Orlando hosts ACS national meeting

Good weather greeted more than 15,600 chemists from around the world who gathered in Orlando, Florida, for the American Chemical Society Spring 2019 National Meeting and Exposition, held from March 31 to April 4. The meeting included 12,830 oral and poster presentations on the theme of “Chemistry for New Frontiers,” showcasing the many ways that chemistry will shape our future.

Among the meeting’s highlights, Trisha L. Andrew of the University of Massachusetts Amherst gave the Kavli Foundation Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lecture on her efforts to develop smart garments that sense human behavior. Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University delivered the Fred Kavli Innovations in Chemistry Lecture on the chemical tools required to detect extraterrestrial life.

Other notable symposia and special events included an ACS NASA symposium titled “Chemistry for Humanity’s Next Giant Leap,” featuring talks by NASA chief scientist James Green, Nobel laureate Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology, and Nobel laureate Eric Betzig of the University of California, Berkeley. A reception and tours of the Kennedy Space Center followed.

In society news, the ACS Board of Directors continued strategic discussions during its executive session on March 29–30.

At the council meeting on April 3, the Committee on Budget and Finance reported that in 2018, total revenues were $571.6 million, up $34.2 million (6.4%) over 2017. Net contributions from operations totaled $41.1 million, which is $13.3 million higher than in 2017. Total expenses totaled $530.5 million, which was $20.8 million (4.1%) higher than in 2017.

The council went on to select longtime ACS volunteers H. N. Cheng, a research chemist with the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, and Carol A. Duane, president of D&D Consultants of Mentor, as the candidates for 2020 president-elect.

In other actions, the council voted in an overwhelming majority to amend the ACS Constitution and bylaws to streamline the ACS Governing Documents. The council also approved the continuation of the Committee on Nomenclature, Terminology, and Symbols as well as the Senior Chemists Committee, which, along with the approval of the chartering of an international chemical sciences chapter in Pakistan, is subject to board approval.

The council also approved a motion to set 2020 membership dues at the current rate of $175. To support and increase the number of international members, it extended the provision of the international dues discount for an additional 3 years.

Finally, the council engaged in a special discussion on the challenges and opportunities related to ACS’s relevance to current and future members.