Gathering Scientists With International Interests

Scientific seminars, symposia, and conferences constitute an important part of the research process and information dissemination. These interactions are useful for scientists and engineers to discuss ongoing results, network, build friendships, and forge collaborations. As the chemistry enterprise is becoming increasingly globalized, these meetings are also now more global in scope and attendance.

Thus, at ACS national meetings, in addition to the many attendees who are international students, postdocs, and visiting scholars currently residing in the U.S., about 15% of the attendees have international addresses. This trend is paralleled by scientific publications, where a growing number of countries produce articles with multinational authors.

To gather attendees with international interests, the American Chemical Society International Activities Committee (IAC) and the Office of International Activities (OIA) organize the International Welcome Reception at each ACS national meeting, which typically results in productive interactions and discussions on future activities and collaborations. In recent years, we have also organized specific networking events, such as the international lounge in 2012–14 and the international networking sessions at the 2015 Boston national meeting for different global regions.

IAC and OIA have also been active in organizing symposia with international themes at ACS national meetings, often in collaboration with cosponsors. At this year’s Denver and Boston meetings, we worked with ACS President Diane Grob Schmidt on three symposia: “The Transnational Practice of Chemistry and Allied Sciences and Engineering,” “International Entrepreneurship,” and “The Interface of Chemical and Biological Sciences International Disarmament Efforts.” Two ACS symposium books will be published with chapters written by the speakers in these symposia.

At the Denver meeting, we also organized a symposium on “Growing Opportunities for Research Abroad,” where the 2014 student participants in the International Research Experience for Undergrads program spoke. In Boston, a symposium was organized on “Opportunities for U.S./Cuba Collaboration in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Chemical Education.” This was the first ACS collaboration with Cuba since the normalization of the relationship between the two countries.

Pacifichem is another example of an international meeting. Founded in 1984, this conference has been held in Honolulu every five years (including this December). It is currently sponsored by seven chemical societies, including ACS. Through the initiative of the Northeast Regional Meeting, we are now exploring with several of our sister societies the possibility of an Atlantichem meeting taking place in the future.

IAC and OIA are involved with several specialized international colloquia. The ACS Global Innovation Initiative is a biennial meeting aimed at stimulating industrial innovation to tackle societal imperatives, particularly involving water. Since 2012, the program has held meetings in Colombia, India, Singapore, the U.S., and the U.K., ranging from a multiple-day program to symposia at ACS national meetings. In 2015, Nigeria will host an international forum on “Sustainable Conservation of Water Resources and Remediation of Polluted Water Sources in Niger Delta Region.”

The Asia-America Chemical Symposium is a joint program between ACS and the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies. This symposium takes place every year, alternating between the Asian Chemical Congress (ACC) and the ACS fall national meeting. In 2014, it was held at the ACS San Francisco meeting with the theme “Global Stewardship and Chemistry Innovations for Sustainable Agricultural and Food Products.” In 2015, it will be held at ACC in Dhaka, Bengladesh, with the theme “Ethics in Chemistry.”

The Chemical Sciences & Society Summit (CS3) is hosted by funding agencies and chemical societies from the U.S., Germany, China, Japan, and the U.K. It convenes eminent researchers to explore a theme and the role of chemical research in addressing that challenge. The fifth summit was held on Sept. 16–19, 2013, at Kyoto University, in Japan, with the theme “The Efficient Use of Elements.” The 2015 CS3 will take place on Sept. 14–18 in Leipzig, Germany, with the theme “Chemistry and Water.”

Virtual meetings are popular, and several webinars have been organized by the ACS International Center to inform members of opportunities for international research and exchange. Other webinars include “ACS Science and Human Rights: Past, Present, and Future,” “Science Diplomacy in the Middle East: the Malta Conferences and their Lasting Impact,” “Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,” and “A Look at Seeding Labs.”

International seminars, symposia, and conferences are useful conduits to engage ACS members with international interests wherever they may be. To promote further activities, IAC offers Global Innovation Grants of up to $5,000 to ACS local sections, technical divisions, international chapters, and governance committees. More information is available at www.acs.org/gig. If you have ideas or suggestions on how to further gather international scientists and facilitate international interactions, please write to iintlacts@acs.org.