Archives for July 2022

Author: Matt Grandbois, Councilor

The Fall 2022 ACS Council meeting is scheduled to be held as a hybrid session on  Wednesday, August 24^th. The Council meeting will be hosted at Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk Hotel, in Sheraton Chicago Ballroom IV-VII starting at 10:00am CT. There are several items that will be up for action that I believe are of particular interest to PROF members and will expand upon below. If you would like to learn more about them, please note that the full ACS Council Agenda for the Fall 2022 meeting is publicly available here. Also note that if you are interested in attending Council as an observer, please reach out to me and I will provide you attendance/viewing details.

During the Fall ACS Council Sessions, candidates for the elected Council Committees are voted upon to begin their terms during the following year. This includes elections for the ACS Committee on Council Policy, the ACS Committee on Committees, and the ACS Committee on Nominations & Elections. 

The ACS Committee on Council Policy (CPC) is responsible for maintaining and supporting the activities of Council, developing long-term strategies for the functioning of Council, and making recommendations for changes in the governance documents that define the activity of Council. Five candidates will be elected to begin service to this committee starting in 2023. The candidates up for election to CPC are (the 3 current PROF members are highlighted in BOLD):

• Raychelle Burks
• James Carver
• Deborah Cook
• John Engelman
• Greg Ferrence
• Anne Gaffney
• Lydia Hines
• Will Lynch
• Barbara Sitzman
• Frankie Wood-Black

The ACS Committee on Committees (ConC) is responsible for assisting Committees and advising the appointment of Chairs and Members of Committees to the ACS Board and President. Members of ConC must be voting Councilors for the duration of their term. Five candidates will be elected to begin service to this committee starting in 2023. The candidates up for election for ConC are (the 3 current PROF members are highlighted in BOLD):

• Rodney Bennett
• Bill Carroll
• Ella Davis
• Carmen Gauthier
• William Greenlee
• Alan Hazari
• Tom Lane
• Donivan Porterfield
• Daniel Rabinovich
• Jason Ritchie

The ACS Committee on Nominations & Elections (N&E) is responsible for reviewing and populating election ballots for President-Elect, District Director, and Director-At-Large. The Committee is also responsible for supervising and conducting elections across the Society. Five candidates will be elected to begin service to this committee starting in 2023. The candidates up for election for N&E are (the only current PROF member is highlighted in BOLD):

• Mark Benvenuto
• Michelle Buchanan
• Alan Cooper
• Debbie Crans
• Kelly Elkins
• Harry Elston
• Martin Perry
• Robert Pribush
• Ellene Tratas Contis
• Kathryn Uhrich

In addition to the elections described above, four petitions are being presented to Council for action (i.e. to be discussed and voted upon). These include:

1. Petition to move of description of duties of N&E to the ACS Standing Rules. No substantial changes are being sought, but instead this petition is aimed at providing clarity to existing language. Given this cosmetic change, I support this petition. 
2. Petition to amend the duties of the ACS Committee on Divisional Activities (DAC) to formally empower this Committee to take action in the event that an interim Executive Committee must be appointed, or an election needs to be facilitated due to inactivity by an Executive Committee. This petition would also formally empower DAC to provide recommendations to Council regarding the combination or dissolution of an ACS Technical Division. These proposed formal duties are consistent with the current operations of DAC, but they are a significant change to the duties as described in the ACS Governing Documents and I expect this to incite much debate. 
3. Petition to rename the ACS Northeast Tennessee Local Section to instead be the ACS Tenness-Virginia Highlands Local Section. This proposal is supported by Local Section leaders and by 95% of their members based on a recent vote, so I support this petition. 
4. Petition to change the application process and dues for the ACS Committee on Corporate Associates (CA). Currently, corporations must submit dues payment in advance of being admitted to joining CA. This petition proposes to change payment to occur after invoice upon admittance to the Committee. Also, corporate dues are currently based upon the number of scientists employed the member corporation, but this petition proposes changing this to be based upon a more easily defined metric: the company’s annual revenue. Finally, this petition also proposes to change the process for addressing corporate members that have not paid their dues by empowering CA to provide recommendation to the ACS Board of Directors to remove the corporate members to only be reinstated upon approval by the Committee. Collectively, these changes are aimed at providing a net improvement in the governance of this ACS Committee, yet there are aspects of these changes that I expect will cause significant discussion leading up to Council. 

As your Councilor, I am very interested in hearing from you and hearing your thoughts, perspectives, and preference on any of the above items up for action. Feel free to contact me at councilor@acsprof.org prior August 22, 2022 so that I can take your input into account prior to my vote on these items. Stay safe and take care!

Author: Amy M Balija, Chair of the ACS Women Chemists Committee

The Women Chemists Committee (WCC) was established in 1927 as a joint committee between ACS Council and the Board of Directors. Initially named the Women’s Service Committee, the group was instructed to follow five directives to promote, advocate, and inform the Society about issues important to women. While much has changed over the years, the overall goal of the WCC has not altered: to create a more equitable environment for women. Collaborating with other ACS committees, sister organizations, and industrial partners, WCC has hosted symposia, developed national awards, provided networking opportunities, and advocated for equity. The Committee creates a safe environment for its members to cultivate leadership skills to hold prominent offices within ACS and the chemical profession including as an ACS president, ACS directors, upper management positions in industry and government, and professors at academic institutions.

This year, the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) celebrates its 95^th anniversary. To continue the year-long commemoration of this milestone, WCC has organized various events for the Fall ACS meeting. As Chair of the WCC, I wish to invite you to our celebrations in Chicago.

The celebration starts on Sunday, August 20^th with the 2022 WCC Merck Award symposium. The WCC Merck Award recognizes eight individuals in their 3^rd and 4^th year of graduate school focusing on organic, medicinal, analytical, chemical biology, computation, or structural chemistry research. This award is open to US citizens studying anywhere and non-US citizens attending a graduate program in the United States or Canada. This year’s recipients are the following: Maria Adrover-Castellano (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Maria Camila Aguilera (University of Rochester), Sara Dibrell (California Institute of Technology), Olivia Garry (Princeton University), Rachel Huang (Stanford University), Irene Manning (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Alena Vasquez (Scripps Research Institute), and Zixi Zhang (University of California, Berkeley).

On Monday, August 21^st, WCC will host the WICE (Women in the Chemical Enterprise) breakfast. This ticked event encourages women to network and to advance their careers. Also on Monday, WCC will host a full-day symposium honoring the 10^th Anniversary of the WCC Rising Star Award. The WCC Rising Star Award recognizes up to ten women scientists approaching mid-level careers who have demonstrated outstanding promise for contributions to their respective fields. The award is open to all individual ACS members in chemistry and chemical engineering in academic, industrial, government, non-profit or other sectors. During the symposium, presenters will highlight the impact of the Rising Star Award on their career and discuss their technical contributions.

The celebration continues Tuesday with the first half of the symposium “Celebrating 95 Years of the WCC (Women Chemists Committee).” During this symposium, past WCC chairs will discuss projects undertaken during their tenure and the challenges remaining. The final presentation will highlight future projects the WCC will undertake. The WCC luncheon also will be held with ACS President Angela Wilson speaking about the advances of women within the chemical enterprise and how the WCC has impacted the ACS. This ticketed luncheon is popular, so attendees are encouraged to purchase tickets as soon as possible. The winner of the Overcoming Challenges Award, Riley Atrops from California State University Channel Islands, will be honored at the luncheon. The Overcoming Challenges Award recognizes a female undergraduate for her efforts in overcoming hardship to achieve success in chemistry. The awardee receives a monetary prize and money for travel expenses to attend the ACS Fall Meeting.

In the later afternoon Tuesday, the WCC Open Meeting, called “Just Cocktails” will occur. Besides free food and drink, this open meeting provides attendees the opportunity to meet current WCC members, learn about future WCC activities, learn about how to become involved within the Committee, and network with others. Slides highlighting local section ChemLuminary submissions and winners of the WCC mini grants will be highlighted. This meeting is open to all and is free to attend.

To conclude the celebration at the ACS meeting, past WCC award winners will present at a full day symposium entitled “Past WCC Award Winners in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry.” These presenters will provide a technical talk and give a brief highlight how either the Merck Research Award or the Eli Lilly Travel Award influenced their careers. Merck and Eli Lilly representatives will discuss the formation of these awards and how the award impacted the companies.

Updated information regarding the timing and location of WCC activities can be found at https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/acs-meetings.html. All events are included with the registration unless otherwise noted.

The 95^th anniversary celebration does not end after the Fall ACS meeting. Throughout this year, WCC has been highlighting various aspects of women chemists through Facebook. Stories about chemistry mothers, industrial chemists, and international scientists display the diversity with being a woman chemist. In October, WCC will sponsor a virtual Women Chemists of Color Networking Event held during National Chemistry Week. This event will provide attendees the chance to speak with mentors about advancing their careers and how to overcome professional and personal barriers. Information regarding the event will be posted on the WCC website (http://www.acswcc.org) and WCC social media accounts.

Author: Matt Grandbois, Councilor

The ACS Council Meeting was held virtually on March 23^rd as part of the hybrid Spring 2022 National Meeting in San Diego, CA. Several items were discussed and acted upon by Council that have an impact on PROF Members.

Candidates for President-Elect 2023 were voted upon with Mary Carroll and Rigoberto Hernandez being selected to stand for the Fall 2022 National Election. Both Dr. Carroll and Dr. Hernandez are PROF members, so regardless of the outcome it seems like the Society will be in good hands!

Council approved a petition to amend the duties of the ACS Committee on Chemists with Disabilities (CWD) to include more inclusive language in the description of their duties. This coincided with Council approving the recommendation from the Committee on Committees (ConC) that CWD be continued as an active and critical part of the Society as part of the ConC rotational review process. As PROF Councilor, I supported both petitions with my vote.

Council also approved a petition from the ACS Committee on Budget & Finance (B&F) to establish a quasi-endowment to fund Local Section and Divisional activities. This funding was previously provided as a percentage of ACS revenues, but due to fluctuations in the recent years this new process was proposed to provide more stability in annual funding for grassroots organizations, like PROF, so I supported this petition with my vote.

Council also approved two items that affect our international colleagues. A new International Chemical Sciences Chapter was approved to be established in Switzerland and Council also approved the extension of market testing of a discount program for international dues based on World Bank country income levels. These actions will make the Society more accessible to chemists around the world, so I supported this petition with my vote.

Council approved the 2023 Schedule of Membership proposed by the Committee on Membership Affairs (MAC). This updated schedule did not change anything in terms of dues, benefits, eligibility, or privileges from the 2022 Schedule, but it was drafted to increase clarity and understanding of how the membership tier structure works. These actions will allow members to make better informed choices about their ACS membership, so I supported this petition with my vote.

Finally, Council passed several resolutions honoring recently deceased members of Council and a special resolution honoring the passing of Past ACS President Nancy Jackson. She was a fierce advocate for the Society and helped to promote the chemical profession around the world.

ACS Council will reconvene at the Fall 2022 National Meeting as a hybrid session broadcasted from Chicago later this year. If you are interested in virtually attending this session to learn more about how ACS Council works, please let me know and I can provide you viewing details once they are available.

Have a happy and safe rest of your summer!