Letter from ACS President William Carroll

Fellow ACS Members:

As I write this, it is, incredibly, only about 10 days since we first heard the news about Hurricane Katrina and saw the terrible images of human suffering and the damage in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Many of us have connections to the area. All our lives are, in some sense, changed.

At the fall meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, the ACS Council passed a resolution as follows:

BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the American Chemical Society expresses its sincere and heartfelt concern over the death and devastation caused by the widespread ravages of Hurricane Katrina. To our colleagues and friends from local sections in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, some of whom are here today, we salute your resolve in the face of this tragedy. While words cannot adequately express our feelings of regret and sorrow, please know that our thoughts are with you and your families.

The members of the Board of Directors are now working to turn empathy into action. We are collecting information on specific needs that can be addressed uniquely by ACS, utilizing our core competencies in science, information dissemination, and education, as well as our network of 158,000 chemists and chemical engineers. 

You are invited to send your suggestions to me at president@acs.org. We are sure we can make a difference. We will keep you informed as to what actions we take.