The American Chemical Society is the world's largest scientific society and its Akron Section is one of the society's 188 local sections. The ACS Akron Section serves Summit, Stark, and Portage counties, including the cities of Akron, Canton, and Kent, in the state of Ohio.
Summer/Fall 2002
General Meeting
The December general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening December 12, 2002 at Tangier in Akron. Yorke E Rhodes of New York University speaks on Astrochemistry: The Evolution of Organic Molecules in Interstellar Clouds. The schedule is networking at 5:15, dinner at 6:00, and presentation at 7:00. The program is free and open to the public. This is a joint meeting with the AIChE Akron Section, and Spouses Night and Past Officers Night. Dinner costs $14 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Monday December 9; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Abstract: At the dawn of the space age in the 1960s, a handful of molecules were known to exist off Earth. Since those days of early robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars, fly-bys with spectroscopy of the outer planets and radio astronomy of distant areas of our own galaxy and parts of the universe have brought forth a burst of molecular information. About 120 molecules, some new and some known, have been identified to date. What types and kinds of molecules exist? What varieties of molecular species have been found? How did they form; where do they occur; and what mechanisms exist for molecular formation? Can we model and predict what other molecules may occur? How has interstellar organic chemistry evolved?
Biography: Yorke Rhodes received a B.S. in soil chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1957, and then earned an M.S. in organic chemistry in 1959. After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois in 1964, he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. He joined the faculty of New York University at the University Heights campus in 1965. He moved to the Washington Square campus in 1973 after a sabbatical leave at the Universitat Freiburg. Professor Rhodes is director of the Dual Degree Program in Science and Engineering at New York University and Stevens Institute of Technology, resides as Professor in a Residence in a University residence hall, and is very active in ACS local section activities, sponsoring a variety of symposia, poster sessions, and other activities for students. He was recently Chair of the ACS New York Section for 1998, and is currently an ACS Councilor and the Chair of the ACS Local Section Activities Committee. He welcomes discussions about local sections. His major interests are theoretical organic chemistry; reaction mechanisms and unusual reaction intermediates, especially carbonium ion structure and reactivity; small rings, especially cyclopropane; effects on reactivity; and interstellar organic chemistry.
Election Results
The winners for the 2003 ACS Akron Section positions of Secretary and Treasurer are Bob Kinsey and Chris Wood, respectively. The winners for the 2003 to 2005 ACS Akron Section positions of Councilor and Alternate Councilor are Jim Visintainer and Dan Jones, respectively. The newly elected officers, who will begin their terms on January 1, will be joined by Sid Patel, Anoop Krishen, Ann Bolek, and Jim Duddey in the positions of Chair, Past Chair, Councilor, and Alternate Councilor, respectively. Sid Patel has accepted an Executive Committee invitation to also handle the responsibilities of open position of Chair Elect.
Councilor Report
Ann Bolek submitted an extensive Councilor Report, which can be downloaded as a MS Word document.
Committee Meeting
The December Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday December 3, 2002 at 5:00 pm in the University of Akron Science and Technology Library conference room 104. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Brad Weedon. Other issues can be addressed to Anoop Krishen.
Annual Elections
The ACS Akron Section is conducting its year 2002 annual elections. The individuals involved are: for Chair-Elect, (open); for Secretary, Chris Wood; for Treasurer, Bob Kinsey; and for Councilor and Alternate Councilor, Jim Visintainer and Dan Jones. Many thanks to these dedicated individuals who are willing to take time from their professional and personal lives to lead the section and serve the membership. Eligible members of the section have received their packet of election materials on December 7. Packets were mailed to the same addresses used for the Akron ChemLine. Questions can be directed to Valerie Woodward.
The cover letter in the election packets says that the postmark deadline for the return of the ballots to ACESS is November 29, 2002. Please disregard! Because the printing and mailing of election packets took so long, the Nominations and Awards Committee extended the deadline to December 13. The committee thanks you for your patience. This year may be the first in the section's history in which nobody volunteered to run for the position of Chair Elect. Suggestions from members on how to fill this position or deal with the crisis are welcome.
General Meeting
The November general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening November 21, 2002 at Tangier in Akron. Richard McCullough of Carnegie Mellon University speaks on The Coming Age of Plastic Electronics. The schedule is networking at 5:15, dinner at 6:00, and presentation at 7:00. The program is free and open to the public. This is the section's Akron Section Award Night. Dinner costs $14 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Monday November 18; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Biography: Richard McCullough is the Dean of Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Since 1990 he has held the positions of the head of chemistry, professor, associate professor, associate head of chemistry, and assistant professor. His principal research interests include organic and materials chemistry, self-assembly and synthesis of highly conductive organic conducting polymers and oligomers, conjugated polymer sensors, new design methods and the synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid nanomagnets and high spin materials, nanoelectronic assembly and fabrication, and biomimetic chemistry and assembly.
Award Address
The award address for the Akron Section Award will be given on Thursday afternoon November 21, as a joint seminar between the chemistry and polymer science departments at the University of Akron. Richard McCullough of Carnegie Mellon University will lecture on Self-Assembly of Block Co-Polymers and Amphiphilic Polythiophenes into Conducting Nanowires. The program is free and open to the public.
Abstract: Regioregular, head-to-tail coupled, alternating copolymers of thiophenes can drive a self-assembly in polythiophenes at the nanoscale through polymer phase-separation. These new polymers have allowed us to create not only highly conductive polymers, but also conducting polymer nanowires. In addition, amphiphilic regioregular polythiophenes and polythiophene polyelectrolytes have been assembled at surfaces by layer-by-layer assembly or as SAMs to create nanoscale conductors.
Snail Mail Situation
In September, the US Postal Service decided that the ACS Akron Section's bulk mail request for the September issue of the Akron ChemLine newsletter represented an attempt by a for-profit organization to send bulk mail at a not-for-profit rate. Inexplicably, the US Postal Service also denied that such a decision represented a change, claiming that the ACS Akron Section has been a for-profit organization since 1996 and that the section hasn't previously made bulk mail requests. They don't acknowledge delivering issues of the Akron ChemLine newsletter nine times per year for the past fifteen years. Since the September issue was already printed and contained important reports, the section went back and paid the for-profits rates. Meanwhile, the section didn't publish an October issue while it was dealing with this nonsense.
In October, as a result of the section's efforts, the Rates and Classification Service Center of the US Postal Service in Memphis Tennessee again recognized the ACS Akron Section's privilege to send bulk mail at nonprofit rates. The section is concerned, however, that the postal service may still be confused by its own rules; that the ACS Akron Section be the holder of the nonprofit authorization and the Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies be the holder of the bulk mail permit. Therefore, the November issue of the Akron ChemLine will be published in the postcard format that made its debut last April, and will only be sent to members who don't receive e-mail from the section.
Because of the section's intention to eventually use electronic communications exclusively; abstracts, biographies, and other supplementary materials are being posted directly on the home page of this web site.
Committee Meeting
The November Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday November 5, 2002 at 5:00 pm in the University of Akron Science and Technology Library conference room 104. Note the new location. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Brad Weedon. Other issues can be addressed to Anoop Krishen.
National Chemistry Week
The ACS Akron Section and the ACS Office of Community Activities invite you to participate in National Chemistry Week 2002, October 20-26. Involve your community in learning about the importance of chemistry by using the theme for this year, Chemistry Keeps Us Clean. Join with chemists across the country as they share the chemical story of the relevance of chemistry to cleaning by conducting presentations, demonstration shows, and hands-on activities for the public. Consider becoming involved in the unifying event for NCW 2002, Chemistry Makes Cleaning Possible, a personal hygiene collection campaign to benefit local charities. Our local section will be featuring hands-on demonstrations in many of the area libraries. The activities are titled Testing Water's Skin, Water Walkers, Bubble Trouble, If Mixing is Urgent Try Detergent, A Matter of Mixing, Release the Grease, Cleaning Water with Dirt, and Polishing Pennies. Anyone interested in helping should contact Pam Lane.
Pam Lane is the Chair of the Akron Section's National Chemistry Week Committee, and continues to be a part of the National Chemistry Week Task Force, which meets twice a year at the ACS national meetings. She is working on activities for the year 2004 and 2005. Next year, the theme will be Celebrating Chemistry: The Earth's Atmosphere and Beyond, and will include activities celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brother's first flight. The year after will have a health-related theme and after that will have something involving toys.
ACESS Banquet
The annual honors and awards banquet of the Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies will take place on Thursday evening November 7 at Tangier in Akron. Jon Gerhardt of the University of Akron will speak on BattleBot: The Competition. Gary Johnson of Finkbeiner, Pettis, and Strout will be the master of ceremonies, Barry Rosenbaum of Omnova Solutions will be the honorary banquet chairman, and William J Bandy Jr of Environmental Design Group will receive the Distinguished Award of Council. The schedule is cash bar at 5:30, dinner at 6:30, and presentation after dinner. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $15 for students and must be purchased by November 1; contact Jan Ruthenburg at 330-535-8835 or Mike Buza at 330-864-4398.
General Meeting
The October general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening October 17, 2002 at Noveon Research Center in Brecksville. Mary J Laughlin of Case Western Reserve University speaks on Technological Advances in Stem Cell Transplantation. The schedule is networking at 5:00, dinner at 6:00, and presentation at 7:00. The program is free and open to the public. This is a joint meeting with the ACS Cleveland Section. Dinner costs $15 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Friday October 11; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Abstract: Stem cell research holds the promise of beneficial advances in understanding and treatment of various diseases. Stem cells derived from siblings, family members, umbilical cord blood, bone marrow etc. have been utilized for transplantation in cases of leukemias, Hodgkins disease, sickle cell problems, congenital disorders among others. An array of analytical techniques - automated fluorescence sequencing, PCR based DNA sequencing, HPLC - used to monitor the progress of the transplant, problems encountered and some of the solutions will be presented.
Biography: Mary Joan Laughlin, M.D. is currently Associate Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Case Western Reserve University. She received her BS in Nursing at University of Rochester, Rochester, New York and MS and MD from SUNY at Buffalo. She has held various teaching and research positions at Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, and at Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Her current research interests involve studies of stem cell grafting in hematologic cancers, molecular mechanisms in graft-versus-host disease, and graft-vs-leukemia effects after cord blood transplantation.
Women's Travel Awards
Eli Lilly & Company is sponsoring a program to provide funding for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral women chemists to travel to scientific meetings to present the results of their research. Grants may be applied only for registration, travel, and accommodations, and are restricted to travel to meetings within the United States. Grant funds are limited, but there are some funds set aside for undergraduates. Find details and an application at http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC/, or contact Cheryl H Brown, Women Chemists Committee, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
Committee Meeting
The October Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday October 1, 2002 at 5:00 pm in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories room 401. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Brad Weedon. Other issues can be addressed to Anoop Krishen.
National ACS Elections
On or about September 30, 2002, ballots will be mailed to all ACS members for the election of the ACS President-Elect for the year 2003. The three candidates for President-Elect are Charles P Casey, Alvin L Kwiram, and E Ann Nalley; the four candidates for Directors-at-Large are James D Burke, Daryle H Busch, Merle I Eiss, and C Gordon McCarty.
Family Picnic
The annual ACS Akron Section family picnic will be held on Thursday evening September 19, 2002 at the Brushwood Shelter in Furnace Run MetroPark in Richfield. The shelter is located approximately two miles west of Brecksville Rd on Townsend Rd. Dinner will consist of cold cuts, baked beans, vegetables, chips, and dessert, and will be served at 5:00 pm. Boomerang demonstrations, instructions, and sales will start at 6:00. Bring your family and friends or the neighborhood kids and enjoy a fun, relaxing evening. The cost is $8 for adults and children over age 12 and $5 for children age 5 through 12. For more information send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Online Clearinghouse
Fresh on the heels of its debut at the Boston national meeting, the National Employment Clearinghouse (NECH) - the onsite career center where attendees can search and participate in job interviews - promises to deliver a wealth of advantages to job seekers and employers as they make their plans for the ACS spring meeting in New Orleans, March 23-27. The online NECH is fully computerized and Internet accessible. Among the many improvements is that job seekers can post their resume online weeks before the meeting. This affords job seekers additional time to prepare for their interviews such as researching the prospective company. For employers, the principal benefit of online interview scheduling is that they can immediately setup interviews after reviewing resumes. And they can use the private NECH e-mail system to contact jobseekers for more information. For both job seekers and employers, NECH's new way of doing business will allow attendees to set up their calendars more effectively, thus leaving more time for their onsite interviews.
To find out about more about NECH's reception in Boston and for general information about signup for New Orleans, visit http://chemistry.org/careers/.
Job Site
JobSpectrum has been recognized as one of the top web sites for jobs, resumes, and career information. Since its launch, the site has attracted nearly seven thousand job seekers and resulted in more than fourteen thousand applications. Even for chemists not actively seeking jobs, JobSpectrum offers valuable content for effectively managing a career, such as salary and industry trends and other important information. The site is the American Chemical Society's comprehensive online recruitment and career resource site, and is designed to provide all those who are part of the chemical community with a first-rate employment service on the web.
Professional Training
The ACS Committee on Professional Training (CPT) is in the final stages of revising the guidelines for the chemistry education option as part of the ACS approval process for undergraduate chemistry programs. In addition to revising the guidelines, CPT is considering the addition of a chemistry education minor. The Committee would like your comments on the proposed changes to the guidelines. For more details, please visit the CPT website at http://chemistry.org/education/cpt/.
Committee Meeting
The September Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday September 3, 2002 at 5:00 pm in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories room 401. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Brad Weedon. Other issues can be addressed to Anoop Krishen.
Leadership Conferences
The Local Section Activities Committee of the ACS hosts Leadership Conferences to provide training and support for incoming local section officers. Last fall the committee hosted a pilot two-day follow-up conference in Nashville to provide officers with additional strategies and techniques. A seminar based on the conference serves as both a refresher for existing leaders and an introduction for potential leaders of local sections. Beginning in year 2003, the conferences will be in spring and fall annually.
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