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Candidates I&EC for Election, Fall 2008
For Chair Elect
Michael Gonzalez, US EPA
For Secretary
Ann Visser, Savannah River National Laboratory
For Counselor (two positions)
Ken Nash, Washington State University
Melanie Lesko, Texas A&M Galveston
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Candidate Statements
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Ann Visser, Secretary Candidate
Ann Visser is a Principal Scientist in the Separations Science Programs Section at Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, South Carolina. She earned her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry under the direction of Dr. Robin Rogers at The University of Alabama. As a graduate student, she performed research at Argonne National Laboratory with a Guest Graduate Appointment in both the Chemical Technology and Chemistry Divisions. In 2002, she received the AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award in Extraction and The University of Alabama's Excellence in Research by a Doctoral Student Award.
At SRNL, Ann’s research includes tasks supporting the actinide separation processes in the Savannah River H- Canyon (i.e., fuel cycle dissolution and solvent extraction) and HB-Line (i.e., plutonium and neptunium processing). Recent tasks established flowsheet conditions for dissolving legacy plutonium- and uranium-containing materials, contributed to the study of gadolinium as a soluble neutron poison for uranium and plutonium solutions, and performed solvent extraction studies to verify uranium and molybdenum extraction for alloy dissolution. She remains active in ionic liquids research and, more recently, is involved with Homeland Defense / Security and nuclear nonproliferation activities.
Ann has been an I&EC division member since 1997 and has presented posters and presentations in the I&EC division at national ACS meetings.
Ken Nash, Councilor Candidate
Ken Nash is Professor of Chemistry at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. After spending the nearly 25 years in government service to the Department of Energy at Argonne National Laboratory, to the Department of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey and a one year stint as an industrial chemist with Dow (long ago), he joined the Faculty in the Chemistry Department at WSU in the summer of 2003. His background and interests are in radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry, with primary emphasis on chemical separations and actinide science. His research is focused on contemporary issues in radioactive materials management, in helping to shape the future of the nuclear fuel cycle in the U.S., and perhaps most importantly in the education of the next generation of “isotope experts”. Opportunities for graduate level education in nuclear and radiochemistry has nearly disappeared from the academic community around the U.S. and globally. Both fundamental science and applications of actinides, lanthanides, important fission products and other metal ions that contribute to greater understanding of these species are the primary emphasis for his research group. He is Co-editor of the journal Solvent Extraction & Ion Exchange and an Associate Editor for Radiochimica Acta.
Statement
As I have attempted to serve the interests of the I&EC Division during the past three years as a Councilor, I have simultaneously had the obligation to complete my transition from federal government service to the halls of academia. What an exciting, challenging and at times frustrating experience it has been! Each of these activities bring different challenges to my daily existence (life is never boring), but active engagement in the profession of chemistry is something I consider an obligation to the society we are privileged to serve. At times the work load has been overwhelming, but I am still standing and thus prepared to continue serving the Division and the ACS. I have been a member of the Divisional Activities Committee (DAC) for the past four years. Through that committee assignment, I have had an opportunity to participate in discussion of the growing emphasis on thematic programming at National meetings and the increasing emphasis of Divisions in technical programming at the regional and local section level. The DAC has provided advice and guidance for the change in technical Division financial allocations from ACS. These changes have substantially improved the fiscal health of each technical Division within the ACS and have thus made increased participation of the Division in local and regional meetings more feasible. I am pleased to have had an opportunity to represent the Division in Council and on the DAC. Though life in the 21 st Century sometimes seems overwhelming, I will be pleased to continue serving the Division in the capacity of Councilor for the next three years if you elect to allow me to continue.
Melanie Lesko, Councilor Candidate
I have been an active division member since 1979 and I&EC councilor since 1993. I have served I&EC by participating in division programming, attending many of its meetings and functions and representing its interests at Society meetings. I am currently a full member of the ACS Meetings and Expositions Committee (since 2007, associate member 2005-2006). I have also served on the Women Chemists Committee (1993-2002), Constitution and Bylaws (1997-1998) and Divisional Activities Committee (1999-2004). I attended other Society committee meetings as liaison, and I served on the canvassing committee for nominations for the ACS Industrial Chemistry Award (2002-2004). Interestingly I was recruited into the division many years ago by a colleague at Exxon Research & Engineering, and I was encouraged to stay active in the division after I moved to Texas A&M University at Galveston.
As an active I&EC member and councilor of long standing I believe my value to the division is to provide visibility, guidance and counsel. I interact regularly with ACS staff and with lots of councilors from other divisions and therefore I am able to pass along to the officers of I&EC information about general trends and directions the Society is taking, and to present and promote I&EC views in a number of Society venues.
ACS staff continues to actively seek new ways to change the Society to make it more attractive to active participation from industrial chemists, and to people who are chemists but who are not working in “traditional” chemistry areas. They are also open to suggestions for how to make ACS the place anyone would think of to look for information and professional interactions regarding all things chemistry related. Thanks in part to your councilors, the staff have made certain to include I&EC people in the brainstorming activities for how the Society might proceed to reinvent itself. I&EC focus on applications is and can continue to be a natural rallying place for these underserved chemists. It is important to closely monitor and to make contributions to this process to maintain the division identity and health, but also find ways to ultimately help our profession prosper, and this is exactly what I will continue to do as your councilor.
If you choose to honor me with re-election, I promise to stay active, both in the division and in the Society. I often solicit your input, but rarely hear from the silent majority. I assume that means you trust my judgment on issues relevant to the division. I always try to make my choices and votes reflect the best interests of chemical engineers and industrial chemists and/or I&EC division. Thank you for your support.
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