There we had a reception followed by an excellent dinner. And the students met a very special guest!

We left London at about midnight, and finally arrived in Cambridge at about 1:30 AM.

Wednesday - translate - party

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:25:09 -0400

Another long day of activity. The previous evening the mentors worked through and approved the final version of the theory exam. So, Wednesday was the day to translate it into the native languages of the students. For many this is an arduous task, but the English speaking countries can have a bit of time to do something else, such as walking about Oxford.
After the translations were complete, the mentors had a wonderful dinner party, with excellent food and good wine. After the dinner we all learned traditional British dances, called the ceilidh (pronounced “cay-lee”). In the U.S. we know these by various names, as one of the dances is the Virginia Reel. In any event, it was a marvelous party and we danced until after 11. Ad then had the long walk back to St. Anne’s College.

Tuesday - LAB PRACTICAL

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Today was the first “big” day for the students -- they did the lab practical exam in the Zoology and Chemistry labs in Cambridge. In the evening we heard from the organizers that it had gone “relatively” smoothly. One young chemist (from Switzerland) was ill, there was some mix-up on papers, and so on. Nothing to worry about.

The mentors had the morning off, but there were guided walking tours of Oxford, the town, and its colleges. Although it rained almost throughout it was an excellent tour with a very good guide. One thing he kept pointing out were the number of places where TV series and movies were made. In particular we saw where Harry Potter movies were made, especially the dining hall. (No photos from this tour! Too much rain!)

After lunch the mentors received the draft of the theory exam -- only 42 pages long -- from the organizers, and we had the afternoon to go over it and ask questions of the exam writers. Our first impression was that it was well constructed, not as difficult as some in the past, but long.

In the evening, the mentors met as a group and considered the exam draft. After the usual quibbles, and the usual questions from people who often raise such questions, we approved the exam. Done by about 11! Record time! Then it was off to the King’s Ams on Parks Road for a pint.

Translation Day 1 - Monday

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:56:30 -0400

The mentors decided on the lab questions on Sunday evening, so Monday was the day when the lab practical was translated from the British English master to the language of each country. For some countries this is an enormously time-consuming task, but for us of course it is fairly simple. We need only to make sure the terms used are ones familiar to our students and that the format is clear.

We finished with our translation task in the morning, and after lunch we passed our gifts out to the mentors of all of the other countries. We then went on a walk about Oxford, looking at the science buildings, especially the building that houses the inorganic chemists (because both Kotz and Wood are inorganic chemists). We also “saw” the King’s Arms pub, where the inorganic chemists have always gathered. Finally, we visited the famous Blackwell’s bookstore.

In the evening the mentors had a reception in the science museum, where there in an excellent collection of minerals and bones. We finished with a pub meal.

The team spent the day visiting Belvoir Castle where they had medieval games. We don’t know the details because we have no contact with them.

Opening Day of the IChO

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:50:58 -0400

We were up early this morning for all of the activities. The mentors packed and loaded our bags onto a lorry for the trip to Oxford University later in the day. (We will spend much of the coming week living at Oxford University so we are well away from our students.) Then we walked to the 19th century building, the Corn Exchange for the opening ceremony. There we met up with our team -- who are now living in St. Catherine’s College -- and their guide, Susanah.

The opening featured a few short speeches but mostly a wonderful show in the British tradition, a pantomime take-of on Jack and the Beanstalk. It is hard to describe, but it is something like a mix of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Benny Hill, and Monty Python. Throughout there were clues to the name of each country -- when we were supposed to cheer -- and audience participation was always encouraged.

Following the show there was a luncheon in the Guildhall, another very old building. We said goodbye to our team -- and wished them luck -- and went off to inspect the laboratories where the lab exam will be held on Tuesday. One person from each team will be in the Zoology Department, and the other three are in Chemistry. Our job is to make sure that each student had the correct chemicals and equipment.

That task done, we boarded buses for the hour-long trip to Oxford. It was raining hard, but everyone slept. (Did you know there are 47 round-abouts between Cambridge and Oxford?)

We had a few minutes to settle into our rooms in St. Anne’s College, and then walked about 1 km through old Oxford to the Examination Schools. There we had a delicious dinner and then turned to the important task of evaluating the lab practical. There are three experiments to be done in five hours. Two are fairly “formulaic” but the third is quite inventive. The British organizers were quite optimistic that we could finish our evaluation in about 90 minutes, but we knew that was overly optimistic. In fact, as is always the case at the IChO during examination evaluation, the task took much longer, about 3 hours. We started our walk back to the College at bout 12:15 AM.

Travel to CAMBRIDGE

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

We took off from JFK Thursday night about 2 hours late, and so got to London Heathrow about an hour behind schedule. No problem, tho, as we had to wait for Brian until mid-afternoon. (In the photos you will see Yixiao is sound asleep. He played chess on the plane against Nathan much of the night.) Turns out his plane got here right on time (about 2:30). However, the lines in passport were so long that by the time he got thru the passport line, they had pulled bags remaining from his flight and had put them into the "lost luggage" pile. So, he spent about hour tracking that down. In the meantime, we had no idea where he was and so we were trying to figure out how to find him or to see if he was in fact on the flight. That in itself is not an easy task as airlines will not give you that type of information. Just before we were about to get desperate and plead with Virgin Atlantic, he appeared. It had taken him over an hour an a half to get thru passport control and baggage claim.

So, then it was off on the underground -- a bit confusing at first but airport info people were helpful. Unfortunately, it was just at rush hour by the time we got into the underground, so the tube was crowded. Nonetheless, we got to Kings Cross Station just in the nick of time to catch the express to Cambridge. On arriving in Cambridge it was raining fairly hard, tho, so we all got a bit damp getting into the station and then standing in the taxi queue. (As it is before the official start of the IChO, they have no one at the station to help.) But arrived at Robinson College, our home for two nights, at about 7 PM. Got oriented, and then walked into the town center and found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. The fellows said they were not hungry, but they ate everything in sight.

Saturday morning we registered and the fellows went off to their college where they will stay. We (the mentors) had the day free in Cambridge and walked and walked. The photos in the slideshow are from our walk.

Finally, I had forgotten just how charming places like Cambridge are. It is truly beautiful. But England sure has changed since we lived here in the 1960s. Wow!

USNCO Camp - Air Force Academy

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:27:58 -0400

On June 3, twenty students came to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The day was windy and rainy, but everyone was anxious to begin our work.

The students spent the next 10 days hearing lectures, working in the laboratory and learning new skills, studying, and taking exams. It was a lot of work!

On June 13 we met at the Marriott Hotel for our final banquet, where the 6 finalists were announced. The next day 14 students went home, but the six finalists stayed on. They were treated to even more advanced lab work, to more sessions with Academy faculty, and even more examinations. In the end, four were chosen to compete at Cambridge as representatives of the 20-person U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad team.