Award Address (George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education, sponsored by Rohm and Haas Company). Purpose of the Molecular Frontiers Foundation

CHED 1452

Richard N. Zare, zare@stanford.edu, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5080
I will describe the launching of the American part of Molecular Frontiers Foundation for encouraging youth to become interested in the molecular sciences. We are developing a website, named MoleClues (www.moleclues.org), which will host an exciting on-line community that gives a molecular perspective to everyday situations. With the prospect of winning prizes and travel awards to meetings with Nobel laureates and other outstanding scientists, MoleClues invites youth from all backgrounds to submit questions about molecular science. Several features make this project unique: (1) the emphasis on curiosity and on problem setting rather than problem solving; (2) the direct exchange between aspiring young scientists and the dedicated members of the eminent scientific advisory board, which includes eight Nobel laureates; (3) the open, non-elite, and international character; (4) the exchange between teenagers and dedicated mentors, allowing guided dialogues to develop; and (5) the use of every-day life situations to discover science.