42nd Midwest Regional Meeting

THE 42ND MIDWEST Regional Meeting (MWRM 2007), hosted by the ACS Kansas City Section, will be held from Wednesday, Nov. 7, through Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kansas City, Mo. The theme of the meeting is "Bringing Chemistry to Life." The conference will feature general technical sessions, special symposia, workshops, exhibitions, and related programs that demonstrate the importance of chemistry to living systems. Visit the meeting website, membership.acs.org/m/mwrm2007, for up-to-date information and other details.

The technical program encompasses agricultural, analytical, environmental, inorganic, medicinal, organic, pharmaceutical, and physical chemistry, as well as biochemistry, chemical education and undergraduate research, and NMR methods and structural biology.

Special symposia include "Chemical Methods & Library Design," "Analytical Chemistry with Life Science Applications," and "Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry: Natural Products as Leads & Tools in Drug Discovery." The Midwest Award Symposium, sponsored and organized by the St. Louis Section, will honor this year's recipient, George W. Gokel of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and will feature a keynote address by Gokel.

SPECIAL EVENTS. MWRM 2007 will kick off on Wednesday with Sci-Mix from 7 to 10 PM. This event will feature a poster session, social mixer, and opening of the exposition.

The MWRM 2007 Awards Reception & Banquet will be held on Thursday evening from 6 to 9 PM. Tickets are $50 and may be purchased when registering online for the meeting. A limited number of tickets will be available for sale on-site. The banquet will honor Gokel, as well as the recipients of the 2007 Midwest Regional Award for Volunteer Service to ACS, initiated by E. Ann Nalley; the 2007 Midwest Regional Industrial Innovation Award, sponsored by the ACS Department of Industry Member Programs; and the 2007 ACS Division of Chemical Education Midwest Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching, in honor of John E. Bauman Jr.

On Friday at noon, all meeting participants are invited to join ACS President Catherine T. (Katie) Hunt for a box lunch and member open forum.

ACS CAREER RESOURCES. ACS will offer career workshops, one-on-one résumé reviews, and career assistance sessions. These services are open to ACS members as well to as national and student affiliates.

The following workshops and résumé reviews will be offered on Thursday morning, beginning at 9 AM: "Targeting the Industrial Job Market," "Résumé Preparation," and "Interviewing Skills." Individual résumé reviews will be conducted starting at 1 PM. Interested participants should bring two copies of their current résumé and sign up for appointments on-site at the registration desk.

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS. Half-day workshops designed for high school teachers will be held on Saturday from 8:15 AM to noon.

Highlights include a hands-on workshop demonstrating the use of computational tools for teaching chemistry such as Netlogo, Molecular Workbench, Virtual Lab, KnowItAll, ACD ChemSketch, and the Computational Science Education Reference Desk. So-called eyebrow-burning demonstrations will show how to motivate students in their daily lessons as well as tips and tricks of using demonstrations to spice up a teacher's routine. These demos are quick and easy to perform with few required materials. There will be a workshop on the use of podcasting as a tool to teach chemistry, and one on independent laboratory access for the blind, which will introduce tools to assist students with visual impairments in conducting their own observations in a chemistry high school laboratory class.

EXPOSITION. The layout of the MWRM 2007 exposition area is designed to maximize the flow and volume of attendees. Space is still available. Please contact Richard Koch, exposition chair, at (816) 569-6850, (816) 209-7923 (cell phone), or RichKo@aol.com.

REGISTRATION. The advance registration deadline is midnight (EST) on Friday, Oct. 12. Online registration is now available via the meeting website at membership.acs.org/m/mwrm2007. On-site registration, program books, and badges will be available at the Registration Desk from 6 to 9:30 PM on Wednesday, from 7:30 AM to 5 PM on Thursday and Friday, and from 7:30 to 10 AM on Saturday. All registration questions, including requests for registration forms from those who do not have Internet access, should be directed to the ACS Office of Society Services at (800) 227-5558.

HOUSING & TRAVEL. Room blocks have been reserved for MWRM 2007 attendees at the Intercontinental Hotel and the nearby Sheraton Suites Country Club Plaza. Reservations at both hotels will be available at MWRM 2007 negotiated rates until Oct. 12. The rate at both hotels is $139 per night plus taxes. Reservations may be made for both hotels through the meeting website, membership.acs.org/m/mwrm2007/accomodations.html, or by calling the Intercontinental Group coordinator at (816) 303-2934 or the Sheraton Suites at (888) 627-7043. You must identify yourself as attending the ACS Midwest Regional Meeting when making reservations in order to receive the discounted rate. There is no charge for parking at the Intercontinental and a $7.00 per day charge at the Sheraton Suites.

Kansas City is easily reached by air, train, or car. Kansas City International Airport is served by virtually every major carrier and is only a 30-minute drive to the Intercontinental Hotel. Amtrak provides regular intercity train service to Union Station. The city is also located off several interstate highways, including I-70, I-35, and I-29.

ACS has negotiated discount rates for air travel and car rental for three days before and after each regional meeting.

• AIR: United, (800) 521-4041, Meeting Plus Code 517SM, and American Airlines, (800) 800-433-1790, Discount Code S18593.
• GROUND: Avis, (800) 331-1600, AWD Code: B120799, and Hertz, (800) 654-2240, CV# 02UZ0006.