New Orleans hosts ACS national meeting

Chemists from around the world gathered in the Crescent City for the 255th ACS National Meeting & Exposition on March 18–22. With more than 16,600 attendees, this meeting was the largest that New Orleans has ever seen as a host city for ACS.

The meeting’s theme, “Nexus of Food, Energy & Water,” focused on chemistry’s role in achieving global food, energy, and water security. Roughly 8,200 papers and 5,000 posters were presented in programming by 29 technical divisions and seven committees.

Among the meeting’s highlights, Emily Cranston of McMaster University presented The Kavli Foundation Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lecture on her research on developing hybrid cellulose nanocrystal materials for emulsions, injectable hydrogels, and cross-linked aerogels.

Angela Belcher of Massachusetts Institute of Technology delivered The Fred Kavli Innovations in Chemistry Lecture on using nature and biomaterials as inspiration to design biological hybrid multidimensional materials.

Other notable symposia and special events included an opening session on the meeting’s theme, a symposium on the science of sexual harassment, a talk on nontraditional careers for chemists during the ACS Board of Directors regular session, and ACS’s second LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) graduate student and postdoctoral scholar research symposium.

In society news, the ACS Board of Directors, among its actions during its executive session on March 16–17, passed a resolution recognizing the United Nations for proclaiming 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table.

At the council meeting, the Committee on Budget & Finance reported that in 2017, total revenues were $553.1 million, up $26.4 million over 2016. Net contributions from operations reached $28.6 million, which was $4.8 million higher than 2016. Total expenses reached $524.5 million, which was $21.6 million higher than 2016.

During the meeting, the council selected Luis Echegoyen, professor of chemistry at the University of Texas, El Paso, and Thomas Gilbert, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University, as the nominees for 2019 president-elect.

In other actions, the council voted to increase the membership dues for 2019 from $171 to $175. They also approved a petition to amend the bylaws, subject to confirmation by the board of directors, to lower the minimum number of councilors required on a society committee from two-thirds to a majority. The council voted to reject a petition to allow committee members to select their own committee chairs.

The council voted to approve the chartering of international chemical sciences chapters in Jordan and in Qatar. The vote is now subject to approval by the board.