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Host of Festivities:
Dr. Joseph F. Bieron
Western New York Local Historian
Date: Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Place: The Fairdale
672 Wehrle Dr. at Beach
Cheektowaga, NY
6:00 PM Cash Bar
7:00 PM Dinner, 3 meal choices @ a cost of $20.00 each
(1) Stuffed Chicken Breast
(2) Broiled Pork Chop
(3) Vegetarian
Meal selections 1 & 2 come with red roasted potatoes, mixed vegetables, and side salad
Dessert with choice of coffee or tea
After Dinner Sing Along with Musical Accompaniment
Reservations: Patty at 888-2340 by Friday, December 13, 2002
| Chair
Joanna Christopher |
Chair-Elect
Patricia DePra |
| Vice-Chair
Larry Springsteen
|
Secretary
Mary
O'Sullivan |
| Treasurer
Andrew
Poss |
Double Bond Staff: Editor and Publisher Business Manager Joanna Christopher
|
| Assistant Editor
Patty
Shelley
|
Dear fellow WNY ACS Members,
What a wonderful talk Dr. Suzanne Lomax gave at the section’s dinner meeting on November 7th! Her presentation on “The Application of Chemistry to the Examination of Works of Art” was based on work she and her colleagues at the National Gallery of Art have done over the last decade. The presentation was a feast for the eyes as well as the mind for the forty plus in attendance. The art ranged from Renaissance to Modern paintings and even included wax sculptures by the Impressionist painter Degas. One of the cases presented, a Dutch portrait over four hundred years old, illustrated how the analysis of the conservation scientist could partner with the art historical knowledge of the conservators. One painting, currently hanging in Washington, depicts a man who appears quite different from the man one would have viewed over the last few centuries. Decades after the original painting was done, the man’s hair was significantly lengthened to fit what was then the current style.
One of the most intriguing aspects of a presentation such as this is how diverse an audience can enjoy attending. It is fair to say that almost everyone can walk away with some new type of knowledge.
Chemists in attendance saw familiar instrumental techniques applied to systems most of us would never analyze. Over a dozen students in the Art Conservation department at Buffalo State College saw these same experimental techniques applied to the types of conservation and restoration questions they will one day ask. Stunning art slides were interspersed with data that either stimulated or answered questions among the scientists. Nonscientists in the audience were able to understand that the questions regarding a particular work of art were often, though not always, answerable by available methods.
Presentations to a general audience can be quite a challenge. Are you prepared for it? There are six or seven opportunities every year for members of our section to present their work and/or passions at dinner meetings. If you are interested, don’t hesitate to contact one of the section officers.
If you have already flipped through this issue of the newsletter, you’ve already noticed it is once again time for the local section elections. Please take a few minutes to look over the ballot enclosed in this newsletter, vote, and mail it in.
Please don’t forget that the annual holiday dinner meeting will be held at The Fairdale on Wednesday, December 18th at 6:00 pm. I’m looking forward to meeting you there.
Vice Chair
Larry Springsteen
Abstract for Holiday Party
The Christmas holiday meeting in December will have a program different from the usual speaker format.
As part of our continuing effort to feature the rich history of the section, we will present photos and slides of the chemical industry in Western New York. In addition, we have uncovered some old songs composed by WNY-ACS members. These were the principal means of entertainment in the old days. Musical accompaniment will be provided as we sing these songs out of our past.
Report of the Council Meeting-Boston, MA-Fall, 2002
The ACS Council Meeting was held on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 in Boston, MA. Highlites of some of the points of interest are detailed below.
You may have read in the Sept 9 issue of C&E News about the "hotly debated" issue of increasing the size of the committees. This is an understatement. It was an all out backroom political "Washington Style" brawl. In the end the Council passed the petition to increase the size of committees by a narrow margin.
In financial news, the ACS will run a deficit of ~$4.2 million for the 2002 year. The loss is attributed to the significant reduction in investment income. Assuming the economy will run at about the same pace next year, the Board's goal for 2003 is to break even or not exceed $1 million in deficit spending.
Your dues for 2003 will be $116.00.
The registration fee for the spring meeting in New Orleans is set at $275.00. There will be a special program reviewing the stability of long term research at this meeting.
There is a new policy pertaining to audio-visual equipment at National meetings. The ACS will supply LCD, microphones, and overhead projectors (with screen). Also 35mm projectors will be supplied by special request only.
If you refer back to the Council spring report presented in the June Double Bond, you may recall that membership increased to 163,502. It is sad to report at this time that membership has now declined to 154,000. The membership committee reported that this was the first time in recent history that we have had a decline.
There is still one petition of interest to local sections and divisions which remains open. The petition would significantly increase dues sharing with the locals and divisions. The financial impact on the Society would be on the order of $500,000 and was not supported by the Budget and Finance committee. A vote on the petition was postponed at this time and will be brought back to the floor at the spring meeting. While this proposal would greatly benefit our Local Section, passing this resolution will be difficult in view of the current ACS deficit. Stay tuned for an update.
General comments about the overall technical meeting. The conference was well attended, having 17,121 registrants and 410 exhibitors setting up booths. The Employment Clearing House had 1,242 applicants competing for 575 job postings. At last count, 4.670 interviews were conducted.
If you have any questions, feel free to call.
Submitted by
Dave Nalewajek
Councilor
CANDIDATES FOR OFFICERS OF THE
ACS WESTERN NEW YORK SECTION
FOR THE YEAR 2003-2004
Treasurer Dr. Andrew Poss
{ }Honeywell
Councilor
David Nalewajek { }Honeywell
Voting Instructions:
Please vote for the candidates, place the ballot in an envelope, and return by December 31, 2002. Attn: Patty Shelley, Canisius College Chemistry,
2001 Main St. Buffalo, NY 14208
Print and sign your name in the top left corner of the envelope
copy and paste this section and please email to:
Councilor:
David Nalewajek is currently a Senior Principal Scientist at Honeywell Int (formerly AlliedSignal). He received his B.S. in chemistry form Canisius College in 1974 and his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1978. His postdoctoral was spent at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he researched the design and synthesis of multidimensional superconductors. His current research interests are directed towards the development of photo-optic materials, organic dielectrics, and single-site catalysts.
Dave has been active in community outreach activities since his return to WNY in 1980, serving as lecturer/demonstrator at the Buffalo Museum of Science and at local elementary schools. Within the WNY-ACS organization, he has held positions of member-at-large, vice-chairman, chairman-elect and chairman. He has served as councilor for this Section since 1992. In addition, Dave has served as chairman of the Schoellkopf committee and is currently chair for National Chemistry Week. Dave has served as chair/co-chair of National Chemistry Week since its inception in 1989.
Treasurer:
Andrew Poss is the Chemical Technology Development Group Leader at Honeywell's Buffalo Research Laboratory. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. (1984) in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester. He was a member of the faculty of SUNY Buffalo for 7 years, then joined then AlliedSignal, now Honeywell. Andrew taught SUNYAB night school from 1990-2000 and has been active in the Honeywell Educational Outreach program since it inception. He has served the ACS Western New York Section as Buffalo-member at large and treasurer.
Canisius College SAACS off to a running start this year
Jeffrey M. Rose
The Canisius College Student Affiliates Chapter of The American Chemical Society has had a very busy and productive semester this fall. The group has engaged in a number of events and is planning a few more for November and December.
To begin the semester, 13 members participated in the annual Great Lakes Beach Sweep. This entailed spending two hours along the Niagara River shoreline picking up and cataloging debris. Altogether the group collected about 35 pounds of garbage.
In early October, the chapter held its first movie night of the semester with a special screening of Monsters, Inc. A week later about 20 members and professors accompanied Dr. Michael Hoffmann of Caltech to the Bills vs. Raiders game. Although the Bills were unsuccessful that day, the group enjoyed the game and beautiful weather.
The chapter was very busy for this year’s National Chemistry Week (NCW). Over 25 members participated in three events that week in late October. On Tuesday the group traveled (across the street) to Mt. St. Joseph Academy to perform demos for 41 middle school students.
On Friday, the group presented similar demos at The Delavan-Grider Community Center as part of an ACS Community Interaction Student Affiliate (CISA) grant. The 36 students in attendance were given goody bags with items from the NCW catalog and also got the chance to win even more prizes.
Finally, on Saturday members went to the Buffalo Museum of Science to present demos and some hands-on activities and distribute copies of ChemMatters and Celebrating Chemistry magazines to parents and children.
Additionally on the final day of National Chemistry Week, a second group presented demos at the college’s open house while a third group gave tours of the department to prospective students and their parents.
Throughout the semester the chapter has also been collecting personal hygiene items as part of the “Chemistry Makes Cleaning Possible” drive. By initiating on-campus marketing, starting a sub-drive at Mt. St. Joseph Academy, writing letters to dozens of local stores and companies, and holding a collection contest amongst the general and organic chemistry classes at Canisius, the chapter was able to collect 231 pounds of personal hygiene items! If you have any questions or suggestions for the chapter, please e-mail us at ACS@canisius.edu.
The drive was finished at the close of National Chemistry Week and the items will soon be donated to Vive, Inc. – a local organization for world refugees.
As for November and December, twenty-three chapter members are planning to collect food items at two local grocery stores for the college’s annual Thanksgiving food drive. Also planned for November is an ACS vs. Tri-Beta (the biology club at Canisius) football game at Delaware Park. A solid victory is expected.
Since September, the chapter has had three all-member meetings and currently boasts 51 members from a variety of majors. The chapter was bestowed a “Commendable Chapter” award by the Student Affiliates division of the ACS and was personally commended on our chapter’s organizational skills as reflected by last year’s annual report. Permission was requested (and given) for the Student Affiliates division to adapt and implement some of our documents used for attendance, membership enrollment, tutoring and more.
Several members plan to go to the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans in the spring to present a poster on the success of our chapter.
The chapter would like to thank Patricia Shelley and Steven Szczepankiewicz of Canisius for their continued efforts toward making all of our events well-funded, well-attended, and successful. We would also like to especially thank David Nalewajek of Honeywell and Thomas Stabler of Canisius for their assistance with our National Chemistry Week events.
Contact Mary Jean Sryek @ 894-2128
Put these dates on your calendar
Saturday, January 25
Saturday, February 22
Saturday, March 20
All meetings will be at
Canisius College, 2001 Main St., Buffalo, NY in Room # 015 of
the
Horan-O’Donnell Science Building located on Hughes Street
please contact
Direct inquiries to Joseph Bieron, 888-2357
Contact Patty @ Canisius College
716-888-2340 or via email at
shelleyp@canisius.edu
For laboratory or moving advice -
a chemist knows what other chemists want
Larry Beanan
For all your Real Estate Needs
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Tonawanda, New York 14150
Office: 834-5400 Mobile:
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Canisius College Press
Phone: 716-888-3254
FAX: 716-888-3112
E-Mail bieron@canisius.edu
Website: www.canisius.edu/historyproject
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