A Bright Future

I ’m delighted to take over as editor-in-chief of Chemical & Engineering News. It is a publication that I have followed and admired for many years both as a member of the American Chemical Society and as a science communicator. The quality of its journalism is second to none; its readership large and diverse; its reach phenomenal.

As a way of introduction, I can tell you that I come from a fishing village in a region of northern Spain called Galicia. I studied chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela and took the last year of my degree in Manchester, England, as part of an Erasmus exchange program. That year proved to be quite crucial from a personal and professional perspective as I decided to stay in the U.K. and do my Ph.D. A few years later, still in the U.K., I got into publishing as a technical editor for the journal of the European Respiratory Society and then moved into magazines, first at U.S.-owned Advanstar and then at the Royal Society of Chemistry, where I worked for the past six years.

But before I go on and start talking about future plans I need to say thank you to a number of people. First of all, I would like to thank Rudy Baum for his dedication to C&EN over the years and specifically want to congratulate him for the excellent work he’s done in the past few months. From a personal perspective, I would like to thank him for being so generous with his knowledge and his time. He has been extremely supportive, an excellent ally and friend.

I would also like to thank ACS Executive Director and CEO Madeleine Jacobs and the ACS Board of Directors for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to lead such a talented team of journalists. As you know, Madeleine is retiring, and the announcement that Thomas Connelly will succeed her came out last week. I want to welcome Connelly, who will come on board in February 2015 (see page 5), and look forward to working with and learning from him as ACS continues to go from strength to strength.

And last but not least, I’d like to thank the ACS team and C&EN family for welcoming me into their midst and making me feel at home. I look forward to working with such a great group of people.

So what’s in the pipeline for C&EN? As Rudy mentioned in his last editorial, “Thanks for Reading, Again” (Dec. 1, page 3), a number of important projects are in the pipeline, most prominently, the reengineering and redesign of C&EN’s print edition and its website. Our goal is to update their look and feel so they accurately reflect the image and values of our brand and services. In the case of the website we are also looking to improve its performance and functionality to provide an excellent reader experience. We recognize that in today’s 24/7 society we have become accustomed to accessing news and information when we want them, where we want them, and in whichever format we prefer. Nowadays, the reader is king, and our aim is that the new design dovetails with your reading habits. To this end, I would like to encourage readers and members to continue to send comments, feedback, and suggestions. Your support and contribution will be essential for the successful completion of these projects.

I’d like to finish by saying that I fully understand the responsibilities that this post brings, and I am committed to continuing to deliver and build on the outstanding product that is C&EN.

I look forward to a bright future at ACS.