Who Am I?????
I am a chemistry professor at Hillsborough Community College. I teach Modern Chemistry, and College Chemistry I and II, and Organic Chemistry, as well as the labs that correspond to those courses. I teach at the Ybor City Campus.
CLASS HANDOUTS:
Syllabi: If you are a student in any of my classes, you can go to this page to download copies of my syllabi or check my office hours. (Syllabi for DR. ISHAK’S LABS at Ybor are also at this site!)
Lectures: You can go to this page to download copies of the sample exams and other class handouts. (for ALL of my lectures)
Lab: You can go to this page to download copies of the lab assignments. (for ALL of my labs)
I live in St. Petersburg, FL with my wife, Maureen (here's a photo of us) and my 15-year-old daughter, Emma. If you're REALLY interested in looking at tons of photos of my adorable daughter, check out my photo gallery, which includes some vacation photos.
What am I
interested in?
Many things, such as:
Ceramics: I am an amateur potter,
and I have a small studio at my house. I mostly throw, but do some
hand-building, also. (When I say I 'THROW', that doesn't mean that I toss the clay
at the wall; THROWING is the verb used to describe building a vessel on the
potter's wheel). I mostly use earthenware and porcelain clay bodies for my
pieces. This is an unusual combination, because the earthenware clay I prefer
is very porous, gritty and dark, while porcelain is extremely smooth (almost
glassy), having no grit at all, and is pure white. I've chosen practically
opposite ends of the spectrum for my two preferred clay bodies, but these are
the two I've always liked best!
I mostly make bowls and vases (naturally), but lately I've been interested in some new ideas, including some hand-built African-looking masks and I'm currently trying to work up some pieces that could be used as drum bodies, because I have a friend who is a drum maker.
If you are interested in seeing some of my pieces, click here to go to my ceramics page.
I also have some images of the production of my pieces on this page: Page One, Page Two, or Page Three. (if you want to learn more about the process of throwing).
Because I'm interested in making
drums, I was naturally interested in the Burnt Earth site. This is
a beautiful site, operated by a ceramicist who makes all kinds of unusual
musical instruments from stoneware, including drums, dijeridu, tuned percussion
instruments and even stringed instruments. The site also includes .au and .wav
files of the instruments being played, and you can purchase instruments from
the site.
A good general information site is ClayNet, which
includes rotating exhibitions and all sorts of information about throwing,
handbuilding and coloration techniques.
Music: I love all kinds of music,
and have been a music fan and collector for many years. My CD collection is now
available for viewing….
You
may view my music collection here (OK, it hasn't been updated in a long time)
You can also visit the home pages of two of the most interesting bands
you've never heard of:
Gentle Giant
and 
King Crimson
.
"The Doctor is Out": This
was my radio program which aired on Wednesdays at 1:00 PM. The program was
broadcast on HCC
Radio, 1520 AM in Tampa/St. Petersburg,
Chemistry: If you're interested in
chemistry (and really, WHO ISN'T?),
there are a staggering number of sites out there. I wouldn't attempt to put up
a comprehensive list of chemistry related links, but an excellent starting
point is the American Chemical Society homepage.
The chemical structure of caffeine
There are a couple of
excellent databases online - these are quick and easy ways of finding out basic
information about a compound, such as structure, melting/boiling point,
density, etc. Both of them allow you to enter IUPAC name, common name, or CAS
registry number and you can find out a lot about the corresponding compound.
Cambridge Software, a designer of molecular modeling software, sponsors chemfinder, which is my favorite database
and is very well cross-referenced. And the NIST website also has a nice
database.
You can also go the the homepage of another
HCC Chemistry Professor, Drew Wolfe.
There is an interesting site
called Elemental Discoveries
which is a sort of on-line magazine about current topics in chemistry. Not as
technical as on-line journals, this is more a collection of general chemistry
related articles. The link above will take you to the current issue.
Go here to see some funny mistakes submitted by college and high school
students around the world. (Not all chemistry related, but all pretty
funny).
Please Read This!
Also, if you're concerned about chemical contamination in our environment, you
should know that you are being exposed to a deadly chemical, probably on a
daily basis! If you want to know more, PLEASE READ THE
FOLLOWING INFORMATION about the most widespread contaminant in our country
today!
I encourage everyone to consider becoming a bone marrow donor. A simple way to save a life! For more information, see The National Marrow Registry Homepage.
You can call 1-800-MARROW2 to find out when there is going to be a marrow drive in your area.
Send Comments or Questions to 
Bert Rubini
