Chemistry

Maryland's brief flirtation with Arizona men's basketball coach Sean Miller didn't end because it was outbid, according to multiple sources who said Wednesday that there was more to it than money. Miller and Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson met Saturday at a Las Vegas hotel to explore the possibility that Miller — who led the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament's West Regional final — might be hired to replace the retiring Gary Williams. Late Saturday night, Arizona said Miller was signing a contract extension to remain with the school.

Joe Flacco took a couple of steps to his right, spotted Ed Dickson about 10 yards down the field and lofted a pass between two defenders that the young tight end hauled in. After Dickson was touched down and the Ravens' offense retreated back to the line of scrimmage, Flacco yelled out a play that ended with his other primary tight end, Dennis Pitta, making a catch along the left sideline. Flacco wore a red jersey, black gym shorts and no shoulder pads, and his notoriously calm demeanor, which earned him the nickname "Joe Cool," was even more casual than usual.

In the eight consecutive starts that Torrey Smith has made, it's clear that his speed has helped the rookie wide receiver connect with quarterback Joe Flacco. After all, Smith ranks second to the Cincinnati Bengals' A.J. Green in receiving yards by a rookie, and Smith leads the Ravens in receiving touchdowns with five. But could Flacco's chemistry with Smith impact his relationship with Lee Evans, Smith's predecessor who returned on Sunday after a seven-game absence because of a left ankle injury?

"Better Living Through Chemistry," an independent movie about a pharmacist's life unraveling after he starts an affair with a trophy-wife customer, will film for five weeks in Maryland starting this month, Governor Martin O'Malley announced Thursday. The cast includes Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan and Sam Rockwell — TV and independent-film stars with wide mainstream-movie credits including blockbusters like "Tron: Legacy" (Wilde), "Mission: Impossible 3" (Monaghan), and "Iron Man 2" (Rockwell)

When the Ravens signed left tackle Bryant McKinnie on Aug. 24, then added center Andre Gurode on Sept. 5, the moves confirmed a sense of flux and uncertainty for the offensive line. But after a regular season in which the offensive line helped the offense finish the regular season ranked 10th in the NFL in rushing (1,996 yards), tied for 10 th in rushing touchdowns (15), and tied for 12th in sacks allowed, starting tackles McKinnie and Michael Oher, starting guards Marshal Yanda and Ben Grubbs, starting center Matt Birk and Gurode have found a comfort level with one another and within the team's zone-blocking scheme.

Nia Alleyne is a critical cog in No. 2 Aberdeen's run to the state tournament as it goes for its first state title beginning with Thursday's semifinal vs. Largo at UMBC. Averaging 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals, the 5-foot-8 junior can play any forward or guard position. Alleyne, 17, is as strong in the classroom as she is on the court. Enrolled in Aberdeen's challenging Science and Mathematics Academy, she maintains a 3.4 GPA and plans to become a pharmacist. She plays Amateur Athletic Union basketball for the Baltimore Cougars and runs cross country and track for the Eagles.

Linda Sweeting, a Towson University chemistry professor who studied why wintergreen candies glow in the dark when chewed, died Sept. 28 of a heart attack at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Towson resident was 61. A teacher of organic chemistry for the past 33 years, she researched the phenomenon of triboluminescence, the emission of light when a crystal is crushed. She also wrote and spoke widely about professional ethics for scientists. Born in Toronto, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Toronto and her doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

COLLEGE PARK -- In the old days at the University of Maryland, an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory was one of the most unloved places on campus.There were foul odors, flaming Bunsen burners, fragile glassware, roaring fume hoods and unsteady bottles of noxious chemicals that could dissolve a careless student's sneakers and quickly reduce a cotton lab coat to tatters.Today? Through a quiet revolution known as "micro-scale" chemistry, students are conducting experiments with down-sized equipment and tiny samples that dramatically reduce accident risk, fumes and hazardous waste, plus the expense of buying and storing chemicals.

Dr. David Webb Herlocker, former chairman of the chemistry department at what is now McDaniel College and an avid walker, died of heart failure Friday at his Westminster home. He was 67. Dr. Herlocker was born in Chicago and raised in Peoria, Ill. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1962 from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., where he had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a master's degree in chemistry in 1964, and his doctorate in inorganic chemistry in 1966, both from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

No one knows sports from the inside the way Calvin Hill does.Hill, who will be the speaker at the 30th annual Scholar-Athlete banquet at Martin's West tomorrow night, has been deeply involved in this country's three biggest sports: football, basketball and baseball.There are people who know more about football than Calvin. There are people who know more about basketball and baseball.But no one has seen all three from the inside the way Hill has.Calvin is best known as a football player. He was a star running back at Yale when the Ivy League was still drawing 60,000 to games -- and was still good enough to produce NFL players.

After opening the season with four consecutive wins, No. 12 North Carolina has sustained losses to a pair of unranked teams in Lehigh (now No. 15) on Saturday and Penn on Tuesday. The trend is slightly alarming for a team expected to contend for a national championship after featuring a pair of celebrated transfers in attackmen Jack McBride (Princeton) and Davey Emala (Georgetown), but coach Joe Breschi said team morale has not changed. “I'd say the biggest thing for us is continuing to find out where the pieces fit,” he said.

Philip and Robin Simmonds of Lutherville, announce the engagement of their daughter, Lisa Ann Simmonds, to Timothy Fallon, son of Thomas and Barbara Fallon of Sparks. The bride is a graduate of York College of Pennsylvania. She is currently employed in the field of chemistry at Nutramax Laboratories in Harford County. The groom is a graduate of Towson University. He is currently employed in the field of chemistry at Pharmaceutical International Inc. in Hunt Valley. The couple is planning a June wedding at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

John William Gryder, who taught chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University for 40 years and was a civil rights activist, died Jan. 26 of complications from dementia at Roland Park Place. He was 85. The son of a Pacific Electric streetcar motorman and a homemaker, he was born and raised in Pasadena, Calif. He was 16 when he enrolled at the California Institute of Technology and was 22 when he earned his doctorate in chemistry from Columbia University in 1948. Dr. Gryder joined the faculty at Hopkins in 1948.

When the Ravens signed left tackle Bryant McKinnie on Aug. 24, then added center Andre Gurode on Sept. 5, the moves confirmed a sense of flux and uncertainty for the offensive line. But after a regular season in which the offensive line helped the offense finish the regular season ranked 10th in the NFL in rushing (1,996 yards), tied for 10 th in rushing touchdowns (15), and tied for 12th in sacks allowed, starting tackles McKinnie and Michael Oher, starting guards Marshal Yanda and Ben Grubbs, starting center Matt Birk and Gurode have found a comfort level with one another and within the team's zone-blocking scheme.

Who says sitting in the back of a packed lecture hall trying to absorb the intricacies of trigonometric functions or the chemistry of organic molecules is the only way to teach aspiring young scientists the tools of their trade? Well, tradition mostly. That's how generations of undergraduate math and science students were trained, and for a long time the system seemed to work. But there was always a downside to the method: Far too many of those budding Einsteins and Edisons never made it past Chemistry 101. Discouraged by the impersonal formality and isolation of a hard sciences education, they dropped out to pursue less abstruse fields of study.

Bill LaCourse felt inadequate. Some of his Chemistry 101 students sat in the back of the lecture hall and spaced out. Others simply left class as they pleased. "Maybe you're just not a good teacher," his department head said when LaCourse sought advice. His ego would not tolerate that as a final answer. So the University of Maryland, Baltimore County professor decided to put up a fight. If he couldn't make the class work in a traditional lecture format, the format would have to change.

This is weird to say, but the biggest challenge to date for the defending national champions might come tonight against a sub-.500 team. When you glance over the Maryland women's basketball schedule, Loyola might not look like much. It's one of those games in which as long as the Terps stay in their own lane, they should be able to cruise to an easy win. But tonight we'll see the start of a chemistry experiment that Terps coach Brenda Frese has been planning for the past year. She's going to introduce a couple of droplets of a brand-new substance to what was already a nearly perfect mixture and watch as the rest of the country holds its breath waiting for an explosion.

Lichun Walls, who taught biochemistry at Morgan State University for 28 years and researched the AIDS virus, died Monday of a melanoma cancer at her Towson home. She was 62. Born Lichun Han in Guizhou, China, and raised in Taiwan, she earned a degree in agricultural chemistry from Taiwan University in 1962. She had a master's degree from Vanderbilt University and a doctorate from Tufts University. She also studied at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Walls became a U.S. citizen in 1971 and moved to Baltimore four years later.

In the eight consecutive starts that Torrey Smith has made, it's clear that his speed has helped the rookie wide receiver connect with quarterback Joe Flacco. After all, Smith ranks second to the Cincinnati Bengals' A.J. Green in receiving yards by a rookie, and Smith leads the Ravens in receiving touchdowns with five. But could Flacco's chemistry with Smith impact his relationship with Lee Evans, Smith's predecessor who returned on Sunday after a seven-game absence because of a left ankle injury?

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