IMSA Great Minds Program® Community Lecture to Feature Nobel Laureate

For Immediate Release, December 1999
For comment, contact Brenda Buschbacher at (630) 907-5033

(Media Advisory: The media are invited to attend the conference. Please call Brenda Buschbacher at 630-907-5033 by February 23 if you would like to attend. More information is available at wwwimsaedu/ncsssmst.)

MEDIA ADVISORY: Photography and videotape and audiotape recording of the lecture is permitted. If you would like to attend, please contact Brenda Buschbacher no later than January 4, 2000. Media will be required to wear an IMSA press badge (can be obtained at front desk).

AURORA-- Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Dr. Mario Molina will present The Science and Politics of Climate Change January 6, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. in the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy® (IMSA) auditorium. This lecture, as well as seminars and dialogues for Illinois educators and students, are sponsored by the IMSA Great Minds Program®.

Dr. Molina has been instrumental in developing our scientific understanding of the chemistry of the stratospheric ozone layer and its susceptibility to human-made disturbances. He was co-author with F. S. Rowland of the 1974 publication in the British magazine Nature, of their research on the threat to the ozone layer from cholrofluorocarbon (CFC) gases that were being used as propellants in spray cans, as refrigerants, as solvents, etc.

Dr. Molina currently teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and and serves on the President’s Committee of Advisors in Science and Technology, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology and on the boards of U.S.-Mexico Foundation of Science and other non-profit environmental organizations. He has received several awards for his scientific work, including the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry which he shared with Professors F.S. Rowland and P. Crutzen for their work in atmospheric chemistry.

Seating is limited and reservations are suggested. Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at (630) 907-5040. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors and free for students with an I.D.

The IMSA Great Minds Program® supports IMSA’s learning agenda by creating unique teaching and learning opportunities to help shape mathematics and science educational public policy in Illinois and the nation. The intellectual resources of the Great Minds Program are shared with students and teachers throughout Illinois and the nation through Seminars, Dialogues, Community Lectures and the IMSA Great Minds Program® website (http://webdb.imsa.edu/greatminds/).

Located in Aurora, Illinois, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy® (IMSA) is an internationally-recognized pioneering educational institution created by the State to develop talent and stimulate excellence in teaching and learning in mathematics, science and technology. IMSA's advanced residential college preparatory program enrolls 650 academically talented Illinois students in grades 10-12. More than 14,000 teachers and 20,000 students in Illinois and beyond have benefited from IMSA's professional development and enrichment programs. IMSA serves the people of Illinois through innovative instructional programs, public and private partnerships, policy leadership and action research.