Building On Success

Every spring, hundreds of black chemists and chemical engineers come together to celebrate science and develop career skills, as well as strike up new friendships and rekindle old ones. This year's gathering in Los Angeles on April 9-14 was the 33rd such annual meeting of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).

With its unique mixture of technical presentations, networking opportunities, and professional development workshops, the NOBCChE annual conference had something to offer each of the nearly 640 attendees, who ranged in age from high school students to retirees. The activities at this year's meeting all centered on the theme "The Secret Is Out, Find It at NOBCChE."

"This year, the secret is out about NOBCChE-and what better place to let it out than in California," said NOBCChE President Joseph S. Francisco at the opening of the meeting. Francisco is a chemistry professor at Purdue University.

Also helping to kick off the weeklong meeting was Rep. Maxine Waters (DCalif.). The one-time garment factory worker turned congresswoman spoke about the importance of education. She also discussed her current efforts to reform the admissions policies of the University of California to focus solely on academic qualifications, as opposed to factoring in other talents in sports, art, or acting, for example.

Waters also advised conference attendees to encourage children to be individuals. "We all have to be about the business of nurturing and holding up the children," she said. She added that children shouldn't be "counseled to go along to get along"; that is, young people should be confident about being themselves even if it means they won't be popular.

Being a unique individual was also the message of a presentation by American Chemical Society President E. Ann Nalley. Using the story of the ugly duckling, she told the audience that everyone is different and that's okay. After all, everyone has a swan inside of them, she pointed out.

"My goal is to cultivate the swan in each of us," Nalley said, adding that achieving this goal will ensure that the U.S. remains the world science and technology leader.

Nalley concluded her talk by sharing several lessons she has learned during her career. She told the audience that they must get involved if they want to make a change in the diversity of the workforce. She also said they should never give up and it's okay to ask for help. Finally, she advised attendees to set their goals for life high and never stop striving to achieve them.

This year's winner of the Percy L. Julian Award, Jimmie L. Williams, manager of the materials development group at Corning, also spoke about setting goals. The Julian Award is the most prestigious award presented by NOBCChE; it recognizes significant contributions to pure and/or applied research in science or engineering.

In addition to discussing his career at Corning as a scientist working on next-generation catalyst substrates for gasoline and diesel exhaust emissions, Williams emphasized the importance of education for a successful life. Among his tips for students, he recommended setting goals, taking risks, and being prepared to take advantage of every opportunity. He also advocated for cultural awareness and valuing diversity, because "innovation and ideas come from all sources," and something can be learned from everyone.

Sharon L. Haynie, principal investigator at DuPont, was also honored at the meeting. She received the Henry Hill Award, which is sponsored by the ACS Northeast Section. She discussed her work on a project to develop a biological pathway for large-scale, low-cost production of 1,3-propanediol. Haynie's participation in this project marked a transition point in her career from lone researcher to a member of a team, she noted.

Haynie described the metabolic engineering that went into making the pathway from glucose to glycerol to 1,3-propanediol a high-yield, single-step process. The project, which started in 1995 and included a partnership with biotech firm Genencor, took several years to work out and led to her group receiving the 2003 Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Award.

Another successful scientist who was featured at the meeting is Stephen L. Mayo, associate professor of biology and chemistry at California Institute of Technology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute associate investigator. He delivered the ACS Distinguished Scientist address about his work on computational protein design.

In his work, Mayo strives to "capture the underlying principles governing the folding, stability, and function of proteins," he explained. He detailed his lab's past work on calcium-deficient calmodulin as a model system and other work with anticancer antibodies that are being developed by Xencor, a company he cofounded.

In addition to these and other technical presentations in the core chemistry areas, meeting attendees had the chance to participate in several career-building workshops. For instance, NOBCChE collaborated with the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists-an organization founded in 1998 to increase the number and success of women chemists in academia-to hold a daylong workshop on helping women become more effective in the workplace. Other workshops presented advice on how to deal with workplace politics, prepare résumés, and apply for government jobs.

The meeting also offered activities for future scientists, namely a pair of contests for middle and high school students. A national science bowl and science fair gave students in grades seven through 12 a chance to show their scientific knowledge.

The science bowl, which is a double-elimination competition pitting teams of four students against two other teams, was divided into two divisions. The winner of the senior division (grades 10-12) was team Johnsons from Timbuktu Academy at Southern University, in Baton Rouge, La. The winner of the junior division (grades seven through nine) was team Latimer from Timbuktu Academy.

In the science fair competition, more than 20 contestants were separated into two divisions, just as for the science bowl. Ikea McClain from Philadelphia High School took first place in the senior division, and Matthew Times of Pershing Middle School, in Houston, took first place in the junior division.

To help young students, such as the participants in the science bowl and fair, who plan to enter the chemical field experience smooth transitions throughout their educations, NOBCChE announced that it will be partnering with ACS. Although the details of the partnership were not released, Francisco noted that the relationship will be based on the groups' common goal of "creating a smooth pipeline" to help students move from undergraduate studies to graduate studies to the professional workforce.

In other NOBCChE news, Francisco detailed a set of new task force committees at the meeting. The goal of these committees is to find ways to reengage former members, provide more development opportunities for early-stage professionals, support mid- to late-career professionals, and investigate how to expand NOBCChE chapters outside of the U.S. Francisco also noted that a task force is looking into setting up an equipment exchange program between labs at historically black colleges and universities, which may not have the funds to purchase research lab equipment, and industrial and government labs that have surplus instruments.

"The state of NOBCChE is healthy," Francisco told the attendees, adding that the organization will continue to do all it can to help its members advance in their careers whether through task forces or the development of other resources. "We are building on the success of the past and charting new directions for the future."

The next NOBCChE meeting is scheduled for April 1-7, 2007, in Orlando, Fla.