NEWS

Lee Marek will show off his chemistry talents at the Louisiana Tech University Science Seminar and a presentation for the Ouachita Valley Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) on Thursday, April 11 in Carson-Taylor Hall 328.

Marek, chemical demonstrator and lecturer with the University of Illinois, made more than 30 appearances on The David Letterman Show, and is a well-known chemistry coach. In addition to his own appearances on Letterman, Marek has trained and chaperoned middle school and high school students as they did their own chemistry demonstrations on the show.

Marek will perform live demos and show clips of students on the Letterman Show for the Science Seminar at 4 p.m. He will perform more demos for the ACS presentation at 7 p.m., share his experiences with David Letterman and discuss how to demonstrate chemistry on late night television. Refreshments for the Science Seminar will be served beginning at 3:30. Pizza will be served before the ACS presentation, beginning at 6:30.

Dr. William Deese, a professor of chemistry at Louisiana Tech, says that he is pleased to have organized these talks.

“I met Lee Marek at a chemical education conference about 25 years ago,” Deese said. “He and I became good friends, mainly because we shared a common passion, chemistry demonstrations. We are excited to have Lee here Thursday to share his experiences in doing science on late night television.”

Marek is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for teaching excellence, including the Helen Free Award for Public Outreach, which was awarded by the ACS.

Marek has led or co-directed more than 600 workshops and programs for teachers, students and the general public. Marek has a BS in Chemical Engineering, an MS in Physics and another MS in Chemistry. Marek has a strong interest in the history of chemistry and has traveled extensively in Europe where he has been the co-leader of numerous history of science tours for teachers.

His students have won numerous awards and many were selected as National Chemistry Olympiad participants and Westinghouse National Talent Search finalists.

Both the Science Seminar and the ACS presentation are free and open to the public.