| Chemists from the IEPA's Division of Laboratories
put a different spin on the concept of science as a career during the 1996 Chemagic Career
Conference sponsored by the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) last April at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
During the event, more than 3,500 students from 56 schools visited "hands-on"
exhibits and displays emphasizing the important role science plays in everyday life.
Representing the Illinois EPA were Janet Cruse, Michelle Rousey, Ron Turpin and David
Reed.
At the Illinois EPA display, students took part in experiments generating electrostatic
charges that crackled visibly between their fingers, used different kinds of scales to
weigh candy pieces that they then ate, saw technicians change the pH of water with the aid
of a "high tech magic wand," and guessed which discharges were hydrogen and
which were oxygen when water molecules were broken down to their component parts.
So successful was the display that Career Day organizers had to ask the Illinois EPA
technicians to briefly close down their exhibit on a couple of occasions, so they could
get the students into the nearby auditorium for the next part of the program.
"If the goal was to show these students that science isn't dull, our people did a
great job," said John Anderson, manager of the Division of Laboratories. "And
from what I've heard, they had as much fun as the kids." |
 Michelle Rousey waves her "magic
wand" as she prepares to change the pH of water at the Illinois EPA display during
CICI's annual Career Day.
 David Reed demonstrates a Wimshurst generator to create an electrostatic
charge.
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