Luis Echegoyen is 2019 ACS President-Elect

Luis A. Echegoyen, Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas, El Paso, has been elected the 2019 American Chemical Society president-elect by members of ACS. Echegoyen will serve as president of the society in 2020 and immediate past-president in 2021; he will also serve on the board of directors during those years.

With 7,996 votes, Echegoyen won the race against Thomas R. Gilbert, an associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University, who received 6,037 votes. ACS, which publishes C&EN, also elected or reelected four other board directors.

“This will be a great opportunity for me to do something for ACS and all of its members,” Echegoyen says. “I want to have an impact on as many people in my professional society as I can.”

As president-elect next year, he plans to meet with ACS members, from younger chemists to entrepreneurs, and “listen to what they have to say.” As president, he plans to focus on several core areas, including strengthening interactions between ACS and other scientific societies around the world; working with the Congressional Chemistry Caucus to encourage legislators to increase funding for chemistry and chemical engineering; fostering interactions between industry and academia; and developing solutions to improve the educational experience in chemistry and chemical engineering.

In other election news, Katherine L. Lee, an associate research fellow in inflammation and immunology medicinal chemistry at Pfizer, was elected director of District I, defeating incumbent Laura E. Pence, a professor of chemistry at the University of Hartford.

And John E. Adams, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri was re-elected director of District V, winning over Joseph A. Heppert, vice president for research at Texas Tech University.

Lee H. Latimer, a consultant in drug development at LHLatimer Consulting; and Ingrid Montes, an assistant dean of graduate studies and research at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, were re-elected director-at-large. They won over Frank D. Blum, the Harrison I. Bartlett Chair and Regents’ Professor of Chemistry at Oklahoma State University, and Angela W. Peters, a vice provost for academic programs and professor of chemistry at Claflin University.

Some 14,000 valid votes were cast for President-Elect. Voter participation for president-elect was nearly 10% of all eligible voters.

Additional information about the winners can be found in the candidates’ statements.