Official Reports From The San Francisco Meeting

The major actions taken by the ACS Board and Council during the national meeting in San Francisco were reported in C&EN, March 29, page 7.

Reports of Society Committees

BUDGET & FINANCE

The Society Committee on Budget & Finance met on Saturday, March 20, to review the society's 2009 financial performance. The society ended 2009 with a net contribution from operations of $13.7 million, on revenues of $460.1 million and expenses of $446.4 million. This was $3.0 million favorable to the approved budget. After including the results of the Member Insurance Program and New Ventures, the society's overall net contribution for 2009 was $14.6 million, which was $5.3 million favorable to the approved budget. In addition, the society ended the year in compliance with four of the five board-established financial guidelines. The fund-balance ratio guideline, which measures reserve adequacy, was not met.

In other actions, the committee elected Thomas H. Lane as vice chair of the committee and voted to recommend to council that dues for 2011 be set at the fully escalated rate of $146. In addition, the committee received a report from its Subcommittee on Financial Impacts of Constitution & Bylaw Amendments on three petitions slated for consideration. These included the "Petition on International Chemical Sciences Chapters"; the "Petition on President-Elect Eligibility"; and the "Petition on Recorded Votes."

Reports were also received from the Subcommittee on Program Funding Requests on the schedule and process to be followed for 2011 new program funding and program reauthorization requests and from the Program Review Advisory Group on its planned activities in 2010.—John E. Adams, Chair

EDUCATION

The Society Committee on Education (SOCED) discussed the essential elements of a new initiative to increase the quantity and quality of high school chemistry teachers. The society's science education policy statement will expire at the end of 2010, and SOCED formed a task force to develop a revised statement for action in Boston. The committee also formed a task force to update the statement on scholarship.

The committee received an update from the SOCED Task Force on General Chemistry and engaged in a discussion on reforming the undergraduate general chemistry curriculum. SOCED received a progress report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Board-Presidential Task Force on Education, including the status of the three-year pilot of the ACS Science Coaches program. Six local sections have been approached to participate in the pilot. The recommendations pertaining to creating an association of high school teachers and a careers website will be developed later this year. The committee also received an update on activities planned for the International Year of Chemistry in 2011.—Mary K. Carroll, Chair

Board Committee Reports

Standing Committees

GRANTS & AWARDS

The Board Committee on Grants & Awards (G&A) held a virtual meeting on March 9. The committee voted to recommend to the board a screened list of five nominees for the 2011 Priestley Medal. The committee voted to recommend to the board a screened list of five nominees for the 2011 Charles Lathrop Parsons Award. The committee voted to recommend to the board a screened list of five nominees for the 2011 Award for Volunteer Service.

The committee ratified the following interim action taken since the Dec. 3, 2009, meeting:

• Acting under delegated authority, G&A voted to fund the ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry, July 21–29 at the Colorado School of Mines, for $100,000, from the 2009 ACS Green Chemistry Institute-Petroleum Research Fund allotment.
• The chair of the 2010 Awards Review Committee reported that the committee will review 14 of the ACS national awards to ensure that the awards program continues to meet the objectives of the society.
• The chair of the Fellows Oversight Committee reported that the committee will provide governance oversight for the Fellows Program. The call for nominations for the Fellows Program opened on March 8 and will close on May 7.
• The chair of the Subcommittee on Nominations & Selection reported that the committee will focus on tracking and analyzing data on the nomination and selection processes with a goal of increasing the diversity of the selection committees and award winners.
• The chair of the Subcommittee on Funding reported that the committee will review the list of national awards without sponsors and make recommendations to the Development Office for new sponsors. They will also work with technical divisions to identify new sponsors.

The committee reviewed a request from the ACS Public Affairs Office regarding the Grady-Stack Award, which received only three nominations for the 2011 award. The committee's policy is that a minimum of five nominations must be received for a given award in order for the Selection Committee to identify a winner.

In addition to the Grady-Stack Award, the Earle B. Barnes Award received only four nominations for the 2011 award. Acting under delegated authority, G&A voted to reopen nominations for the Grady-Stack Award and the Earle B. Barnes Award, with a new nomination deadline of April 30.

ACS has agreed to serve as a disciplinary partner in the Association for Women in Science Awards Project. AWIS is interested in developing a process to increase the number of women who receive national awards and prizes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The committee is identifying members to serve on an action group that will formulate a plan for achieving the stated goal.—Kent J. Voorhees, Chair

PROFESSIONAL & MEMBER RELATIONS

The Professional & Member Relations Committee's (P&MR) Subcommittee on Professional Advancement focused on the various aspects of the workforce globalization issue. The subcommittee will continue to inform members on current developments in this area through online information dissemination, P&MR breakfast meetings at national meetings, and a presidential event at the Boston national meeting.

The subcommittee is working with the Committee on Public Affairs & Public Relations to define key issues and opportunities to catalyze action on chemistry-related job creation in the U.S. with an emphasis on small businesses.

The Web Strategy & Innovation Subcommittee reviewed the current features offered by the ACS Network and announced an expanded set of features that will be available in the summer, following an upgrade to the network's current social-networking software.

P&MR received an update on the society's efforts to support the International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011). Among other things, organizers will promote IYC 2011 at regularly scheduled ACS 2010 outreach events, create a virtual toolbox for people who wish to create an IYC 2011 activity, and work with other scientific societies to produce a high-profile event in Philadelphia in February 2011.

P&MR received an update on a variety of diversity activities now under way. The committee was briefed on the efforts to implement the recently signed memorandum of understanding between ACS and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos & Native Americans in Science. In addition, the committee was alerted to the possibility of a future memorandum of understanding between the American Indian Science & Engineering Society and ACS.—Diane G. Schmidt, Chair

PUBLIC AFFAIRS & PUBLIC RELATIONS

The Committee on Public Affairs & Public Relations (PA&PR) had a virtual meeting on March 8 and highlighted three priority areas of focus in 2010:

• Developing position statements. The chair cited the need to renew the current global climate-change statement and to develop a statement addressing the reauthorization of the Toxic Substances Control Act. The chair referenced a recent C&EN article that highlighted statements in the development phase and how members can submit input (C&EN, Feb. 1, page 34).
• Increasing the number of local section public relations committees. The chair expressed confidence that the current number of 55 local section public relations committees could be substantially increased in 2010. A key mechanism for increasing the number of these committees would be to proactively engage ACS members through the Chemistry Ambassadors program (www.acs.org/chemistryambassadors) and the National Lab Day initiative (www.nationallabday.org). Both programs are being actively communicated to ACS members and local sections.
• Creating more science-based jobs in the U.S. The chair discussed conversations he has had with other ACS committees about a potential new advocacy thrust to create new science-based jobs in the U.S. The chair has asked the ACS Office of Public Affairs (OPA) to work with the federal government to establish policies that would make the U.S. a premier location in the world for science work.

The committee reviewed and voted by voice to adopt the recommendation of its Subcommittee on National Historic Chemical Landmarks to designate buckminsterfullerene a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The recognition ceremony for this award will be hosted by Rice University as part of a 25th anniversary celebration.

The committee also reviewed and discussed the results of a survey of committee members and ACS OPA government affairs staff that prioritized ACS 2010 policy statements. After discussion, the committee voted to adopt the 2010 policy prioritization.

The committee received several reports from ACS OPA staff that updated key programs and projects from the following areas:

• Advocacy. Staff presented an update on the federal legislative landscape and the outlook for favorable action on several ACS policy priorities, described efforts to more effectively align ACS member advocacy with members of key congressional committees, and provided an update on the state government affairs program successes in six states focused on science, technology, mathematics, and engineering education.
• Federal Relations. Staff provided an update on this new function within OPA focused on establishing stronger and deeper relationships with leadership at key federal agencies. A key aspect of the function is to provide increased opportunities for ACS leadership to interact with agency leadership to further develop lasting relationships. Several meetings with federal agencies are being planned for late first and early second quarters.
• Society Communications. Staff presented an update on the Chemistry Ambassadors program and how ACS members can become involved with the program (www.acs.org/chemistryambassadors). Other topics discussed included an update on the National Historic Chemical Landmark program planned for May 1 honoring the development of the diagnostic test-strip technology by Al and Helen Free, the issuance of the 2009 ACS annual report, plans for creating member awareness and engagement in support of the International Year of Chemistry 2011, and the Grady-Stack Award reception to be held on March 22 in San Francisco.
• Science Communications. Staff presented an overview of preparations that have been made to generate news coverage for research being presented at the San Francisco meeting. Those preparations have yielded 30 press releases and 20 scheduled press conferences and briefings. A full report on media coverage generated for the 239th national meeting will be presented to the board in mid-April.

The chair concluded the meeting by calling attention to a request the committee has received to generate thoughts and input for the new 2010 local section survey questionnaire.—William F. Carroll Jr., Chair

Other Board Standing and Joint Board-Council Committees

CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SERVICE

(Joint with Council)
The Committee on Chemical Abstracts Service (CCAS) met in executive session on March 19 and in open session jointly with the Joint Board-Council Committee on Publications and the Division of Chemical Information on March 22. CAS management reported on a number of developments including the new release of SciFinder and 2009 database milestones.

More than 10 million small molecules were added to the CAS Registry in 2009, for a total of 51.3 million. More than 1.2 million publications from journals, patents, and other sources were indexed in CA/CAplus, bringing total indexed publications to more than 28.7 million, and CAplus now has a total of 5.5 million indexed patents. CAS now covers 60 patent authorities with the addition of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines in late 2009.

The spring 2010 SciFinder release will improve the scientist's research experience in five specific areas: query entry (draw structures more efficiently), search (create more precise reaction searches and access an additional 13.6 million synthetic preparations with a single reaction query), results display (access preferred chemical supplier information more directly), results manipulation (work more easily with combined answer sets), and post-processing (export results for reference management software in .ris format and print PDF).

Members discussed the committee's mission and ways to improve the flow of information from the society's members to CAS management as well as providing information back to the ACS membership. The committee agreed that the chair and CCAS members will take a more active role within the open-meeting format. Mechanisms will be put in place by the fall 2010 ACS meeting with the objective of improving communication and will be reported at that time.—Spiro D. Alexandratos, Chair

CHEMICAL SAFETY

(Joint with Council)
In the year following the sad passing of University of California, Los Angeles, research associate Sheri Sangji, yet another injury has occurred in a university lab setting. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has announced that it will investigate the cause of an explosion in a lab at Texas Tech University. The Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS) looks forward to the result of this investigation and will make use of the data as they relate to ethics and professional responsibility.

At the urging of CCS and the Division of Chemical Health & Safety, the Board Committee on Grants & Awards recently announced that it has revised the criterion requiring adherence to the ACS Chemical Professional's Code of Conduct during the grants and awards nomination process.

CCS subcommittees and the Laboratory Chemical & Waste Management Task Force are producing useful publications and other media. CCS is currently completing an Arabic translation of its popular pamphlet, "Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories," and the task force is in the final stage of publication of "Laboratory Waste Management: A Guidebook."

During the past year, a number of committee members staffed Division of Chemical Health & Safety/CCS booths at the well-attended expositions during the Washington, D.C., and San Francisco ACS national meetings.

CCS has as its primary responsibility the encouragement of safe practices in chemical activities. We are committed to the ACS mission and the transforming power of chemistry through safety.—Laurence J. Doemeny, Chair

CHEMISTS WITH DISABILITIES

The Committee on Chemists with Disabilities (CWD) engaged in strategic planning at this meeting to ensure that its activities are in alignment with current and future ACS strategic/diversity goals.

President Joseph Francisco spoke with CWD to solicit input on the advancement of ACS diversity goals and on how to increase the participation of persons with disabilities within the chemical enterprise in general and within ACS in particular.

The need to properly gather data to accurately assess the number of ACS members with disabilities was stressed in order to better gauge and meet the needs of these members. ACS will be engaging in this effort in the very near future via the addition of questions to existing previously planned member surveys.

CWD continues to advocate for the full accessibility of ACS programs, products, and services as evidenced by the increased use of closed captioning during core portions of the San Francisco meeting. Numerous members gave positive feedback indicating that use of captioning greatly enhanced their meeting experience, and CWD will assist the ACS Committee on Meetings & Expositions to ensure full inclusion for all members at every meeting.

Chemists with disabilities participated with their peers in a well-attended and educational diversity reception in San Francisco, which was organized under the auspices of the Joint Subcommittee on Diversity. CWD will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in Boston and invites all of ACS to join us in marking the milestone occasion.—Judith A. Summers-Gates, Chair

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

At the San Francisco national meeting, the Committee on Community Activities (CCA) partnered with the Office of the President and the local sections in the area to host a hands-on sustainability outreach event at the California Academy of Sciences. The event attracted more than 400 people from the local community. ACS President Joseph Francisco presented the museum with a Salutes to Excellence plaque for their support of the event.

Chemists Celebrate Earth Day (CCED) will be celebrated on April 22 with its plant-based theme, "Plants—The Green Machines." The CCED edition of "Celebrating Chemistry," the hands-on activity publication produced for elementary school children, is being distributed through the nationwide ACS volunteer network.

CCA continued to develop plans for the 2010 National Chemistry Week program and the 2011 International Year of Chemistry celebration.

Upcoming National Chemistry Week

Oct. 17–23: "Behind the Scenes with Chemistry"

International Year of Chemistry Outreach Themes

Quarter 1: "Environment"

Quarter 2: "Energy, with a focus on Chemists Celebrate Earth Day"

Quarter 3: "Materials"

Quarter 4: "Health, with a focus on National Chemistry Week"

"Water" will be the overarching theme that connects the quarterly topics. Throughout the year, scientists who have made significant contributions to chemistry will also be featured.—Lynn Hogue, Chair

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT

In San Francisco, the Committee on Environmental Improvement (CEI) worked on the final details of the theme-related programming, which included 1,600 papers in 95 symposia organized by 23 divisions, six committees, and the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, featuring a wide range of cutting-edge science.

This sustainability-related programming allowed ACS to highlight to the public, press, and government policymakers, chemistry's role in solving global challenges. For the Boston meeting, CEI is planning a presidential symposium on sustainability in chemical education. This program will feature national and international leaders in this arena as well as the first awardees from a new ACS-CEI program recognizing exemplary work in the incorporation of sustainability into chemistry education.

The committee also is continuing to make grants to local sections for innovative programming. These applications are accepted throughout the year and acted on at each national meeting. At this meeting, CEI approved a second award to the Syracuse Section to organize a sustainability fair.

In the communications arena, CEI is reviewing the ideas generated through the Sustainability Engagement Event, which helped to focus the interest and energy in San Francisco around sustainability into opportunities for continuing activities of interest to members. These ideas will add to the foundation of content and messages that CEI is exploring for an enhanced ACS Web presence concerning sustainability.

Public policy continues to be a major CEI focus.

The committee, in cooperation with other committees, is working this year to recommend four statements to the board of directors on biomonitoring, climate change, energy policy, and chemical regulation. The committee will be inviting member input concerning the redrafting of the climate-change statement through the ACS Network this summer, through a town hall meeting during the national meeting in Boston, and at our open committee meeting.—Martin A. Abraham, Chair

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

(Joint with Council)
At its meeting in San Francisco, the International Activities Committee (IAC) focused its general deliberations on how to best enhance the society's global impact and its efforts to be more welcoming to chemists with international interests.

Leading up to the San Francisco IAC meeting, the chair conducted a series of interviews to systematically gather information on interests, capacities, and aspirations of 2010 IAC appointees and key international internal and external stakeholders. The aim of these preparatory meetings was to map the committee's interests to the ACS Strategic Plan, 2011 International Year of Chemistry, and United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Three areas of focus for IAC were agreed upon: ACS international collaborations furthering chemistry's role in addressing global challenges, sustaining momentum of International Year of Chemistry beyond 2011, and helping extend the society's engagements in international education and training.

IAC convened a panel discussion on chemistry's contributions to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to the ACS Strategic Plan and our efforts to contribute to the U.S. celebration of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry. IAC also heard reports from and held discussions with the ACS president and president- elect on their international interests and priorities and how IAC might help in fulfillment thereof.

In response to a request from IAC at the Washington, D.C., national meeting, IAC Subcommittee IV on Scientific Freedom & Human Rights presented on its origins, purposes, activities, and its support of the society's international strategic interests.

Partner society officials from IUPAC, EuCHeMS, the Canadian Institute of Chemistry, RSC, and the Brazilian Chemistry Society, participated in an IAC roundtable on accelerating and hindering factors of intersociety collaboration (agreements implementation and accountabilities) with emphasis on multilateral engagements.

The committee also voted to endorse a concept to leverage and extend among ACS local sections the highly successful ACS Northeastern Section/German Chemical Society (GDCh) exchange template and to explore extending to the industrial sector, Asia, and Latin America, the ACS International Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program.—Judith L. Benham, Chair

MINORITY AFFAIRS

(Joint with Council)
In San Francisco, the Committee on Minority Affairs (CMA) reviewed its mission, vision, and goals. After careful discussion, the committee agreed to adopt the following:

Mission: To increase the number and participation of racially and ethnically underrepresented scientists in the society and its governance.

Vision: ACS membership and governance will be representative of the racial and ethnic diversity in the general U.S. population.

Areas of Focus:

• Increase diversity by 10% in membership and leadership.
• Better communicate CMA activities.
• Recognize achievement of outstanding minority chemical scientists.

To accomplish its goals in each of these priority areas, the committee also dissolved its current committee structure, with exception of the ACS Scholars Subcommittee, and formed three new committees.

The new subcommittee structure follows:

• Membership Subcommittee (cochairs, Kimberly Jackson and Darryl Prater)
• Awards & Recognition Subcommittee (cochairs, Joan Frye and Felix Rivas)
• Diversity Awareness Subcommittee (cochairs Luke Achenie and Al Ribes)
• ACS Scholars Subcommittee (chair, Linette Watkins)

The 15th anniversary of the ACS Scholars Program is in 2010. Current and former scholars are being recognized in C&EN throughout the year. A presidential symposium is also being planned featuring ACS Scholars for the Boston meeting. In addition, CMA is working with the Women Chemists Committee and the Younger Chemists Committee to develop a series of symposia highlighting Women of Color in Chemistry.—Allison Aldridge, Chair

PATENTS & RELATED MATTERS

(Joint with Council)
The Committee on Patents & Related Matters (CPRM) focuses on three main areas: First, it provides ACS members and the general public with information about patents and other intellectual property issues. Second, CPRM proposes nominations of notable inventors for external national awards that recognize the innovations and inventions of chemists. Finally, CPRM monitors legislative and regulatory developments influencing intellectual property in ways that impact the chemical enterprise.

During the past year, CPRM has recommended a new policy statement on U.S. Patent Reform. The statement incorporates compromise positions reflecting the diverse interests of the chemical enterprise. Among the committee's recommendations are improving funding for the Patent & Trademark Office by preventing patent-fee diversion. The statement also advocates adopting a first-to-file patent system. The board of directors has adopted our recommended statement.

CPRM has recommended nominees for the National Inventors Hall of Fame, National Women's Hall of Fame, and the National Medal of Technology & Innovation. CPRM also engages in educational outreach to help chemists and others understand the patent system. CPRM has partnered with the Division of Chemistry & the Law to provide patent-related programming at national and regional meetings.

In addition, CPRM has created numerous educational materials, many of which provide guidance regarding second careers in the area of intellectual property. CPRM's materials are available on its new website: www.acs-chal.org.

CPRM has developed active working relationships with many governance units. If you are interested in working with us, please contact us.—Andrew G. Gilicinski, Chair

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

(Joint with Council)
At the March 2010 meeting, the Committee on Professional Training (CPT) evaluated periodic reports and updates from 45 approved programs, met in conference with three programs applying for ACS approval, and discussed progress reports from four applicants and one appeal of an action to withdraw approval.

The committee voted to approve four new programs and to uphold withdrawal of approval for one school. The total number of colleges and universities offering ACS-approved bachelor's degree programs in chemistry is now 660.

The committee hosted a meeting with representatives from approximately 30 Ph.D.-granting chemistry departments to discuss the advantages and challenges of the ACS approval process and the preparation of students for graduate study. The committee has organized a second meeting with Ph.D.-granting departments to be held at the ACS national meeting in Boston. A report on the findings and recommendations from these meetings will be published in the fall issue of the CPT Newsletter.

Two new supplements to the ACS Guidelines were published in March. These supplements focus on the elements of undergraduate program excellence and ways in which rigorous educational experiences can be used to foster excellence. Both documents are available on the ACS website at www.acs.org/cpt.

The committee continued discussion of a policy statement on the feasibility of approval or evaluation of chemistry programs located outside of the U.S. and its territories. Identifying opportunities to partner with international chemical societies in promoting excellence in postsecondary chemistry education is of particular interest to the committee.

Among other actions, the committee developed plans for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of CPT in 2011, approved the annual report of degrees granted in 2008–09, and reviewed the results from the 422 chemistry programs that responded to the faculty status survey. The survey is designed to capture important data on the number of instructional staff in various categories (tenure-track, permanent, temporary, etc.) and their role in the delivery of the chemistry curriculum.—Cynthia K. Larive, Chair

PUBLICATIONS

(Joint with Council)
The committee voted unanimously to elect Kevin Gable as vice chair.

The Conference of Editors of ACS Publications was held in January. Topics included a forum on the financial and operational health of the division and a review of ongoing developments across all aspects of the publishing operation.

ACS journal editors were briefed on a report from the Taskforce for Development of Best Practice Guidelines for Editor Appointments and provided feedback. The Joint Board-Council Committee on Publications reviewed and accepted this report at its spring 2010 meeting.

The editorial monitoring reports for the Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Energy & Fuels were presented, discussed thoroughly, and accepted with thanks. The committee deliberated regarding the reappointment of the editors of these respective journals, and submitted recommendations to the ACS Board of Directors for their consideration.

C&EN has embarked on an ambitious effort: The C&EN Production Automation program, a set of four interrelated projects that will establish a Web content and delivery system for C&EN, enable syndication of C&EN content to ACS journal websites, and create an archive of C&EN extending back to its first issue in 1923.

The Copyright Subcommittee presented an update on the ACS Copyright Office's licensing-related activities.—John N. Russell Jr., Chair

SCIENCE

(Joint with Council)
The Committee on Science (ComSci) sponsored a symposium, "Resources for Learning about Sustainable Energy Systems" on March 22 in San Francisco. The symposium focused on informal education in science museums and formal education for degree programs.

As part of the 2011 celebration of the International Year of Chemistry, ComSci proposed, and the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry approved, a symposium on alternative energy systems to be held in Puerto Rico. ComSci is partnering with appropriate ACS divisions in planning this symposium.

ComSci has compiled information regarding informal and formal educational resources. The committee has also completed literature reviews and bibliographies on nine areas of interest related to alternative energy systems for sustainability. These will be posted on ComSci's website, www.acs.org/comsci. The committee plans to publish a special issue of the Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research to cover all aspects of alternative energy systems for sustainability.

ComSci is organizing two symposia for the Boston national meeting. One will highlight formal and informal educational resources on the East Coast on energy sustainability. The second symposium will highlight advances in hydrogen and wind energy for sustainability.

ComSci has embarked upon a new initiative, a "Comprehensive STEM Education Pipeline to Achieve Innovation & Entrepreneurship." This initiative will examine the challenges and opportunities related to the various aspects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and develop a report with recommendations and policy implications. A task force was established and appropriate committees and divisions have been invited to participate.—Sadiq Shah, Chair

WOMEN CHEMISTS

(Joint with Council)
The beautiful city of San Francisco provided the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) the opportunity to sponsor and cosponsor events in recognition of the 12 women who are 2010 ACS National Award recipients. Our congratulations to each of these outstanding scientists!

More than 200 ACS meeting attendees were present for the WCC Luncheon and heard keynote speaker, Judith Giordan, 2010 Francis P. Garvan-John Olin Medal recipient, give an inspiring and provocative talk. Her award symposium, "Staying at the Table," cosponsored by the Divisions of Small Chemical Businesses, Business Development & Management, and Professional Relations, followed. It kicked-off a new WCC initiative targeted at mid-career chemists, "Just Cocktails"—a national meeting networking event and ongoing blog.

The Women in Industry Breakfast on Monday morning was highly successful with the format of speed networking. More than 100 participants had the opportunity to practice their elevator speeches and make professional connections.

In addition to recognizing established scientists, WCC, with continued support from Eli Lilly & Co., awarded 14 travel grants to young women presenting their research for the first time at a national venue. WCC continues to apply its strategy of taking a lead role in attracting women into the chemical sciences, assisting with their career development, recognizing them for achievements, and promoting science. More information can be found at the newly branded WCC website at womenchemists.sites.acs.org, which includes the most recent electronic newsletter, the online photo album of WCC events, the "Just Cocktails" blog, and applications for travel grants and sponsored lectureships.—Janet L. Bryant, Chair

YOUNGER CHEMISTS

(Joint with Council)
YCC continues to promote its vision to lead younger chemists into successful careers and active roles in ACS and the profession. To this end, YCC rewrote its strategic plan to focus on what it does best and developed goals that will help YCC accomplish its mission and vision.

During this process, YCC also looked at how it was organized as a committee. As a result of this introspective look, YCC developed a new committee structure that makes it lean, more efficient, and more in line with other committees in the society. YCC implemented its new committee structure during the San Francisco meeting in March.

YCC continues to develop programming of interest to younger chemists. It sponsored the following symposia in San Francisco: "Sustainability and the Wine Industry," "Science of Communication," and "Starting a Successful Research Program at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions."

YCC is always looking for new ways to get younger chemists involved in ACS. The Ciba Young Scientist Leadership Development Endowment has been established and will provide travel grants of $500 to allow postdoctoral and early-career chemists to attend ACS national or regional meetings to exhibit research and for professional development purposes. YCC is administering this program and more details can be found at ycc.sites.acs.org.

YCC also continues to work with the Joint Subcommittee on Diversity (JSD). Through JSD, YCC finds tremendous benefit in the collaboration on programming, national meeting events, and discussion on diversity-related topics. In addition, YCC facilitates online communication with its members by using tools such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google groups, discussion threads and blogs. More information can be found on the YCC website at www.acs.org/ycc.—Michael Hurrey, Chair

Council Committee Reports

Elected Committees

COMMITTEES

The Committee on Committees (ConC) held its annual training for new committee chairs in late January at the ACS Leadership Development Institute in Fort Worth.

ConC began developing its recommendations for 2011 committee chair appointments for consideration by the president-elect and the chair of the board. ConC continues to focus efforts to identify members with the requisite skills and expertise using preference forms for councilors and noncouncilors.

A performance review for the Committee on Science has been completed, and ConC's recommendation for the continuation of this committee will appear on the council agenda for the fall national meeting in Boston. Performance reviews for the committees on Ethics, Project SEED, and Publications are under way, and it is expected that ConC's recommendations for the continuation of these committees will appear on the council agenda at a national meeting next year.

Another ConC Task Force continues discussions on the implementation of the recommendations offered by the Board-ConC Action Enablement Team.

ConC was informed that the Council Policy Committee (CPC) voted to express support for the principles embodied in the proposed Committee Expense Reimbursement Policy and has asked the task force to examine details and options for reconsideration by CPC in fall 2010.—Les W. McQuire, Chair

NOMINATIONS & ELECTIONS

After a review of the member population distributed within the six electoral districts to ensure that the districts have equitable representation, the committee was pleased to report that the six districts are in compliance. N&E held a successful President-Elect Town Hall meeting and received excellent feedback from attendees.

The committee continues to evaluate and update its campaign guidelines and is also developing a strategic plan. At council, N&E reminded all divisions and local sections that their elections must be conducted in compliance with their bylaws.

In its executive session, N&E developed slates of potential candidates for the Council Policy Committee (CPC) and the Committee on Committees (ConC) for 2011–13 terms. These slates will appear in the fall council agenda, and councilors will vote on the final list of candidates at the fall meeting.

In the 2009 fall national election, 6,139 members opted for e-ballots only. This process worked extremely well. Of the members who voted in that election, 73% cast their ballots electronically via the Web.

N&E continues to solicit councilor input of qualified individuals for president-elect and directors for future consideration.

The committee voted unanimously to oppose the constitutional amendment in the "Petition on Candidate Selection by Member Petition." N&E noted that the proposed changes are unnecessary and redundant, and that the petition candidate process is sufficiently described in the bylaws.

The committee drafted a revised "Petition on Election Timelines 2009," which accelerates and compresses the timings of national election processes and drafted two petitions for consideration: the "Petition on Recorded Votes" and the "Petition on President-Elect Eligibility."—Frank D. Blum, Chair

Standing Committees

CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS

The Committee on Constitution & Bylaws (C&B) announced that ACS governing documents (Bulletin 5) have been updated with the petition changes that were effective in 2009. The Jan. 1, 2010, edition is available online at www.acs.org/bulletin5. Also, petitions and certified bylaws for all units (divisions, local sections, and international chemical sciences chapters) are also posted on this website.

C&B presented three petitions for action. The first one, "Petition on Admissions Committee," was approved by council. The next two petitions, "Petition on Candidate Selection by Member Petition" and "Petition on Election Timelines 2009," were defeated.

The following petitions were presented to council for consideration: "Petition on International Chemical Sciences Chapters," "Petition on President-Elect Eligibility," and "Petition on Recorded Votes." Final reports from C&B and the Budget & Finance Committee will be included in the petitions when they are presented for action in Boston. Opponents may submit written arguments to the committees with primary responsibility or to bylaws@acs.org by April 23.

New petitions to amend the constitution or the bylaws must be received by the executive director by May 5 to be included in the fall council agenda.

C&B urges local sections and divisions to request a preliminary review of their proposed amendments prior to a vote by their members. Local sections and divisions planning to revise their bylaws should obtain a Word version of their current certified bylaws from the committee's staff liaison at bylaws@acs.org.—Alan M. Ehrlich, Chair

DIVISIONAL ACTIVITIES

The Divisional Activities Committee (DAC) approved four Innovative Project Grant proposals totaling $27,500. DAC will consider another set of proposals at the Boston national meeting in August. In order to have their proposals considered by DAC in Boston, divisions must submit them no later than July 1.

Operating as a DAC subcommittee, the Multidisciplinary Program Planning Group has approved the following themes for upcoming national meetings: spring 2011, Anaheim, Calif., "Chemistry of Natural Resources"; fall 2011, Denver, "Chemistry of Air, Space & Water"; spring 2012, San Diego, "Chemistry of Life"; and fall 2012, Philadelphia, "Materials for Health & Medicine."

Regarding the Program & Abstract Creation System (PACS), DAC is aware that a significant number of division program chairs and session organizers encountered frustration in organizing their technical programs for this meeting. Three open forums on this subject were held in San Francisco. The objectives of these meetings were to provide division program and session organizers with a chance to give ACS staff input on their experiences with PACS, and to allow staff to share its plan to improve the situation. DAC will closely monitor this matter.

Approximately 300 presentations from the San Francisco meeting were recorded for electronic dissemination. The presentations will be available online to San Francisco meeting registrants on April 16.—David J. Lohse, Chair

ECONOMIC & PROFESSIONAL AFFAIRS

In San Francisco, the Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs (CEPA) focused on renewal. As the U.S. slowly begins to emerge from the economic recession, some green shoots of hope are showing. However, chemical companies continue to struggle with weak demand for products and large backlogs of inventory.

The pharmaceutical and biotech industries are still normalizing after massive mergers and acquisitions that continue to take place and the export of jobs and factories to countries offering cheap and abundant labor. The result during the past two years has been a series of layoffs and limited opportunities.

Numbers for the ACS Career Fair were relatively low. The turnout for employers and jobs seekers repeats what was seen last year in Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. CEPA is concerned and will continue to monitor the situation. Specifically, the Career Fair attracted 40 employers, 1,029 job seekers, and 116 positions available.

CEPA, along with the board of directors and the Presidential Task Force on Innovation in the Chemical Enterprise, is monitoring economic trends, U.S. policy, and workforce data. CEPA hosted a focus group to identify workforce issues of greatest concern. Based on their feedback, the committee will draft public policy statements for board approval, and create or modify programs for our members to ensure that we remain competitive in this global marketplace.

CEPA is set to send the 2010 ChemCensus to 87,000 ACS members and asks that members respond to this survey so a more thorough understanding of the ways that changes in the economy are affecting members can be developed.

In these challenging times, CEPA and the ACS Careers team have redoubled their efforts to reach out to local sections and divisions with resources for job seekers, including an expanded webinar series. These are offered as a free service of the society to help our members.

CEPA has an agreement with the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) to offer project management training online at a cost of 25% less than out-of-state tuition rates. UMUC also offers deferred-payment, interest-free loans for their courses.

Members are also reminded that the society offers many other services to those who are unemployed. A full listing of these programs and services is available on the ACS website at www.acs.org/unemployed.

CEPA organized or cosponsored several symposia, including one on non-traditional careers in chemistry. In addition, volunteer career consultants and presenters conducted 38 workshops and hundreds of mock interviews and résumé reviews. CEPA expects the programming to be just as active at the national meeting in Boston.—Lynne P. Greenblatt, Chair

LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES

The Committee on Local Section Activities (LSAC) hosted the local-section track of the ACS Leadership Institute on Jan. 22–24 in Fort Worth, where 109 of 189 sections were represented.

At the San Francisco meeting, 33 Innovative Project Grants were approved for full or partial funding. The next application deadline is on June 30. Grant programs continuing for 2010 are Science Café, Student Member Bridging the Gap, Leadership Development Courses in local sections, and Leadership Institute travel stipends.

LSAC reported that the "Online Speaker Directory" will go live for in April 2011 speaker planning. A training webinar is tentatively scheduled for May 6. This is a renew, refresh, and remodel of the current tour speaker program. The new directory provides greater flexibility in planning speaker events, allows one-stop events, and increases the information available for selecting speakers.

Local sections using the new directory and completing the evaluation may apply for up to $400 in speaker travel reimbursement. Sections may continue to apply for funds until they reach the $400 cap per section. Staff will be available to assist sections with this transition. General parts of the program were communicated to local sections in an e-mail dated March 18.

LSAC voted to continue the current formula for local section allotments. LSAC is revamping the local section annual report form. A request for input from committees and stakeholders has been made with responses due by May 15.

Grant and program information can be found at www.acs.org/getinvolved.—Lee H. Latimer, Chair

MEETINGS & EXPOSITIONS

The Committee on Meetings & Expositions (M&E) reports that the 239th ACS national meeting in San Francisco hosted 18,093 attendees, including 9,725 full registrants, 5,710 students, 1,219 exhibitors, 925 exposition only, and 514 guests. In addition, 75% of the divisions programming at this meeting were able to hold technical programs in the convention center; this is significantly higher than previous meetings.

The exposition had 387 booths and 257 exhibiting companies.

M&E thanks the attendees for their commitment to helping fulfill our hotel-block obligations. ACS should have no financial penalties related to housing for this meeting.

In accordance with the board-approved, long-range financial plan for the national meeting, M&E recommends to the Board Committee on Budget & Finance that the 2011 registration fees be increased by $5.00, making the member rate for the 2011 national meetings $355.

The committee is pleased to report that attendees surveyed after the last fall meeting in Washington, D.C., gave an approval rating of 96%, recommending Washington, D.C., as a future site of a fall national meeting. Unfortunately, based on the quoted cost of hotel rooms and the unavailability of hotel meeting space because of other national events taking place at the time of the 2014 spring national meeting, M&E recommends that the board move the 2014 spring meeting from Washington, D.C., to Dallas.

M&E hereby proposes the sites and dates to the board for the 2020 national meetings: M&E recommends to the board that the spring national meeting be held in Philadelphia, on March 22 to March 26, 2020. Also, M&E recommends to the board that the fall national meeting be held in San Francisco, on Aug. 23 to Aug. 27, 2020.

Future national meetings will also have a full-day shuttle schedule. Please note that in San Francisco the shuttles were run using biodiesel fuel. M&E will continue to work with committees such as the Committee on Environmental Improvement to help in our sustainability efforts, including using recyclable materials wherever possible.

Finally, in 2009 a total of seven regional meetings were held, and they attracted more than 5,100 attendees and received a total of 3,083 abstracts.—William R. Oliver, Chair

MEMBERSHIP AFFAIRS

The Membership Affairs Committee (MAC) reviewed year-end 2009 membership numbers. Membership increased from 154,024 to 161,783, including 11,473 new student members. The number of new member applications received in 2009 was 21,762, the highest total ever.

The popular Member-Get-A-Member Campaign resulted in an all-time high of 2,178 new members.

The 2009 ACS President's Challenge resulted in 3,752 new ACS members recruited by divisions and local section. Joseph Francisco announced that he will continue the challenge in 2010.

Members are now offered a new benefit, the "ACS Chemical Industry Buyers Guide," an online directory of industry-specific products, services, and information. Visit www.acs.org and look for the "ACS Chemical Industry Buyers Guide" link.

All member benefits are now highlighted in the online, interactive "ACS Member Handbook" at www.acs.org/memberhandbook. The new site features member videos and links to information throughout the ACS website.

Also online is an undergraduate recruiting tool, undergrad.acs.org. The mini-site is a virtual tool to be used by students, faculty, and anyone else to introduce undergraduates to ACS. The site is being referred via social networking tools.

MAC is working with the Society Committee on Education to compare ACS benefits for high school teachers to those offered by the various high school teacher organizations.

MAC, along with other ACS committees, has named a representative to serve on the Board-Presidential Task Force on Society Services & Associated Dues Pricing Models.—D. Richard Cobb, Chair

Other Committees

ETHICS

The ACS Ethics Committee cosponsored with the Division of Chemical Health & Safety a symposium titled "Perspectives on Biofuels: Potential & Possible Pitfalls." The committee also presented its "Professional Ethics Workshop" at the Southeast Regional meeting last October in Puerto Rico.

The committee will be sponsoring a symposium at Pacifichem 2010, titled "Cultural Influences on Professional Ethics." This symposium will explore the influence of a student's local or national culture on his or her ability to integrate into the professional culture of the country in which he or she ultimately finds employment.

The Ethics Education Subcommittee continues to develop and refine ethics case studies into a form suitable for use as instructional resources on its Web page www.acs.org/ethics. The Ethics Awareness Subcommittee is engaged in indexing the material already on the Ethics Committee website to highlight those pages that may be of particular interest to individual ACS constituencies, such as students, women, industrial chemists, and senior professionals.

The Ethics Committee met with members of the Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs Subcommittee on Standards & Ethics to explore the potential for collaborative efforts. The Ethics Committee also met with a delegation from the Committee on Chemical Safety. Discussion identified several areas in which the two committees saw an intersection of ethics and safety. The committees decided to work together to develop and disseminate materials relating to safety and ethics.—David J. Chesney, Chair

NOMENCLATURE, TERMINOLOGY & SYMBOLS

The Committee on Nomenclature, Terminology & Symbols held its executive session on Monday, March 22, in San Francisco.

Final adoption of the name copernicium and symbol Cn for element 112 was reviewed as approved by the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry. The committee's due diligence on the redefinition of the kilogram led to the organization of the presidential symposium, "The Kilogram and the Mole." Several of the speakers will publish their viewpoints on how the proposed changes to these universally recognized units will affect the practice of chemistry.

The list of nomenclature-generation software was updated as well as the Wikipedia entry on chemical nomenclature. The new version of the committee's website was demonstrated live: www.acs.org/nomenclature. The committee discussed nanotechnology terminology initiatives it could take by contributing to the program of one or more of the divisions.

Continuing efforts to build connections to other standards bodies and committees were assessed with general agreement that there are more liaisons possible than the committee's resources permit.

All activities were reviewed with respect to the ACS Strategic Plan and metrics that emphasize the committee's commitment to communication, education, and collaboration.—Peter F. Rusch, Chair

PROJECT SEED

Since 1968, Project SEED has helped high school students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to explore the world of chemistry through hands on research experience. By the end of this summer, nearly 9,500 summer research experiences will have been provided to high school students.

The 2009 exit survey confirms that the program continues to serve low-income and minority students. As result of their experiences in Project SEED, a large portion of participants plan to go to college, and 52% plan to major in chemistry, engineering, and other sciences areas. Students reported that their involvement in Project SEED enabled them to discover new skills and abilities and influenced them to continue their education after high school.

The committee evaluated the 2010 research projects that will place approximately 500 high school students in more than 140 academic, government, and industrial laboratories to conduct meaningful chemistry research. The estimated program cost, exclusively for student stipends, will be $1,500,000.

The stipends for 2010 remain unchanged at $2,800 and $3,300 for Summer I and II, respectively. Thirty-three college scholarships, totaling $165,000, will be awarded to former Project SEED students for the 2010–11 academic year.

In addition, three Ciba scholarships will be awarded to three previous SEED scholarship recipients. This program is made possible by generous contributions from industry, academia, local sections, ACS friends and members, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, and the Project SEED Endowment.

The committee encourages all members to continue using the dues check-off option on their ACS membership renewal to support this remarkable program.—Joshua J. Pak, Chair

TECHNICIAN AFFAIRS

The Committee on Technician Affairs (CTA) uses ACS governance channels and society resources to speak for applied chemical technology professionals employed in the U.S. CTA's goals are to raise public awareness of the value of technicians, to make technicians relevant to ACS, and to make ACS relevant to technicians.

Because of the dissolution of the Division of Chemical Technicians in 2009, CTA has accepted responsibility for several activities it formerly administered, including the National Chemical Technician of the Year Award. CTA recognized and hosted a reception in honor of Thelma Watterson, senior laboratory technician at Eastman Chemical. Watterson is the 22nd recipient of this highly regarded annual award.

In 2010, CTA continues to support and participate in activities and programs coordinated by the Joint Subcommittee on Diversity. CTA is one of the five founding committees, along with the Women Chemists Committee, Younger Chemists Committee, Committee on Minority Affairs, and the Committee on Chemists with Disabilities.

CTA continues to research and develop a plan for continuing education opportunities for applied-chemical-technology professionals; it is a recognized need for this vast national workforce, and various courses, institutions, and methods of content delivery are being investigated.

In support of the International Year of Chemistry 2011, CTA has submitted a topic for consideration by the "365: Chemistry for Life" program, and is working to define other opportunities to participate in this global initiative.

CTA continues to seek opportunities to collaborate with other stakeholders as it strives to advance the chemical enterprise and all of its practitioners.—John K. Barrett, Chair