Time and Money

ASEE Prism, Summer 2008 by Home-Douglas, Pierre

CHEMICALS

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT. The old adage is being put to use at the University of British Columbia, where a Chemical Exchange Database (CED) helps engineers and scientists find chemicals that were bought by the university but never completely used. Whether seeking quantities of methylimidazole or orthophosphoric acid, researchers can purchase them through CED, which provides storage for surplus chemicals from numerous on-campus laboratories. Established in 2004 by Burdena Shea and Andre Liem of UBC's Health Research Resource Office,CED lists more than 200 substances. Not only does it save researchers money, but, says Ph.D. candidate Jonathan Chong, "It is faster than submitting a purchase order and waiting for chemicals to be shipped."-PIERRE HOME-DOUGLAS

PIERRE HOME-DOUGLAS, who regularly contributes features, profiles and briefings to Prism, is a freelance writer and editor based in Montreal. Previously, he worked as a senior book editor for 13 years at St. Remy Press in Montreal. There, he edited more than 50 books, including four for a family science series published by Discovery Channel and two for Time-Life's How Things Work series. He has also written chapters in seven books including The Old West, which was chosen as a Literary Guild Main Selection.