Ok, here's how an artist gets to go to be a guest speaker for a chemistry department:
As anyone who knows me well knows, I am no shy violet; nope, I'm more like a curious monkey. Or a magpie. If it's shiny or if it gets my curiosity going, well, I have been known to make mad right turns....
I transferred into Portland State University from a semester system and they're a quarter system. so that caused a wee bit of a discrepancy in the credits that I needed; it turned out that I needed half a credit in Chemistry. I'm a professional artist going to get a psych degree, so I'm totally there for the half a credit and the marvelous cookies, not so much for the actual presentations. Most of those went over my head.
But there was this one presentation....
From LSU, Dr. John Pojman, the director of the Chem department (I'm totally positive that's what it says in the signature at the end of his email) came to show us his current work in polymers for adhesive purposes. Interesting, my ears perk up.
Then he started the presentation, with film clips of these magical substances. My mouth fell open, the cookies almost forgotten!
Before my wondering eyes fantastic textures unfolded. Textures and the ability to bond this to that.
I hear you all rolling your eyes...get on with it, Colleen! OK, OK!
This stuff allows one to apply heat to it which allows one to bond plastic to wood, and to embed glass bits and other cool stuff.
Now all the good Doc is seeing is industrial applications. Not me. Oh no. I'm seeing panels covered in wonderful, crazy cool textures that one touches with the torch and this really cool reaction, the propogation front, marches across the stuff that was applied to the surfaces.
At the end of the presentation, when it was Q & A time, my hand shot up in the air!!
I had one question "Have you thought of art supplies for these wondrous things? I would love to have some of this! I have a problem I've been trying to solve and this is the answer."
He looked at me in surprise and said no, he had not and did I have time to discuss this after the presentation?
Yup, I sure did, and I am VERY happy that I did!
So now I'm off to talk to grad students and some other pretty important sounding folks! I gotta get out my top hat and brush my bowler hat off!! Now for some Mad Scientist goggles for the demo part. did I mention the demo part? Oh yeah...hot wax and torches, in the land of my foremothers on my maternal side!
Hot damn!
What to pack?
Art supplies, camera, torches, batteries, top hat, shoes would be good....I should probably put some clothes in there, too...and my faithful laptop as well as my Droid.
I'm gonna have a bourbon on Bourbon St, then some pecan pralines and some file gumbo!
I'm so freakin' excited!!!
Will post updates! ;]
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