30 years of sharing science
Forum continues to help local educators improve teaching

By JENNIFER LEWANDOWSKI
Reporter Contributor

In 1970, George Nancollas, then a young professor in the Department of Chemistry and provost of the former Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, took his idea to improve interaction between the university and educators throughout the area and developed a program that catered to sharing new developments in science, technology and mathematics.

Nancollas recognized a need to expose high-school teachers in the natural sciences and mathematics to a host of new and exciting developments in their fields.

Thirty years later, Nancollas is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and internationally known for his research on the physical chemistry of the interface between solids and liquids, and the mechanism of crystal growth and dissolution. But Nancollas, who also holds the Larkin Chair in the Department of Chemistry, seems to have only one question concerning the lengthy run of the Western New York Science and Technology Forum:

Why mess with a good thing?

"The reason I put it together was that I thought there should be much better relationships between the university and the teachers. The idea was to mount a program about talks and visits, and so on, that would expose the teachers to state-of-the-art developments in sciences that they then could pass on to their students," says Nancollas, who has remained director of the forum since its inception. "I felt that something was needed, and we had nothing in place."

The program, Nancollas points out, is about educating and enticing the teachers, who, he said, shouldn't have to know a lot about a subject in order to enjoy it. As an added benefit, the forum falls into line with the current New York State teaching curriculum, which encourages teachers to reach outside their areas of expertise for a broader perspective, he says.

The series, which runs each Wednesday from September through January, is open to the general public, as well as teachers.

"It's easy to blind people with science, and that's a complete waste of time," he notes. If the programs aren't easy to follow, he says, "you've lost them-they're not going to listen anyway, because they've been teaching all day, and they're tired."

Recognizing this, Nancollas each year looks for 16 speakers who can, over the course of the two-hour time slot allotted, bring something useful and interesting to the forum.

"Teachers are exposed to lots of speakers-many of who are from the university, and many who come from outside sources, such as industry," he says.

This year's 16-week Horizons of the Sciences series-as the forum is called in less formal circles-kicked off with a talk on global warming and its potential effects on weather by Charles H.V. Ebert, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the UB Department of Geography. Ebert, a steady fixture in the Horizons series, is one of the several faculty members Nancollas says have remained faithfully enthusiastic about the program.

"It's all based on the goodwill of the speakers," Nancollas says. "That's the strength. It could easily die" if not for the sustained enthusiasm of the faculty and teachers involved, he adds.

In its second week, the forum brought UB faculty members and area teachers to the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Field trips are as much a part of the series as its talks.

"It's not just seeing the garden," Nancollas points out-although participants did get a tour-noting that the talk was about the science of running and maintaining a garden. "It exposes them to various outside areas of expertise in a way that they understand."

This year's program also incorporates-as is common in past years-the social sciences and issues of public and regional interest. A Nov. 1 talk is planned on "The Development of Buffalo's Canal District," to be given by Tim Tielman, executive director of the Preservation Coalition in Buffalo. Later in the month, child psychologist Kenneth Condrell will address "School Discipline and School Safety."

"It's varied," Nancollas says of the program, which in the past has taken educators on a trip to the local morgue, the Buffalo Museum of Science, the Butterfly Conservatory in Ontario and the Buffalo Brewing Co. In addition, participants have viewed a film of an autopsy and listened to talks on such diverse issues as landmines, animal cloning, bird behavior, electrotherapy and DNA evidence.

The number of teacher participants has increased over the 30 years-the program initially was open to secondary educators only but has been extended to include elementary teachers as well. Nancollas can't remember a time when the forum wasn't well-received.

He says he has remained as director because "You've got to have someone who really believes in it and doggedly organizes it so that it becomes a success.

He is assisted by devoted faculty members-for the past five years, biology professor Stephen Free and geology professor Charles Mitchell have served as the forum's co-directors, a trend begun early on that has drawn a host of faculty members into the forum. Forum secretary Barbara Raff, who sends out between 200 and 300 letters each year publicizing the forum, is indispensable to its success, Nancollas says. Teachers help plan the forum in the summer months.

Laughingly calling himself a masochist for taking on multiple responsibilities, Nancollas says he never considered giving up his "baby" to anyone else's direction-or for good.

"It's nice to do things when you're appreciated," he says.