Official Reports From The June Board Of Directors Meeting

Major actions taken by the American Chemical Society Board during its June meeting in Baltimore were reported in C&EN, June 12, page 11.

Grants & Awards

Acting under delegated authority, the committee voted to accept the recommendations of the ACS PRF Advisory Board to fund grants totaling $6.9 million and to approve the ACS Green Chemistry Institute-Petroleum Research Fund standard operating procedures.

The committee voted to recommend to the ACS Board of Directors that the following board regulation be approved: "During their terms of service on the board, board members should not participate in the process of nominating or seconding anyone for any ACS national award."

The committee voted, upon the recommendation of the Joint Board Council Committee on Patents & Related Matters, to recommend to the ACS Board of Directors Lewis H. Latimer as the society's nominee for the 2007 National Inventors Hall of Fame for inventing a process for making carbon filaments, which are useful in electric light bulbs. The committee also voted to make a recommendation to James D. Burke, chair of the board of directors, for the appointment of five scientists to the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Advisory Board.

A working group, consisting of Howard M. Peters and Bonnie A. Charpentier from the Committee on Grants & Awards and one representative from the Committee on Committees, was created to develop a process for the periodic review of the ACS awards.

The committee also received a progress report on the evaluation of the awards program that is currently taking place and approved revisions to the criteria for the Volunteer Service Award.—C. Gordon McCarty, chair

Professional & Member Relations

The Committee on Professional & Member Relations (P&MR) received a report on ACS activities to occur over the next nine months honoring the life of Percy Julian. On Sept. 11, at the San Francisco national meeting, a full-day presidential symposium will be presented, organized in conjunction with the Committee on Minority Affairs. On Jan. 23, 2007, ACS will hold an event at the National Academy of Sciences featuring the movie "Forgotten Genius," the film biography of the life of Dr. Percy Julian.

The committee was briefed on the participation of ACS governance and staff at the 2006 meeting of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) in Los Angeles. ACS and NOBCChE are working on two projects: (1) finding a way to encourage undergraduate students attending one organization's national meeting to attend the other group's meeting as well and (2) investigating the possibility of obtaining outside funding support for a pilot program that would teach study and time management skills to elementary school children. NOBCChE also expressed an interest in becoming more active in government affairs.

The committee discussed the role of P&MR with respect to other ACS committees, particularly council committees. P&MR expressed an interest in developing three to four questions that will be provided to the Committee on Committees (ConC) to be included among the survey questions ConC distributes to committee chairs. P&MR also discussed the roles of committee chairs and staff liaisons, and it cited the committee's ConC liaison as a good resource for many issues affecting committee operations. P&MR asked the ACS secretary to forward a document that outlines the professionalism and duties expected from ACS committee chairs and staff liaisons.

The committee received a brief update on revised crisis management plans being developed for the San Francisco national meeting. P&MR discussed several aspects of the revised plan and asked that its views on the subject be passed along to the Committee on Meetings & Expositions in advance of the San Francisco national meeting.

The committee received an update on a plan designed to attract and foster multidisciplinary topical groups. This plan is in response to the ACS Board of Directors' goal that allows for the creation and support of emerging multidisciplinary themes. The plan design includes the development of a request-for-proposal-based approach that will encourage the development of multidisciplinary topical groups from the community at large.

The committee voted to recommend that the ACS Board approve the request-for-proposal-based pilot program designed to foster a multidisciplinary topical group. P&MR, in conjunction with staff, will further develop the plan by third-quarter 2006.

The committee received an update from the working group charged with developing a set of recommendations designed to help ACS members understand and respond to the implications of globalization on chemical employment. The working group plans to present these recommendations to the P&MR committee in San Francisco.—Kent J. Voorhees, chair

Public Affairs & Public Relations

The Committee on Public Affairs & Public Relations met on June 1 and discussed the following public policy and communication matters:

ACS Communications Strategic Plan. The committee reviewed the final plans to establish a new, enduring brand for ACS and its various subunits. It affirmed comfort with the implementation plan, and the chair will assist in the final preparation of and support the proposal when presented to the Committee on Budget & Finance.

ACS Policy Prioritization Process for Advocacy. Committee members received a presentation on a ranking process, based on the committee's input, to prioritize ACS public policy statements for advocacy purposes and to properly align resources.

Proposed ACS Statement on Retirement Security. The committee received a draft statement on retirement security from the Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs and will consider it as an interim action following the meeting.

The committee voted to approve the following:

National Chemical Historic Landmark designation for Chemical Abstracts Service. Voted to approve the granting of a landmark in recognition of Chemical Abstracts Service's upcoming 100th anniversary in 2007 and its work in setting the standard for scientific information services.

Updated ACS Policy Statement on Open Access. Voted to adopt a new policy opposing mandates requiring authors of federally funded research to provide copies of prepublication manuscripts to government-managed free-access databases until at least 12 months have passed after publication. The statement also highlights a growing consensus among scientific organizations and the need for an independent assessment of the broad implications of government's role in this area.—Diane Grob Schmidt, chair