The Polymer Science of Everyday Things

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TECHNICAL AND NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT:This award provides partial support to a symposium titled "The Polymer Science of Everyday Things" including a half-day workshop for K-12 teachers. It will be held at the National ACS Meeting, Philadelphia PA, 19-20 August, 2012. The symposium and workshop will be focused on "Impact of Polymers in Energy Generation, Storage and Savings". NSF funds will be used primarily to facilitate attendance of K-12 teachers. Topics will include polymer insulation, energy reflecting paints, energy efficient lighting, as well as applications of polymers in energy generation including batteries and photovoltaics.Teachers teaching teachers about the applications of polymers is a primary goal of this workshop and symposium. With this objective, broader impacts are achieved by presentations to high school teachers of information readily incorporated in their courses. As such, maximum leverage for information transfer is achieved by the student multiplication factor. For the workshop four speakers are planned, including two industrial experts and two Polymer Ambassadors (who are teachers specially trained in polymer science).