The MolySym Corporation, with support from the US Department of Education, is offering a two-week online professional development program for in-service and pre-service high school chemistry teachers. The use of computational tools for 21st Century science will be the context, with a particular focus on medicinal chemistry and the computational aspects of molecular-level chemistry.  It is an opportunity to learn effective and creative ways to teach chemistry using computer visualization tools, and inquiry-based activities that enhance high school chemistry courses and meet learning standards.

The course is FREE.  In addition, participants will receive a FREE laptop and computational chemistry software.  Participants who successfully complete the course may keep the laptop and software at no cost.

To apply, please click HERE to complete the application.  Applications will be accepted until July 15, 2010.  Accepted participants will be notified on July 16, 2010.  The class starts August 7, 2010.

Online Course Overview:

In Drug Design and Development, students learn principles that govern the process of modern drug discovery and development. Students will follow a path similar to that taken by professional drug developers by learning important elements of the drug design process in a logical order. Some topics that we focus more extensively on are:

==> Principles of molecular recognition
==> Mechanism of enzymes and enzyme inhibition
==> Structure based drug design: Docking

Instructor:

Dr. S. Tiffany Donaldson will be the instructor for the course. She is a Psychopharmacologist with 15 years of experience teaching undergraduate and graduate students in Drug Design and Development in a variety of courses ranging from “Psychopharmacology”, “Substance Abuse and the Brain”, “Physiological Psychology” and “Behavioral Neuroscience” at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, Boston University Medical School and Northeastern University. In 2004 she was awarded the President’s Public Service Award, for her dedication to initiatives that promote math and science education, including the Summer Science Literacy Camp in Dorchester which she runs in collaboration with the Boston Public Schools and which has educated over 350 elementary-age inner-city children since 1997.

Commitment:

Orientation – Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 3p – 5p
Class – Monday, August 9 – Monday, August 30

Everyday starting August 9th, you should log into the course at a time convenient to you (there is no fixed time during the day, to complete lessons). Be prepared to spend up to 2 hours per day completing course work. You are expected to read through that particular day’s lesson, listen to the lecture, solve the examples / assignments given in that lesson. Then attempt the quiz (if any) pertaining to that lesson and finally the exercises. If at any time you are stuck, just post your questions in the relevant forum thread of that lesson. There is one teacher and 3 assistant teachers to help solve your queries and problems.

You must participate in the forum(s) by asking and answering questions or starting discussions. You will learn best by being an active participant: sharing knowledge, and exchanging ideas. Participants are strongly encouraged to post technical questions, interesting articles, tools, or anything that is relevant to the class / lesson.

Benefits:

Participants who are accepted into the Institute will receive the following intrinsic and extrinsic benefits:
• Extended, in-depth content instruction from experts in the field.
• Access to computational tools, resources, and technical support.
• Laptop that you may keep at no cost on successful completion of the PD
• 1-year subscription to SciTecMed (MolySym’s Online Learning Platform)

About MolySym:

MolySym is a provider of advanced technology solutions for research, training and education located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a cross-section of talent from the Department of Chemistry, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the Computational Systems Biology Initiative, and the Media Laboratory.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Patent Issued for the MolySym Corporation’s Hyper Molecular Modeling System

The MolySym Corporation, a provider of advanced technology solutions for research, training and education, was issued Patent No. 7,558,707, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Integrating a Physical Molecular Model with a Computer-Based Visualization and Simulation Model”, by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 7, 2009 – MolySym (www.molysym.com) today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent number 7,558,707 for its Hyper Molecular Modeling System. The Hyper Molecular Modeling System is a novel multimodal molecular modeling kit that creates a seamless interface between a hand held physical ball-and-stick molecular model and a computer generated virtual molecular model. Hyper Molecular Models or “hypermodels” blend multiple modalities (tactile, force, audio, and visual), thereby improving a student’s understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological changes that occur on the molecular level.

The patent, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Integrating a Physical Molecular Model with a Computer-Based Visualization and Simulation Model”, is a significant validation of the Company’s business strategy to obtain broad, worldwide protection of its advanced technologies and intellectual property.  Woody Sherman, founder and President of MolySym commented, “We are very pleased with the progress being made toward the commercial offering of Hypermodels. Gaining protection on our intellectual property is an important step in the process.  Hypermodeling will play a critical role in advancing the level of science education in secondary and post secondary schools, making learning fundamental physical chemistry principles easy to understand and accessible to all students.  This lays the foundation for growing industries such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials science, green chemistry, and other chemistry-related areas. Hypermodeling will change the way students learn chemistry and improve the general level of chemistry education.”

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program in the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, provides funding for the research and development behind the Hyper Molecular Modeling System.  Keith Donaldson, the CEO of the MolySym Corporation, said, “If we wish to invest our students with grounding in science and an understanding of the way the world works in the hope that it will make them better citizens of the 21st century, grounding in chemistry and its impact on our lives are a critical part of that understanding.  For the United States to maintain its scientific and technological leadership, the chemical sciences must attract the very best minds, which means recruiting more women and minorities and revising undergraduate and high school curriculums to make chemistry more appealing to students with a variety of interests and learning styles.”

MolySym’s flagship product, the Hyper Molecular Modeling System, improves students’ understanding of physical, chemical, and biological changes that occur on the molecular level by coupling a tactile representation of a molecule to the underlying digital information contained in a computer-generated virtual molecule. By enabling students to get their hands on the subject matter and to work in multiple modalities, MolySym’s technology promotes a deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of molecular systems. Integrating Hypermodeling into the standard science curriculum will allow educators to capture students’ interest and provide a rich appreciation and understanding of fundamental scientific principles, thereby nurturing the scientists and entrepreneurs of the future.

For additional information on MolySym and Hyper Molecular Modeling, contact Keith Donaldson or visit www.molysym.com.

ABOUT MOLYSYM CORPORATION:

MolySym is provider of advanced technology solutions for molecular-level research, training, and education. The company, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a cross-section of talent from the Department of Chemistry, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the Computational Systems Biology Initiative, and the Media Laboratory. MolySym is dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies to improve Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

CONTACT:

Keith Donaldson, Principal Investigator & CEO
MolySym Corporation

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Bay State Banner (04/30/09) Sandra Larson.

Keith Donaldson, CEO and principal investigator of the Cambridge-based technology company MolySym (left), talks with senior software engineer Marius Vilkas. After a decade of alternating between teaching jobs, graduate studies and high-tech entrepreneurial ventures, Donaldson, 33, is now trying to change the way chemistry is taught to students, inspiring them to pursue math and science.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Former Boston Public School Teacher is Changing the Way Chemistry is Taught

By changing the way we teach introductory science courses from elementary school through college, we can attract many more talented students to science careers. Former Boston Public School teacher, Keith Donaldson, is the CEO of the MolySym Corporation, an MIT start-up that develops technology for molecular education. This summer, MolySym will introduce its Hyper Molecular Modeling technology at the Molecular Literacy Institute, a summer enrichment program for Boston-area high school students.

Boston, Massachusetts, March 25, 2009 – Keith Donaldson, is a former Boston Public School teacher who specialized in teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  He is now the CEO of MolySym (www.molysym.com), an MIT start-up that is developing advanced technology for molecular education that is changing the way Chemistry is taught.

Tragically, the present system of education in the United States rarely gives young people a chance to test their potential abilities as future scientists. In particular, very few students are exposed to science curricula that allow them to explore the world in the way that scientists do.  This is especially true for underserved and disadvantaged youth. Instead, science education in the US—from elementary school through college—usually focuses on helping students absorb what scientists have already discovered about the world.

MolySym is changing the current state of affairs in Chemistry education. The company’s Hyper Molecular Modeling technology is designed to give students a fundamental understanding of what is happening at the molecular level.  The technology allows you “see” what a molecule sees and “feel” what a molecule feels. This hands-on, interactive learning environment will prepare them for the challenge of high school Chemistry and beyond.

Today, work in the chemical sciences is crossing over into other fields, such as biology, nanotechnology, and computer science. More than 1 million new chemical compounds are created every year, with many still yet to be developed. The chemical sciences are at the forefront of efforts to find new energy sources, improve the environment, design new materials, detect terrorist threats, create new drugs, and better understand how human cells work.

If the United States is to maintain its scientific and technological leadership in the chemical sciences, the field must attract the very best minds, which means recruiting more women and minorities and revising undergraduate, high school and elementary curricula to make chemistry more appealing to students with a variety of interests.  To this end, MolySym will be introducing its educational technology to students for the first time at the Molecular Literacy Institute.

“I had the opportunity to teach many talented students during my tenure as a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, unfortunately I did not have the tools to maximize that opportunity.  Different people have different sets of skills and ways of learning.  The tools and curriculum available to me at that time did not reflect those differences. Our education system should provide all students with the opportunity to discover both what their particular abilities are and what types of work they might enjoy as adults.  At MolySym our aim is to make chemistry accessible to all,” said Keith Donaldson.  Dr. Patrick Gordon, the Lead Teacher of the Molecular Literacy Institute agrees, “We need to help all students develop higher-order critical thinking skills and use them effectively in the sciences.  The Molecular Literacy Institute will help underserved and disadvantaged high school students gain a fundamental understanding of chemistry, develop computational chemistry skills, and build confidence in themselves as learners.”

The Molecular Literacy Institute is a summer enrichment program for Boston-area high school students who will be taking Chemistry during the upcoming school year. The Institute is an intensive two-week course to be taught by high school teachers, university faculty and graduate students in Chemistry. It will run from August 3 through August 14 at Boston Trinity Academy in Hyde Park.

For additional information on MolySym, Hyper Molecular Modeling and the Molecular Literacy Institute, contact Keith Donaldson or visit www.molysym.com.

ABOUT MOLYSYM CORPORATION:
MolySym is provider of advanced technology solutions for molecular research, training and education located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a cross-section of talent from the Department of Chemistry, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the Computational Systems Biology Initiative, and the Media Laboratory. We are dedicated to using emerging technologies to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

CONTACT:
Keith Donaldson, Principal Investigator & CEO
MolySym Corporation
Voice:         617-273-2523
Facsimile:  617-273-2435
Email:        keith.donaldson@molysym.com
Website:    www.molysym.com

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