Senators Receive ACS Public Service Awards

ACS governance and staff gathered in the U.S. Capitol's Lyndon B. Johnson Room on April 5 to honor Sens. Richard J. (Dick) Durbin (D-Ill.) and Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) with the society's Public Service Awards. ACS presents the awards annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the development of public policy that advances the chemical sciences.

ACS President-Elect E. Ann Nalley introduced Durbin, who is Senate Democratic Whip and a member of the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Rules & Administration Committees. His support of the Department of Education's Math & Science Partnership Program helped effect an increase of funding for the program to $180 million this fiscal year from $12.5 million in 2002. He was also cited for cofounding the Senate Science, Technology, Education & Math Caucus and for his strong advocacy for increased basic R&D funding at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and science and technology programs at the Department of Defense.

Domenici was unable to attend the ceremony, but ACS President William F. Carroll presented the award to Erik Webb, a Domenici staffer, on his behalf. Domenici, a former math teacher, oversees funding for the Department of Energy national laboratories as chair of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development. He is also a member of the Senate Science & Technology Caucus and a long-standing proponent of increasing federal funding for basic research and of technology transfer from national labs to the private sector.