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Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society

Sponsored by ACS

by Linda Wang
January 25, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 4

Cavanaugh
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Credit: Nicholas Anderson/NSF
Credit: Nicholas Anderson/NSF

Margaret (Marge) A. Cavanaugh is used to juggling numerous responsibilities as deputy assistant director for geosciences at the National Science Foundation, but it’s her knack for also juggling a full load of volunteer activities that has earned her special distinction.

“Cavanaugh has continuously donated her time and talents to the American Chemical Society,” says Maureen G. Chan, a councilor for the North Jersey Section who met Cavanaugh in 1982 when they both served on the Women Chemists Committee. “She has been a tireless advocate for women as a speaker and mentor and as a contributor to numerous ACS initiatives.”

Cavanaugh, 62, began volunteering for ACS in the late 1970s when she was elected secretary of the St. Joseph Valley Section, which serves north central Indiana and southwestern Michigan. Over the past 30 years, she has served as chair of the Women Chemists Committee, the Committee on Public Relations, the Committee on Science, and most recently the Committee on Ethics.

“As chair of the Committee on Science, Cavanaugh highlighted concerns on globalization, open access in scientific publishing, opportunities in new technologies, and concerns in graduate education,” Chan says. “She reached out to the ACS membership by forging partnerships with other committees and divisions and opening the committee to new ideas by beginning a series of ‘lunch box’ forums to discuss areas of importance to the chemical profession.”

Cavanaugh also served as a councilor for the St. Joseph Valley Section for many years and on the advisory board of Progress, an ACS pilot project to develop, test, and evaluate programs to support the advancement of women chemists and chemical engineers. In addition, she was a member of C&EN’s advisory board from 1998 to 2003.

Cavanaugh says she avoids spreading herself too thin by finding ways to link her volunteer activities to her career interests. “I’ve really tried to focus what I do for ACS,” Cavanaugh says. “If I could see a connection to my own professional development or that of the people whom I was either teaching or working with, then it made sense.”

Prior to joining NSF’s Chemistry Division as a program director in 1989, Cavanaugh served as professor and chair of the chemistry and physics department at Saint Mary’s College, in Notre Dame, Ind.

She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1968 from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1973, she earned a Ph.D. in physical inorganic chemistry from Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. From 1973 to 1975, she was a postdoctoral research associate and visiting assistant professor at the University of New Orleans.

“The list of her contributions does not convey the enthusiasm and effectiveness she brings to all of these contributions,” says Mary L. Good, Donaghey University Professor and dean at the University of Arkansas, in Little Rock, who Cavanaugh worked under as a postdoc. “Her warm personality and interest in people make her an exceptional volunteer.”

This is Cavanaugh’s second ACS national award. In 1995, she received the first ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.

Cavanaugh will present the award address at the ChemLuminary Awards celebration at the fall ACS national meeting in Boston.

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