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Science 360: Today's Chemistry, Tomorrow's Fuels
How would your life change without oil? Could you get to work, school, or soccer practice? How would the things you buy be transported to stores? Oil is a limited resource, and scientists are working hard to come up with alternative sources of fuel.
| Educator Resource Kit |
In Science 360: Today’s Chemistry, Tomorrow’s Fuels, you will meet a chemist working at UNC-Chapel Hill to improve a method of synthesizing diesel fuel called the Fischer-Tropsch process. Then you will explore the chemistry of fuels, the action of catalysts, and even participate as a reactant in a chemical reaction. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Below, Morehead educator Adam Miller presents Science 360: Today's Chemistry, Tomorrow's Fuels on video. For a fully interactive experience, see this show live at MPSC! Click here for the public show schedule.
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Meet chemists at the University of North Carolina
| Dr. Maurice Brookhart |
Dr. Maurice Brookhart is the W. R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Brookhart is an award-winning organometallic chemist in the field of catalysis. His research is featured in Science 360: Today's Chemistry, Tomorrow's Fuels.
As a boy living in a tiny town in the Appalachian mountains, Dr. Brookhart enjoyed making rockets and setting off explosions. As an adult, he and his students experience the thrill of discovery in his laboratory. Listen below to hear Dr. Brookhart talk about his childhood and current research and to hear him explain what catalysts are and why they are important to our everyday lives.
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| Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby |
Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby is the Gordon and Bowman Gray Distinguished Term Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Ashby is a polymer chemist. The American Chemical Society honored her in 2002 as one of the top 12 young female chemists in the country. In 2008, Dr. Ashby won UNC's Sitterson Award for freshman teaching.
Listen below to hear Dr. Ashby explain why anyone who wears contact lenses or tennis shoes should care about polymer chemistry, why she loves her job, and what advice she gives to students who like puzzles and solving problems.
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| Dr. Matthew Redinbo |
Dr. Matthew Redinbo is Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Redinbo's specialty is structural biology. In 2007, he founded Exigent Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Listen below to hear Dr. Redinbo explain his lab’s efforts to understand at the atomic level how life works and how his research can improve our lives by helping us understand cancer, addiction, and antibiotic resistance.
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Funding for this program is provided by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.
| Seasonal schedules |
Morehead offers seasonal schedules of Science 360 shows to the public. Follow this link to see the current schedule of public shows at Morehead.
Please note that seasonal schedules change four times each year (spring, summer, fall and holiday), and some shows are not offered during every schedule.
| School shows |
In addition to its public shows, Morehead offers shows during the week especially for school classes and other field trip groups. These school shows do not appear on the seasonal schedule but do appear on Morehead's daily calendar.
If seats are available, the public may purchase tickets to school shows.
However, school groups with reserved seating have first priority on any remaining seats (for example, if extra chaperons attend), so Morehead cannot guarantee that public seats will be available for school shows.
