Register for the 2023 Central Regional Meeting

The Detroit Local Section of the American Chemical Society is hosting the Central Regional Meeting (CERM) June 20–23, at the Henry, Autograph Collection, in Dearborn, Michigan. The meeting theme is “Sustainability, the Great Lakes, and Chemistry for the Future.” Details can be found at acscerm2023.org.

Technical program. Highlights of the meeting include daily keynote talks on the global energy transition. Industry and academic leaders from BASF, Dow, and Wayne State University will discuss innovations in renewable energy, safety, sustainability, resource recovery from waste products, risk assessments for nuclear waste disposal, and technologies for treating hazardous waste.

The program includes several technical symposia covering a range of topics, and many will run for multiple sessions. These symposia include “Sustainability in Automobiles: How Chemistry Is Enabling the Environmental Transition of an Industry,” “Circular Economy for Plastics: Challenges and Opportunities,” “Cellular Signaling and Biochemistry,” “Education Chemistry,” “Expanding Green Chemistry in the Undergraduate Curriculum and Research Experiences,” “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect,” “Paramagnetic Materials: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications,” “Sustainable and Environmentally Beneficial Polymers,” “f-Block Extravaganza: The Best Symposium at CERM,” “Computational Chemistry from Electrons to Macromolecules,” “Materials and Surface Chemistry,” “Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Drug Discovery,” “Energy in Chemistry: Fuel Cells, Bioenergy, and Energy Storage,” and “Catalysis by Metal Complexes and Nanomaterials.” There will also be symposia in analytical, physical, and organic chemistry.

Workshops. The “Working in Industry Workshop” will take place Thursday morning, and “Résumé Development Workshop” will occur Thursday afternoon. These ACS career workshops are ideal for graduate and undergraduate students who are about to begin their careers, as well as recent graduates and experienced professionals considering a career change.

A 3 h Chemical Business Roundtable will take place Friday morning. Hosted by the ACS Division of Small Chemical Businesses, this roundtable of chemical business professionals will cover challenges in developing a chemical business, including expanding market share, managing information technology, tracking finances, ensuring regulatory compliance and safety, coordinating supply chains and other logistics, and responding to pandemic, weather, and other external disruptions.

Student, postdoc, and early-career researcher programming. The Student Speed Networking event will take place on Wednesday, after the symposia. The event will allow undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career professionals to meet people from local companies.

Exposition. The exposition will kick off with a reception on Tuesday evening and will run through Friday. Attendees will learn about the latest products on the market. Applications for exhibitors are available on the meeting’s website.

Awards. Several awards will be presented during the awards dinner on Thursday evening. These include the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences; the ACS Division of Chemical Education Regional Award for Excellence in High School Teaching; the E. Ann Nalley Central Region Award for Volunteer Service to ACS; awards for the top undergraduate students from the Detroit and Windsor regions; and the Detroit Local Section awards. The keynote speaker for the awards banquet is André Isaacs, an associate professor at the College of the Holy Cross, a TikTok and Twitter star (his handle for both sites is @drdre4000), and an LGBTQ+ advocate.

Social events. Social highlights at CERM 2023 include the happy hour exposition kickoff reception on Tuesday evening, sponsored by Brewing Chemistry. Brewing Chemistry is the Detroit Local Section’s monthly science café, coordinated by the section’s Younger Chemists Committee.

A Women Chemists Committee luncheon will take place Wednesday and will feature Erin Parker. Parker, the Eastern District interpretive services supervisor at Huron-Clinton Metroparks, will present an alternative science career focused on the past, present, and future sustainability efforts of the Great Lakes environment.

Registration. Registration is open, and you can register online or on-site through the end of the meeting. The opportunity to reserve a room at the Henry at a reduced rate ends at 11:59 p.m. (CDT) June 1.

Nina Notman is a freelance writer based in Salisbury, England.