As a Sacramento Section Councilor, I attended my first virtual National ACS Meeting this month. Everything went very well, and I attended the Council Meeting, the Region VI Caucus, the Senior Chemists Committee meeting, and the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Senior Chemists Committee. I have attached the Council Talking Points report, and highlights of the meetings follow:
The Senior Chemists Committee is still very active, and will be getting involved in an initiative from the ACS Education Division, “Connecting Students and Postdocs with Senior Chemists.” This was presented by Corrie Kuniyoshi and Joerg Schlatterer of the ACS, and has several goals for volunteers. First, help develop a new workshop, “Designing Your Career Narrative.” Second, reviewing personal and research statements of ACS Bridge Fellows. And third, contributing articles to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Chemist Magazine on DIER (diversity, inclusiveness, equity, and respect) as those factors relate to personal stories and challenges of senior chemists throughout their careers. I will be involved with this effort as chair of the SCC Communications Subcommittee.
The primary decision the Council made was to deactivate the Committee on Chemical Abstracts, primarily because most of its functions have been taken over by the Publishing Board of the ACS. This has been discussed for many years, and the Council finally decided that the members of this committee should use their talents in other areas where they can be effective.
I was impressed at how well the ACS put together this meeting. Attendance was about half of normal National meetings, which I thought was pretty good, all things considered. The ACS and its members continue to function well in spite of our current challenges.
