Fall 1974 Newsletter

(the first one)

AD HOC COMP NEWSLETTER
American Chemical Society
Division of Computers in Chemistry (Probationary)
[The ACS Acronym for the Division is COMP]

This ad hoc COMP Newsletter has been sent to each ACS member who signed the petition to ACS for creation of COMP.

The purpose of this Newsletter is fivefold:

  1. To give you a summary of COMP activity to date.
  2. To invite you to membership in COMP.
  3. To seek your guidance on future COMP activity.
  4. To identify potential COMP newsletter Editors, Departments and Department Editors, and Publishers.
  5. To invite you to our first social hour.

COMP Activity to Date

ACS Administrative Goings-On

(A) Our petition to the ACS, with almost 700 signatures, more than satisfied the ACS requirement of 50 ACS member signatures and it was duly referred to the ACS Standing Committee on Divisional Activities. The Committee had our petition as an item of business at its 30 Mar 74 Closed Session at the April 74 ACS Nat'l Meeting at Los Angeles which Dr. Martin Paul and I attended to present our case. On 2 April '74 the Committee held an open meeting (at which time mm petition was open for discussion) and subsequently forwarded our petition to the ACS Council with a recommendation it be approved for probationary status (the usual first step for a proposed new division). On Wednesday, 3 April 74, the ACS Council voted unanimously to grant probationary status to COMP.

(B) On 31 May 74 we participated in an ACS Meeting at the Regency Hyatt near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport involving ACS Divisional Programs representatives and corresponding ACS staff. At that time we gave a summary statement Of Your response to COMP program choices and further expressed an intereSSt. Also the Division of 'Chemical Literature has invited us to give a paper about COMP at the Atlantic City ACS Meeting.

Atlantic City, Sept. 74, Nat'l ACS Meeting

Given the short lead time between 3 April 74 when COMP came into being and 8 Sept 74, we moved to create two symposia with invited papers for the Atlantic City ACS Meeting.

(A) Larry Snyder of Bell Labs, Murray Hill, N. J., accepted the program chairpersonship for a one-day symposium on the recent National Academy of Science Report of a Feasibility Study of NC3 (National Center for Computation in Chemistry). He has arranged to have four speakers in the morning and four in the afternoon followed by a panel to react to questions and comments from the audience. This will be an opportunity for interested ACS'ers to get further information and to have input into the NC3 design process.

(B) Bruce Kowalski of the University of Washington, Seattle, WA., organized the second symposium (actually a sequence of three half day symposia) around the overall theme of computers in experimental chemistry designed to bring out the state of the art, specific new techniques and methodologies, and enhancements to each of several branches of chemistry.

Philadelphia, April 75, Nat'l ACS Meeting

Again following the reaction to the brief questionnaire circulated to you (and to which 350 persons responded), two program areas which have been identified and the corresponding program chairman, to whom papers may be submitted, are as follows:

"Computer Program Certification and Transferrability"
Dean Frank Harris
College of Science
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

and

"Computer Graphics, Input and Display"
Professor Edgar Meyer
Department of Biochemistry
Texas A & M University
College Station, Texas

COMP Petition signers and the Questionnaire Response

The COMP petition signers were distributed by several categories as outlined in Figure 1. Those petition signers who returned a questionnaire responded as summarized in Figure 2.

FIGURE 1

Distribution of COMP Petition Signers

From: Academe. 544;Business and Industry. 99; Government 25; Private I
By State (ordered by zipcode)

PR 5   PA 47   AL 2   SD 4   CO 8
MA 19   DE 1   TN 10   MT 4   WY 1
RI 1   MD 8   MS 3   IL 54   NM 6
NH 2   DC 28   KY 12   MO 6   CA 48
ME 2   VA 16   OH 37   KS 14   HI 1
VT 2   WV 7   IN 9   NE 7   OR 16
CT 5   NC 17   MI 54   LA 10   WA 24
NJ 22   SC 4   IA 5   AR 3      
CO 3   GA 4   WI 11   OK 7      
NY 76   FL 10   MN 16   TX 24      

None from AD, AZ, NV, SD, ID.

As well as could be determined from the given name, 547 men, 3S women, 87 initial only.

The mailing list initially used sent the petition to academia for the primary purpose of petition support. Hopefully COMP membership will grow to be more truly representative of ACS membership.

FIGURE 2

Summary of COMP Petition Signer's Response To Profile Questionnaire
Mailed 21 February 1974

  1. Current ACS Division Membership (more than 10 per Division)
    ANAL57INOR41PHYS76
    CHED89ORGN53NONE93
  2. Current Computer-based Activity
    Large Scale Scientific126Info Store and Retrieve81
    Occasional Scientific161Educational195
    Laboratory Automation148Administrative34
    Computer Graphics91Other10
  3. Preferred Topics for Symposia (Principal Choices)
    First ChoiceSecond Choice
    Laboratory AutomationSoftware
    SoftwareNetworking
    State of ArtGraphics
    GraphicsState of Art

COMP Membership

 The Executive Board pro tempore has generated the following for inclusion in the 1975 ACS Member Guide:

COMPUTERS IN CHEMISTRY

Through symposia, programs and other means provides a forum for academia, government, and industry to discuss and extend the large and growing impact of computer technology on all of chemistry; constitutes an interface between chemistry and computer science, mathematics, statistics, and engineering; examines computer, communication, servosensor and display hardware-software systems in areas such as real-time data acquistion and control, chemical system modeling and simulation of bulk matter from an atomic and molecular perspective including quantum chemistry, computer-aided visualization and correlation of chemical structures with synthesis design, biological activity, etc., chemical data analyses including pattern recognition, information storage and retrieval, reaching chemistry and chemical engineering and the managing of all chemistry-based endeavors.

DUES:Members $5.00; Student Members $2.50; Affiliate Members (Non ACS Members) $7.50

This then is your invitation to COMP membership.

Because of difficulty encountered in transferring the ACS Computer-based management system from Washington, D. C. to Chemical Abstracts Service in Columbus, Ohio, we were informed by ACS Headquarters recently that we need to do our own bookkeeping until calendar year 1976. That means that membership applications together with dues for the coming calendar year, 1975, should be sent to our Treasurer:

Dr. William Lester
IBM Research
Montery and Cottle Roads
San Jose, California 95193

Please complete and enclose with your 1975 dues the tear-off application form at the bottom of this page. Your prompt response will be appreciated.

COMP Executive Board

In order to have broad representation during the probat onary period of COMP, the following list of ACS members was recommended to the Standing Com- mittee on Divisional Activities for the COMP Executive Board:
ChairmanPeter LykosIIT, Chicago
Vice ChairmanEdward OlsonThe Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo
SecretaryRudolph MarcusOffice of Naval Research, Pasadena
TreasurerWilliam LesterIBM Research, San Jose
Member at LargeJanet Del BeneYoungstown University, Ohio
Member at LargeBruce KowalskiUniversity of Washington, Washington
Member at LargeFrank HarrisUniversity of Utah, Utah

The Standing Committee concurred and forwarded the recommendation to ACS President Bernard Friedman, who, in turn has appointed the Executive Committee for COMP for the probationary period.

The Executive Board pro tempore is scheduled to meet at the Atlantic City ACS Meeting immediately following the COMP Social Hour. Here is a good opportunity for input to the Board.

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP IN ACS's COMP

Name:
Affiliation:
Address:

Please Check Appropriate Category:
ACS Member
Members $5.00 Students $2.50

Non ACS Member Affiliate $7.50

PLEASE MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO "TREASURER, COMP"

PLEASE MAIL TO:

Dr. William Lester
IBM Research, K34/282
Monterey & Cottle Roads
San Jose, California 95193

Future COMP Activity

COMP By-Laws

While in probationary status we must operate according to by-laws provided by ACS. During that period (up to three years) we need to generate our own by-laws to become effective at such time as our probationary period ends. Corresponding suggestions or requests for further information should go to our secretary. One specific consideration is affiliation with other organized professional groups such as AFIPS (American Federation of Information Processing Societies).

COMP Programs

Additional specific input is needed regarding future programs, not only National, Regional, and Sectional ACS, but also jointly with other ACS Divisions, stand-alone conferences and symposia, and joint activities with other societies. Our vice chairman should be contacted in this regard.

Other COMP Future Activity ? ? ?

Your suggestions aTe needed for other future COMP activity. Pergamon Press's 24 journal series "Computers and __________" includes the journal "Computers and Chemistry". Other periodicals can have content with that focus. Perhaps we need a survey and critique of such publications. Additionally several other surveys suggest themselves regarding current computer support and computer service needs of the various chemistry sectors. Also the unfortunate gap between the practicing chemist and the rich and extensive machine-based resources of Chemical Abstract Services needs to be bridged. How? Other items?

COMP Newsletter

 The Association for Computing Machinery, ACS's counterpart, has as many Special Interest Groups (SIG's) as ACS has Divisions. Each of ACM's SIG's publishes a quarterly newsletter which range somewhere between a refereed journal and a chatty "C&EN" in coverage. For an emerging, dynamic and fluid discipline such as Computers in Chemistry a semi-formal newsletter can fill a real need. ACM experience reveals that about $600 per 16 page issue covers typesetting, printing, and mailing for 1,000 copies - IF non-paid volunteer staff function as editor and department editors. That can just about be accommodated within a dues structure of $5.00 per year per COMP member. Modest but essential institutional contributions can help make it go. Volunteers are needed and should write to the Chairman.

COMP Social Hour

 Our first Social Hour is associated with the Atlantic City National ACS Meeting to be held at 5:30 PM, Tuesday, 10 September, at Howard Johnson's Lorenzo Room.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Peter Lykos
5 August 1974

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