ACS Boosts Its Global Presence

When American Chemical Society member JitKang Lim returned to his home country of Malaysia after earning his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009, he suddenly felt disconnected from the professional society he had come to rely on for support and camaraderie throughout graduate school. While in the U.S., he had participated regularly in ACS outreach activities, but back in Malaysia, there were no ACS activities to join. He began questioning the value he was getting from his membership.

In 2013, Lim met three Malaysian chemists at an ACS workshop in Thailand, and the four of them decided to form an ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapter in Malaysia. The chapter was approved by the ACS Board of Directors in April 2014 and now boasts more than 200 members.

Grassroots efforts like this one in Malaysia are under way around the world as ACS members living abroad band together to establish ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapters in their home countries. These chapters are allowing ACS members living outside the U.S. to stay engaged with the society and at the same time share their country’s contributions to chemistry and chemical engineering.

“It’s exciting,” says H. N. Cheng, chair of the ACS Committee on International Activities. “The world is producing a lot more chemists, and we need to think about our international members and the global chemistry enterprise.”

Earlier this month, the ACS Board of Directors approved the establishment of two additional international chapters, in India and Taiwan, bringing the total number of international chapters to 11.

“For ACS, having members congregate and organize activities for themselves provides value for us in those geographies,” says Ricardo McKlmon, marketing manager for innovation and international recruitment at ACS. “They are our eyes and ears on the ground, and we have to make sure that we invest in them appropriately. We’re seeing a greater degree of integration into ACS.”

The ACS Board of Directors approved its first international chemical sciences chapter in Saudi Arabia in 1992. In 1997, ACS established a second international chapter in Hong Kong, followed by Hungary in 2002.

Since then, interest has spread elsewhere in the world. Shanghai and Thailand formed international chapters in 2011; Romania started its chapter in 2013; and Malaysia, South Africa, and South Korea were added in 2014. Additionally, five countries have applications under consideration by the ACS Board of Directors.

Cheng says the international chapters are beginning to resemble ACS local sections. Like local sections, international chapters are now eligible to apply for ACS grants and awards, such as the Global Innovation Grants, which promote international cooperation. And the chapters can benefit from other opportunities not previously available to international members. The Saudi Arabian chapter, for example, received a 2014 ChemLuminary Award for its work in promoting global engagement. And three students from an ACS student chapter in Malaysia were recently awarded travel grants to attend the upcoming ACS national meeting in Boston.

“Even though the cost of ACS membership is very high, look at how much financial support we get from ACS,” Lim says.

“There are a lot of benefits in ACS, but you cannot tap into these benefits unless you become a member,” says Joshua Ayoola Obaleye, chair of the international chapter candidate in Nigeria, which submitted an application that is currently under consideration by the ACS Board of Directors. He says he hopes that by forming a chapter in Nigeria, more chemists and chemical engineers in his country will become aware of the resources ACS offers and join the society. So far, the chapter has around 100 members.

The ability to tap into various ACS grants and awards is important for international chapters because each is responsible for raising funds to support its activities. In addition, many chapters get funding from local companies and organizations. And each chapter comes up with its own set of activities, which can include technical talks, symposia, outreach programs, and other events.

For example, the Saudi Arabian chapter, which has more than 500 members, hosts the International Conference & Exhibition on Chemistry in Industry (ChemIndix) in Bahrain every three years as one of its premier activities. The conference brings together scientists from around the Middle East. The next ChemIndix will be held in 2016.

“I’ve learned a lot from the American Chemical Society on how to run conferences and technical events and how to select and review papers we receive for those conferences,” says Mazin Fathi, chair of the Saudi Arabian chapter.

Cheng says one of his goals is to develop more collaborations among the different international chapters. Every other year, officers of the chapters are invited to attend a summit. The first meeting took place in Indianapolis in 2013. The second meeting will be held at Pacifichem, in Honolulu, this December.

In March 2014, ACS launched an international student chapter program. Since this inauguration, 14 international student chapters have been chartered, representing 12 different countries (Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates). Thirty-one international student chapter representatives will be traveling this fall to the ACS national meeting in Boston.

ACS members in the U.S. also benefit from these international chapters. “Having access to these chapters gives them an opportunity to expand their network and to collaborate outside of the U.S.,” says Bradley Miller, director of the ACS Office of International Activities. “For example, if somebody is traveling to Shanghai for a conference, he or she now has a community of ACS member colleagues to connect with.”

ACS members interested in forming an international chapter in their country can learn more by visiting www.acs.org/international.