ACS Strengthens Bonds Abroad

ACS President Catherine T. (Katie) Hunt strengthened American Chemical Society bonds with sister chemical societies last month in meetings in London and Paris. Hunt and ACS Chair of the Board of Directors Judith L. Benham first met on July 12 with the Royal Society of Chemistry Council to discuss ACS legislative initiatives and the ACS strategic plan. The RSC Council is roughly equivalent to the ACS Board of Directors.

In the evening, Members of Parliament Brian Iddon and Mark Lancaster hosted a special dinner in the House of Commons for the ACS delegation, which also included ACS Executive Director and CEO Madeleine Jacobs, ACS Director of Membership & Scientific Advancement Denise L. Creech, and Acting Director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Tamara Nameroff. Jacobs, Creech, and Nameroff met earlier with their counterparts on the RSC staff to discuss ongoing collaborations between the two societies.

The ACS delegation then traveled to Paris to meet with presidents and staff of six leading chemical societies. The so-called C6 chemical societies represent nearly 300,000 members and include, in addition to ACS and RSC, the Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ), the German Chemical Society (GDCh), the French Chemical Society (SFC), and the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society. The societies pledged, in a joint statement, to "work together to promote global sustainable development, demand responsible use of resources, and ensure that the next generation of scientists protects and maintains the well-being of Earth and its inhabitants" (C&EN, July 23, page 10). The societies will follow up on a number of discussion items in the coming weeks and will invite other chemical societies to sign the declaration. Hunt led the initiative on sustainability at the meeting.

After the C6 meeting, SFC hosted a major international scientific meeting commemorating its 150th anniversary. Speaking in French to several hundred attendees, Hunt joined the presidents of more than a dozen international chemical societies who brought congratulations. Also speaking in French, Chemical Abstracts Service President Robert J. Massie delivered a major address at the meeting. Following Massie's address, Angewandte Chemie Editor-in-Chief Peter Gölitz and Journal of the American Chemical Society Editor-in-Chief Peter J. Stang gave presentations on scientific publishing in the Internet era.