Shakhashiri Is ACS President-Elect

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, a professor of chemistry and the first holder of the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will be the American Chemical Society president in 2012 and will serve on the ACS Board of Directors during his presidential succession, which will run from 2011 to 2013. Shakhashiri received 10% more votes than Luis A. Echegoyen, who holds the Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas, El Paso.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as a uniting and open president of the world's preeminent scientific organization, and I look forward to working together with our members to strengthen what ACS does best for its members and for society," Shakhashiri says. "ACS has great resilience and the capacity to adapt its programs and services to the rapidly changing world of science and technology. I shall devote my presidency to showcasing chemistry at its best in addressing significant societal concerns in the U.S. and around the world," he adds. "We must expand our efforts in communicating the value of science and technology to the public at large as well as to decision makers in government and the private sector."

Shakhashiri, a Ph.D. chemist, has considerable prior experience with ACS, including service on committees for international activities and education. He joined the society as a member in 1962 and has served as chair of the Division of Chemical Education and of the Wisconsin local section.

Outside of ACS, he has been an assistant director for science and engineering education at the National Science Foundation and founded the University of Wisconsin, Madison's Institute for Chemical Education.

In other election results, George M. Bodner, the Arthur E. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Education & Engineering at Purdue University, won a three-year term on the ACS Board for District II, defeating Joseph R. Peterson, a professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee and retired senior R&D staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

For District IV, Larry K. Krannich, executive director of the Alabama Academy of Science and a professor emeritus at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, received more votes than Will E. Lynch, head of the chemistry department at Armstrong Atlantic State University, in Savannah, Ga.

In at-large board elections, Kathleen M. Schulz, president of Business Results Inc., in Albuquerque, N.M., and Kent J. Voorhees, a professor of chemistry at Colorado School of Mines defeated Janan M. Hayes, a professor emeritus at Merced College, in Sacramento, Calif., and Robert L. Lichter, principal and cofounder of Merrimack Consultants, in Great Barrington, Mass. Both Voorhees and Hayes currently hold at-large board seats. The successful candidates for the two positions will serve three-year terms from 2011 to 2013.

The total number of valid votes cast for president-elect was 23,983. Total voter turnout was 15% of all eligible voters, slightly besting last year's 14% turnout of eligible voters. Of the votes cast for president-elect, approximately 76% were cast via the Internet—up from 73% last year.