Susquehanna Valley Section

May 2008 Meeting

Three hundred and seventy-seventh meeting of the American Chemical Society Susquehanna Valley Section will be our Annual Awards Banquet which will be held on Wednesday, 7 May 2008. With the presentation of various local section awards, the Annual Awards Banquet recognizes both aspiring and accomplished chemistry professionals in the area who have helped to promote chemistry, the chemical professions, and the section. This year's meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Kehr Union Building on the Bloomsburg University campus. The speaker will be Dr. Karen Castle who will present a talk entitled "Greenhouse Cooling? : Using Earth's Upper Atmosphere to Track Climate Change".

Directions: see below.

Dinner: Dinner will be a buffet-style with a selection of entrees, side dishes, salad and dessert. The cost will be $20. Please RSVP Sharlene Pollock by email (spollock@bloomu.edu) or phone (570) 389-5159 by 4:00 PM on Monday, 5 May 2008.

Joseph Priestley Service Award: The Section established the Joseph Priestley Service Award to recognize outstanding community involvement and outreach activities within our section membership. Mr. Roderic Moore will be receiving the Joseph Priestley Service Award presented by Ron Blatchley.

Greenhouse Cooling? : Using Earth's Upper Atmosphere to Track Climate Change
Most people are familiar with the warming trend that results from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the troposphere (the 20 km layer of the atmosphere in contact with Earth's surface.) Until fairly recently the effects of increased greenhouse gases on the upper atmosphere have received little attention. There is now clear evidence that the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) between 75-125 km altitudes have cooled significantly over the past 30 years due to cooling mechanisms of the trace species CO₂ and NO. In general, the temperature and density structure of the MLT is incredibly sensitive to small changes in chemical and dynamical processes occurring at lower altitudes. Closely monitoring the MLT could be one of the most sensitive indicators of global, long-term variations in climate. Since modeling this region of the atmosphere is far from simple, experiments that help reduce uncertainty in key kinetic parameters are crucial. My research group works to better understand and quantify some of the most important cooling and heating mechanisms in the MLT, such as vibrational energy transfer in CO₂-O and O₃-O collisions.

Biography: Dr. Karen J. Castle received her BS in chemistry from the University of California at Irvine in 1996. Her graduate work was done at Oregon State University where she completed her Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 2000. As Dr. Wei Kong's first doctoral student, she studied the photochemistry of molecules oriented with a strong uniform electric field. Dr. Castle went on to receive a National Research Council Postdoctoral Associateship at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA where she studied hydrocarbon - atomic oxygen interactions in the lab of Dr. James Dodd. She began her current tenure-track appointment at Bucknell University in 2002. Dr. Castle's current research interests are in using laser spectroscopy to measure the kinetics of important cooling and heating mechanisms in Earth's upper atmosphere. The Castle research group is part of the support team for NASA's ongoing SABER/TIMED mission.

Directions:

East of Bloomsburg: Use I-80 west to Exit 236A south.
West of Bloomsburg: Use I-80 east to Exit 236 south.
South of Bloomsburg:
From Central Pennsylvania, take Routes 11 and 15 north to the Town of Bloomsburg. Heading north on Main Street, you'll see Carver Hall directly ahead, and you'll arrive on the western end of the campus.
From southeast Pennsylvania, take Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-476) to I-80 west (Pocono Exit) to Exit 236A south.
North of Bloomsburg:
From the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, take I-81 south to I-80 west to Exit 236A south.
From the Williamsport area, take I-180 south to I-80 east to Exit 236.

From Exit 236 on I-80, take Route 487 south and follow signs to campus, approximately one mile. You'll arrive on the eastern end of campus. The first sign on the left will be at Buckingham Maintenance Center; the second sign on the left will lead up a steep entry and onto campus facing Centennial Hall.

Attendees can park anywhere on campus after 5:00, except in the metered parking on Second St. (meters are active until 2 am). It is suggested that attendees may find it convenient to park in the parking garage on the corner of Penn St. and Second St.
If you park in the parking garage you will be looking at Carver Hall (large gold dome). Kehr Union is situated behind Carver and the Scranton Commons.

The Bloomsburg University web site has more information on directions and also a campus map.