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.
Winter/Spring 2001
Summer Break
The ACS Akron Section will not hold general meetings during June, July, and August. Have a great summer!
Regional Meeting
The ACS Central and Great Lakes Joint Regional Meeting will be held June 11 to 13 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids Michigan. The ACS Kalamazoo and Western Michigan Sections serve as the host sections. The meeting has the theme 2001: A Grand Chemical Odyssey, will feature ninety technical and poster sessions. More information can be found on the meeting's web site.
General Meeting
The May general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening May 17, 2001 at Tangier in Akron. Attila Pavlath of the American Chemical Society will discuss The ACS Today and Tomorrow. 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 annual Fifty-Year Members Night. Dinner costs $14 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Monday May 14; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Presidential Visit
Attila Pavlath is the President of the American Chemical Society, and he will be visiting Akron on Thursday May 17. In addition to the public presentation that he will give in the evening at the ACS Akron Section general meeting, he has meetings and events on his schedule throughout the day. Please participate in a meeting or event if the opportunity is available to you. For example, the scientists, engineers, and managers in Goodyear's research and development facilities are invited to hear Attila speak on The Public Image of Chemists and Chemistry in the morning at Goodyear Research room 1.
Fifty-Year Members
Congratulations to the Akron Section's newest fifty-year ACS members; Roger Crawford, Robert Cunningham, Joseph Davis, Jamal Eden, E Charles Galloway, P R Ginnings, Richard Harrick, William Hrubik, Norman Keckler, Mitchell Kolaczewski, William Reid, Kenneth Scott, and John Stansbrey. These individuals will be honored at the May general meeting.
May Conference
The annual May Conference will take place on May 16 at John Carroll University's Department of Chemistry. The ACS Cleveland Section and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy Cleveland Section will serve as co-hosts. Keynote speeches will be by Glenn Brown and Rafat Ansari, and the after dinner speech will be by John Fortman. For more information send e-mail to Kenneth Street or call 216-433-5032.
Committee Meeting
The May Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday May 1, 2001 at 5:30 pm in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Laura Beal. Other issues can be addressed to Liam Guiney. This is the final meeting before summer break.
Akron ChemLine
The May issue of the Akron ChemLine newsletter was posted on this web site on April 30 and was mailed through the postal service on May 7.
Outstanding Juniors
Each year the ACS Akron Section gives awards for outstanding scholarship to junior chemistry or science majors as chosen by each of the six area colleges and universities. The recipients for the year 2001 are Penny Gray from the University of Akron, Britt Vanchura from Kent State University, Melanie Almasy from Mount Union College, Andrea Fuller from Malone College, Brienne Williams from Walsh University, and Bridgette Roth from Hiram College. The awards were presented at the April general meeting. Congratulations to these hardworking students.
General Meeting
The April general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening April 26, 2001 at Tangier in Akron. Colin Drummond from Invacare will discuss Ten Things I Wish I Learned in Engineering School. 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 annual Education Night, and a poster session is included. This is also a general meeting of the Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies and its member societies. Dinner costs $14 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Monday April 23; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Call for Posters
The ACS Akron Section will be holding a poster session in conjunction with its April general meeting. All ages and levels of scientists are welcome to present chemistry experiments and research. In particular, the section is looking for junior high school and high school science fair projects, undergraduate and graduate college research work, and professional and commercial presentations. Please contact Liam Guiney or call 330-376-1300 with general questions. Contact Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264 by noon on Monday April 23 to reserve table or easel space. Student presenters will receive a free dinner.
Committee Meeting
The April Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday April 10, 2001 at 5:30 pm in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Laura Beal. Other issues can be addressed to Liam Guiney. Note that this meeting is being held a week later than usual, to accomodate the members attending the ACS national meeting in San Diego.
Akron ChemLine
The April issue of the Akron ChemLine newsletter was posted on this web site on April 2 and was mailed through the postal service on April 6.
Nominations Needed
The Nominations and Awards Committee needs nominations for the Gene Easter Award for Exemplary High School Chemistry Teaching. If you are aware of a colleague or one of your children's chemistry teachers that would be deserving of this award, please contact Valerie Woodward, Nominations and Awards chair, at 216-447-5408 for nomination information. The award is named for Gene Easter, chemistry teacher extraordinaire, from Streetsboro High School. The award consists of an individual plaque, a traveling plaque, a $100.00 honorarium, and automatic submission as the Akron Section candidate for the ACS Central Regional Teaching Award. Deadline for submissions is April 6, 2001, with the presentation to be held at the May 17, 2001 general meeting.
Judges Needed
The National Inventors Hall of Fame is looking for judges for their Collegiate Inventors Competition, which is a leading program in the world honoring student inventors. They request that anyone with a BS degree or higher in engineering or the sciences apply. Projects are submitted by students at various colleges and universities and are forwarded to judges for grading. This process begins in the spring of the year and culminates with an official presentation to the winners in September. Depending on the discipline, judges will be grading from five to ten projects. The estimated time commitment is from three to five hours over a two to three week time frame. If you are interested and would like more information, please contact Ray S DePuy or call 330-849-6887.
Chair Elect
Congratulations to Anoop Krishen, who was appointed by the Executive Committee to serve as year 2001 Chair Elect of the ACS Akron Section. Anoop will also serve as year 2001 Chair of the Program Committee, and will continue his existing position as years 2001-2002 ACESS representative.
General Meeting
The March general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Wednesday evening March 21, 2001 at Tangier in Akron. Nicholas Torro from Columbia University will discuss Paradigms Lost and Paradigms Found: Science Extraordinary and Science Pathological. 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. Dinner costs $14 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Monday March 19; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Memorial Lecture
The third annual Crano Memorial Lecture will be held on Wednesday afternoon March 21, 2001 in Mary Gladwin Hall room 111 at the University of Akron. Nicholas Torro from Columbia University will lecture on Photochemistry in Nanoscopic Reactors: Putting a Surface and a Spin on Supramolecular Photoreactions. The schedule is refreshments at 3:15 and talk at 3:30. The program is free and open to the public.
Judges Needed
Help our young people in their study of science and encourage them to consider science as a career. There are two science fairs for middle and high school students in March that need judges. On Saturday, March 3, the Akron Public Schools holds its annual Akron Science and Technology Expo at Central-Hower High School. On Saturday, March 17, the Western Reserve District Science Day will be held at the Gardner Student Center on the campus of the University of Akron. The district day is last step at which students qualify to attend the State Science Day. At both events, judges will meet at 7:30 am for a brief instructional meeting with coffee and donuts and will finish by 12:00 noon with a complementary lunch.
If you are planning to participate in either or both of these events, please contact Walt Ruthenburg, providing your name and some means of contacting you. Walt can be reached at 330-796-7385 (work), 330-283-7867 (home), or 1133 Florida Ave, Akron OH 44314.
Committee Meeting
The March Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday March 13, 2001 at 5:30 pm in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Laura Beal. Other issues can be addressed to Liam Guiney. Filling the open position of Chair Elect will be on the agenda. Note that this meeting was postponed from last week due to snow.
Akron ChemLine
The March issue of the Akron ChemLine newsletter was posted on this web site on February 26 and was mailed through the postal service on March 5.
Plastics Engineers
The Akron Section of the SPE will have a meeting on Monday evening February 26, 2001 at the Holiday Inn in Kent. Joe Pryweller of Plastic News and Donna Shelley of Polysort will speak on E-Commerce in the Plastics Industry. The schedule is social at 5:30, presentations at 6:00, dinner at 6:45, and discussions at 7:30. The meeting costs $19 for members and guests. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Wednesday February 21; please send e-mail to Gary Taylor or call 330-334-7100.
General Meeting
The February general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening February 22, 2001 at Tangier in Akron. Tom Sawyer from the United States Congress will discuss K-12 Science Education and Mike LeHere from the Akron Industrial Incubator will discuss Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Chemists. Roger Crawford will receive the section's Distinguished Service Award. The schedule is networking at 5:15, dinner at 6:00, award at 6:50, and presentation at 7:00. The program is free and open to the public. Dinner costs $14 for members and guests and $7 for students. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Monday February 19; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Distinguished Service
The ACS Akron Section's Glenn H Brown Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Roger Crawford of the University of Akron at the section's February general meeting. Roger was chosen because of his exemplary service to the section over the past decade. He has served as Chair of the section three times, as Chair of the Nominations and Awards, Chemical Education, and Career Development Committees, as Project Seed Co-Chair and Facilitator, and as leader of the effort that brought the National Historic Chemical Landmark to Akron for the synthetic rubber program.
Engineers Banquet
The local celebration of National Engineers Week will take place on Thursday evening February 22, 2001 at Emidios Banquet Center in Cuyahoga Falls. Bryan Palaszewski from NASA Glenn Research Center will be the featured speaker with the topic The History and Future of Space Flight. The schedule is social at 5:30 and dinner and program at 6:30. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $20 for students. Dinner reservations are required in advance; please call Jan Ruthenburg at 330-836-5397.
Cliff Schrader
Clifford L (Cliff) Schrader died on January 26 at the age of 63. Cliff had been active in ACS local sections throughout his career, for the past decade in the ACS Akron Section and for the previous decade in the ACS Wooster Section. In the Akron Section, he is this year's Chair Elect of the section and Chair of the Program Committee and was last year's Chair of the Chemistry Olympiad Committee. In 1995 and 1992 he was Chair of the section, in 1994 and 1991 he was Chair Elect of the section, and throughout the 1990's he was the Chair of a variety of committees. He also served the ACS as a national tour speaker, lecturing to other local sections and interested organizations, and was an ACS James Bryant Conant award winner.
This academic year, Cliff began a new position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Akron, and was developing a new course for University of Akron non-chemistry majors. Last year he completed an assignment of several years as Science Supervisor for the Summit County Schools, and earlier in his career he was Adjust Professor at Kent State University and Ashland University and was a chemistry teacher at Dover High School. He authored twenty-three publications, including a chemistry textbook used by many high schools, and was Program Manager of the Hazardous Waste Removal Program for the Ohio Department of Education. A partial list of his recognitions include Fulbright Scholar, Jaycee Outstanding Young Educator, Shell Merit Fellow, Acker Outstanding Teacher, Fellow of the Ohio Academy of Science, Dreyfus Master Teacher, Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching, Kiwanis Outstanding Teacher, Dover Education Association Excellence in Teaching Award, John Vaughn Award for Excellence in Education, and the Ashland Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Purdue University.
Leora Straka
Leora Straka died on January 10 at the age of 90. Leora had been active in the ACS Akron Section many years ago. Her elected offices included Councilor from 1971 through 1973, Chair Elect in 1961, Chair in 1962, and Secretary in 1948. Leora had fifty years of membership in the American Chemical Society. She retired from Goodyear Research in the 1960's after working for thirty-seven years as a Chemical Research Librarian in the Information Center.
In 1965 Leora started the CIS, Chemical Information Service, which was a group to which the tire and rubber companies in the Akron area belonged. It was based at the University of Akron and it was one of the early somewhat automated information indexing and retrieval systems. It continued for about five years before other companies, including Chemical Abstracts Service, developed more automated and broader coverage services that pretty well put the CIS out of business.
Committee Meeting
The February Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday February 6, 2001 at 5:30 pm in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to Laura Beal. Other issues can be addressed to Liam Guiney. Note the new meeting time.
Akron ChemLine
The February issue of the Akron ChemLine newsletter was posted on this web site on January 23 and was mailed through the postal service on January 29.
General Meeting
The January general meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Thursday evening January 18, 2001 at Kent State University in Kent. Dinner will be in Student Center room 313 and demonstration and tour will be in the Liquid Crystal Institute. Max Godfrey from the Liquid Crystal Institute will present the Liquid Crystal Institute. 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. Dinner costs $15 for members and guests and $8 for students. Parking stubs from visitor's lots will be validated at dinner. Dinner reservations and menu choices are required by noon on Friday January 12; please send e-mail to Ann Bolek or call 330-972-6264.
Chemical Engineers
The Akron Section of the AIChE will have a meeting on Thursday evening January 11, 2001 at Papa Joes in Akron. Jennifer Thome of Akron General Health and Wellness Center will speak on The Facts About Herbal Supplements and Chemically Altered Foods. The schedule is social at 5:30, dinner at 6:00, and presentation at 7:00. The meeting costs $20. Dinner reservations are required by noon on Tuesday January 9; please send e-mail to Tom Flynn or call 330-829-7622.
Committee Meeting
The January Executive Committee meeting of the ACS Akron Section will be held on Tuesday January 9 at 5:10 pm, in the University of Akron Knight Chemical Laboratories. Members of the committee who cannot attend are urged to submit reports to the Secretary. Other issues can be addressed to the Chair. This is the first meeting of the year 2001 Officers, Councilors, and Chairs. Please note that school is not in session; do not use parking passes or meters, but do use the north entrance to the building.
Akron ChemLine
The January issue of the Akron ChemLine newsletter was posted on this web site on December 18 and was mailed through the postal service on January 3.
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