42nd Central Regional Meeting

The 42nd Central Regional Meeting (CERM 2011), hosted by the ACS Indiana Section, will run from Wednesday, June 8, to Friday, June 10, at the University Place Conference Center & Hotel on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The meeting’s theme is “Cultivating Chemistry at the Crossroads of America.” Major sponsors include Dow AgroSciences, Dow Chemical, and Eli Lilly & Co.

Indianapolis, the 12th-largest city in the U.S., plays host to numerous conventions and sporting events and has become a favored destination for arts and culture. Its many venues support local music and theater scenes as well as touring shows of all kinds. In the heart of the city, White River State Park offers a blend of green space and cultural attractions.

For up-to-date meeting information, visit cerm_regional.sites.acs.org.

TECHNICAL PROGRAM. Distinguished business leaders will present plenary sessions from 11 AM until noon each day. Their talks will highlight the International Year of Chemistry themes of materials, energy, medicine, and green chemistry. Speakers include Dawn Shiang, Dow Chemical’s associate director of sustainable technologies and innovation sourcing; John C. Lechleiter, Lilly’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer; and Michael A. Evans, AIT Laboratories founder, president, and CEO.

CERM 2011 will provide attendees with an opportunity to engage leaders in academic and industrial research through symposia spanning 14 of ACS’s technical divisions. Some 50 topical sessions will be featured in addition to 10 general sessions and seven poster sessions. In all, 450 presentations will be featured over three days.

The technical program includes many highlights:

■ Medicinal chemistry sessions will span all three days of the meeting with presentations on “TB & Malaria Medicine Discovery Initiatives” by Clifton E. Barry III (National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases), Jonathan L. Vennerstrom (University of Nebraska Medical Center), and Joshua O. Odingo (Infectious Disease Research Institute) and on “Computer-Aided Drug Design” by Lakshmi P. Kotra (University of Toronto), Garland R. Marshall (Washington University in St. Louis), and Shaomeng Wang (University of Michigan). Other medicinal chemistry presentations will cover “Peptides in Therapeutics,” “Case Studies in Neuroscience Drug Discovery,” and “Molecular Imaging & Drug Discovery.”

■ Agricultural and food chemistry sessions will feature topics such as “Foods & Nutrition,” “Systems Biology,” and “Natural Products.” Presenters will include Nicholas Oberlies (University of North Carolina, Greensboro), Steven J. Schwartz (Ohio State University), Devin Peterson (University of Minnesota), Robert W. Hutkins (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Devin Rose (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), and Yair Shachar-Hill (Michigan State University).

■ A “Chemistry of Art” symposium will feature senior conservation scientists Fran­cesca Casadio (Art Institute of Chicago) and Gregory D. Smith (Indianapolis Museum of Art).

■ Symposia in polymer chemistry will include speakers such as Jeffrey Youngblood (Purdue University) and Evangelos Manias (Pennsylvania State University).

■ An organic chemistry symposium on “Technology-Enabled Organic Synthesis” will showcase presentations from Corey R. Hopkins (Vanderbilt University Medical Center), Sergey A. Kozmin (University of Chicago), and Conrad Santini (University of Kansas). The “Young Investigator Symposium” will also focus on organic chemistry.

Many other distinguished speakers will participate in sessions on “Chemometrics with Forensic Applications,” “Bioanalytical Chemistry,” “Spectroscopic Imaging,” “Fluorescent & Plasmonic Probes in Chemical Systems,” “Advances in Mass Spectrometry,” “Functional Nanoscale Materials,” “Environmental Analysis & Sensing,” “Chemistry & Sustainability,” “Frontiers of Organometallic & Transition-Metal Chemistry,” “Frontiers of Bioinorganic Chemistry,” “The New Frontier of Combined Quantum Mechanical Molecular Mechanical Methods,” “Dynamics of Lipid Membranes & Proteins,” and “Nanotechnology from Green Energy to Drug Delivery” featuring 2010 Royal Society of Chemistry Theophilus Redwood Award winner Paul Bohn (University of Notre Dame).

A panel of established business professionals including Peter T. Kissinger, a director of Indianapolis-based mass spectrometry firm Prosolia; former ACS president William F. Carroll; and ACS Division of Small Chemical Businesses Program Chair Joseph Sabol will discuss the skill set needed to run a successful chemical business.

An extensive chemical education program for chemistry instructors at all levels will feature education leaders such as Thomas A. Holme (Iowa State University), Norbert J. Pienta (editor-in-chief, Journal of Chemical Education), Ellen J. Yezierski (Miami University), and Prati­bha Varma-Nelson (IUPUI). And a special undergraduate research symposium will give students an opportunity to present results of their ongoing work.

Poster sessions will be conducted in conjunction with the exposition on all three days of the conference, starting at 2 PM on Wednesday and ending at 3:30 PM on Friday.

EXPOSITION. Approximately 200 posters from 12 of ACS’s technical divisions will be presented amid booths from more than 20 exhibitors. The exhibitors will include major instrument manufacturers; suppliers of chemicals, disposables, and laboratory supplies; and academic institutions. An International Year of Chemistry exhibit will be on display. The official kickoff for the exposition will take place Wednesday afternoon at 4 PM with remarks by Catherine T. Hunt, Dow Chemical R&D director and former ACS president.

SPECIAL EVENTS. At the Younger Chemists Committee Luncheon on Wednesday, Brian Fahie, Lilly senior director of analytical sciences R&D, will explain “How To Secure & Nurture a Vibrant Chemistry Career in the 21st Century.”

During the 42nd Central Regional Awards Reception & Dinner that evening, ACS Immediate Past-President Joseph S. Francisco will present an address on “Sustaining the Chemical Enterprise Beyond the International Year of Chemistry.” The Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences, the ACS Division of Chemical Education Central Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching, and the E. Ann Nalley Regional Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society will be presented at the event, which will include a buffet dinner.

Thursday will open with a free continental breakfast with ACS governance at which attendees can hear about updated news and events from the ACS Board of Directors. The Women Chemists Committee will hold a luncheon that day featuring ACS Executive Director and CEO Madeleine Jacobs, who will discuss “The Challenges Facing Women in Chemistry & Other Scientific & Engineering Fields.”

On Thursday afternoon, Indianapolis Museum of Art Senior Conservation Scientist Smith will conduct a behind-the-scenes tour of his museum’s conservation science laboratory.

For Thursday evening, a “Cultivating Connections” networking event with drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and entertainment by a local band is scheduled at the Skyline Club on the 36th floor of the One America Building in downtown Indianapolis.

And on Friday morning, Carolina Biological Supply will sponsor a breakfast that is open to all K–12 teachers.

WORKSHOPS. ACS career workshops on Wednesday will give members insight into the job market. On Thursday morning, Lynn Zettler, a certified personal executive and business coach, will offer a workshop designed to improve performance at work or in the classroom by defining attendees’ own personal brands. Registration is required for all workshops.

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER PROGRAMS. CERM 2011 will offer several programs for high school teachers. In the three-day “Chemistry Demonstration Workshop for High School Science Teachers,” teachers will witness multiple chemistry demonstrations and learn about their safety and content. “Chemistry with Carolina” will feature one of Carolina Biological Supply’s Inquiries in Science chemistry units, which provide hands-on activities that make challenging topics memorable for students. The unit presented will be “Colligative Properties & Ice Cream.” “Chemistry with Vernier” will offer hands-on experience collecting and analyzing chemistry data using the Vernier LabQuest and several of the company’s analytical instruments. Other workshops will include “Organic & General Chemistry with Vernier” and a tie-dye workshop.

DINING. The conference center has a full-service restaurant, a sports bar, and a coffee shop, and the IUPUI campus food court is nearby. Downtown Indianapolis offers more than 200 restaurants, many within walking distance of the conference center.

TRAVEL & LODGING. Accommodations will be at the University Place Conference Center & Hotel, located at 850 West Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202-5198. Until May 16, CERM attendees and their guests can obtain special rates of $129 plus tax for a single-occupancy guest room or $149 plus tax for a double-occupancy guest room.

REGISTRATION. Advance registration closes at midnight on Friday, May 20. Attendees are encouraged to register early to take advantage of the advanced registration rate. On-site registration and distribution of program books and badges will take place in the registration area of University Place Conference Center. Tickets for all events will be available for purchase on the registration form and at the registration desk beginning at 7:30 AM on June 8.

For additional details, visit the 42nd Central Regional Meeting website at cerm_re gional.sites.acs.org, or contact CERM 2011 Committee Chair Jeannie R. Phillips at jrphillips@dow.com.