About the Author

John C. Kotz is an emeritus State University of New York Distinguished Teaching Professor at the College at Oneonta. Educated at Washington and Lee University and Cornell University, he held National Institutes of Health postdoctoral appointments at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology in England and at Indiana University. Professor Kotz has co-authored three textbooks in several editions - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY, CHEMISTRY & CHEMICAL REACTIVITY, and THE CHEMICAL WORLD - along with the INTERACTIVE GENERAL CHEMISTRY CD-ROM. He also has published research on inorganic chemistry and electrochemistry. He was a Fulbright Lecturer and Research Scholar in Portugal in 1979 and a visiting professor there in 1992, as well as a visiting professor at the Institute for Chemical Education (University of Wisconsin, 1991-1992), at Auckland University in New Zealand (1999), and at Northwest University in South Africa (2006). He has been an invited speaker on education at conferences in Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, and New Zealand. He was recently a mentor for the U.S. Chemistry Olympiad Team. Professor Kotz has received several honors, among them a State University of New York Chancellor's Award (1979), a National Catalyst Award for Excellence in Teaching (1992), the Estee Lectureship in Chemical Education at the University of South Dakota (1998), the Visiting Scientist Award from the Western Connecticut Section of the American Chemical Society (1999), and the first annual Distinguished Education Award from the Binghamton (New York) Section of the American Chemical Society (2001). His email address is johnkotz@mac.com. Paul M. Treichel, received his B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1958 and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1962. After a year of postdoctoral study in London, he assumed a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served as department chair from 1986 through 1995, He was awarded a Helfaer Professorship in 1996 and a departmental excellence in teaching award in 2006. He has held visiting faculty positions in South Africa (1975) and in Japan (1995). Retiring after 44 years as a faculty member in 2007, he is currently Emeritus Professor of Chemistry. During his faculty career he taught courses in general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and scientific ethics. Professor Treichel's research in organometallic and metal cluster chemistry and in mass spectrometry, aided by 75 graduate and undergraduate students, has led to more than 170 papers in scientific journals. He may be contacted by email at treichelpaul@me.com. John R. Townsend, Professor of Chemistry at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, completed his B.A. in Chemistry as well as the Approved Program for Teacher Certification at the University of Delaware. After a career teaching high school science and mathematics, he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry at Cornell University, where he also received the DuPont Teaching Award for his work as a teaching assistant. After teaching at Bloomsburg University as a temporary instructor for two years, he joined the faculty at West Chester University, where he has taught courses in general chemistry, biochemistry, and the history of chemistry. He coordinates the chemistry education program for prospective high school teachers and the general chemistry lecture program for science majors. He has been the university supervisor for more than 70 prospective high school chemistry teachers during their student teaching semester. His research interests are in the fields of chemical education and biochemistry. He may be contacted by email at jtownsend@wcupa.edu.