ACS Members Research Articles

How the ACS Member Insurance Program has adapted in unusual times

How the ACS Member Insurance Program has adapted in unusual times

Division memberships add value to your ACS membership

Division memberships add value to your ACS membership

Division memberships add value to your ACS membership

Division memberships add value to your ACS membership

Radding Award to Thomas R. Beattie

Thomas R. Beattie, a biopharmaceutical consultant, is the winner of the 2020 Shirley B. Radding Award, presented annually by the American Chemical Society Silicon Valley Section to an ACS member wh...

Lloyd L. Falk

Lloyd L. Falk, 101, died March 8 in Henrico, Virginia. “Dr. Lloyd L. Falk of was a member of ACS for 75 years. He served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II in England and France as a meteorologist on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s staff, helping determine the D-Day invasion. Lloyd worked 32 years for DuPont. He testified before Congress on water pollution control and was at President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Clean Water Act in 1965.”—Laurie Falk Coulter, daughter Most recent title: Principal consultant, DuPont Education: BS, chemistry, 1941, and PhD, environmental science, 1949, Rutgers University Survivors: Daughter, Laurie Falk Coulter; sons, David and Gary; four grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; two step-great-grandchildren To recognize your late loved one or colleague, submit obituary information at cenm.ag/obits .

You have the power to change the world through chemistry advocacy

Kevin Kuhn, chair of the Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs, invited committee member Heidi Vollmer-Snarr to author this comment as an example of how ACS members are using the society’s advocacy tools to advance science. Vollmer-Snarr is director of advanced undergraduate laboratories at Harvard University. This past year, science has emerged more prominently than ever, with scientists developing vaccines in record time and advising officials on how to rebound from lockdowns and closures. However, because most of our elected officials are not trained scientists, they need our help as they try to rebuild. Last month, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the 117th Congress got to work—individuals who are eager to roll out their varying legislative priorities. They are entering one of the most challenging moments for the US—thousands of Americans die every day from the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of children are struggling in their education because

You have the power to change the world through chemistry advocacy

Kevin Kuhn, chair of the Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs, invited committee member Heidi Vollmer-Snarr to author this comment as an example of how ACS members are using the society’s advo...

Stakeholder Perception of the Determinants of Audit Committee Effectiveness in a Developing Economy: Evidence from the Libyan Banking Sector

This study distinctively explores the firm-level and national-level determinants of Audit Committee Effectiveness (ACE) in the Libyan banking sector (LBS). A mixed-methods approach has been employed to enhance the quality of the collected data and reduce the risk of bias. Five groups of actors in the Libyan banking sector were surveyed, including board members, AC members, executive managers, internal auditors and external auditors, further to interviewing a representative sample of these groups. In total, 218 survey responses were gathered, and 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Our results show that AC authority, financial expertise, and diligence are positively and significantly attributed to ACE, although AC independence and resources are not significantly related to ACE. We find that the legal and regulatory environment, government intervention, and the accounting and auditing environment are perceived as important and associated with ACE regarding national-level factors. These findings are strongly supported by semi-structured interviews and suggest that both firm-level and national-level factors are essential in understanding ACE in Libya's banking sector. Our evidence reiterates the vital need for more concentrated work to integrate governance, legislative and regulatory reforms to ensure the effectiveness of ACs as a key corporate governance (CG) mechanism in developing economies. Our study extends the literature relating measures of AC inputs and outputs by examining the perception of stakeholders to understand both the firm-level and national-level factors that affect ACE in a single institutional setting. Additionally, our work adds to the limited number of recent studies examining the role of ACs in the banking sector in developing economies.

ACS members elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Three American Chemical Society members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. They are among 90 regular members and 10 international members elected this year for their outstanding...

Improving diversity, inclusion, and respect on ACS committees

The American Chemical Society Committee on Committees (ConC) enables a dynamic and effective committee system by ensuring that our committees are optimally organized, resourced, and engaged. Our committees ensure that the ACS Board of Directors and the ACS Council can carry out their responsibilities in support of ACS’s mission and address broad topics such as outreach and advocacy, member and professional development, education, diversity, science, and operational excellence. Their work affects members, chemistry professionals, educators, and our communities. Ideally, the demographic makeup of committees should reflect society as a whole, and hopefully ACS reflects that as well. We know that some voices and perspectives are underrepresented in ACS committees. According to an unpublished survey by ConC , approximately 750 ACS members are on Council-related committees, and only 5% self-identify as Black, 5% as Latino(a)/Hispanic , 5% as Asian, and 0.5% as Indigenous people, well below their representation in the US

ACS members elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Three American Chemical Society members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. They are among 90 regular members and 10 international members elected this year for their outstanding...

Harold Hart

ACS NEWS Harold Hart ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2020, 98 (42), p 36November 2, 2020Cite this:C&EN 98, 42, 36AbstractHarold Hart, 97, died Nov. 17, 2019, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. “Harold joined Michigan State University in 1946. He helped transform the Chemistry Department into one that emphasized both teaching and research. His research contributed to synthetic and physical organic chemistry, and he wrote the first organic chemistry textbook designed for nonchemistry majors (with R. D. Schuetz ). He served as editor of Chemical Reviews from 1967 to 1976. In later years, he assembled a portrait collection of renowned chemists. He was an ACS member for 77 years, a mentor to students and young faculty, and husband to Geraldine, the love of his life.”—David J. Hart, son Most recent title: Emeritus professor of chemistry, Michigan State University Education: BS, chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1941; PhD, chemistry, Penn State University, 1947 Survivors: Daughters, Ariel Anderson, Diana, and Leslie Craine; son, David; eight grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren To recognize your late lovedView: PDF | Full Text HTML

What I’ve learned from being on the ACS Board of Directors

It has been almost 2 years since I was approached to run for the American Chemical Society Board of Directors. I, like many other ACS members, had only a limited understanding of what the board did...

Is the investment decision affected by the independence and competence of the audit committee? A comparative study between Bahrain and Indonesia

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of the audit committee’s (AC’s) independence and competence in the company’s investment decision-making in Bahraini- and Indonesian-listed firms, then to compare the two resultsDesign/methodology/approachA quantitative method is used and cross-sectional data are collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey. A stratified random sample technique is adopted with a total of 409 respondents from 39 listed companies in Bahrain and 303 respondents from 27 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). A descriptive analysis is used to identify the characteristics of the respondents, while a correlation analysis, linear regression and t-test analyses are used to test the model, explain the relationships among variables and compare the two studies (Bahrain vs Indonesia).FindingsIt is found that the AC independence and AC competence have a positive and significant influence on investment decision-making for both the Bahrain and the Indonesia studiesPractical implicationsThe current study’s results have implications for the process of appointing and nominating the AC members, since this would affect an investor’s investment decision. Investors’ perception of the independence and competence of ACs will make a difference in their investment decisions.Originality/valueAC independence and competence are importantly crucial for the decision-makers in improving the quality of financial reporting, internal control, and audit. This may lead to an increase in investors’ trust in financial reports and their ability to make favorable investment decisions.

Ruth Woodall wins Parsons Award

Ruth Woodall is the recipient of the awarded by the ACS Board of Directors. The award recognizes outstanding public service by an ACS member. “Ruth has devoted her life to service to science and to...

ACS seeks career consultants

ACS is seeking volunteer career consultants to coach chemistry professionals on job search and career development skills, including résumé preparation, interviewing techniques, making a career transition, and salary negotiation. Applicants must be a current ACS member; have an accredited degree in chemistry or one of the chemical sciences or the equivalent experience (at least 2 years of work experience in the chemical sciences); and experience in job search or career changes; and be proficient with online communications and networking tools such LinkedIn. For more information or to submit an application, visit .

2020 ACS Fellows

The American Chemical Society has named 53 members as ACS fellows. The fellows program began in 2009 as a way to recognize ACS members for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, ...

ACS launches online advocacy workshop

The American Chemical Society has launched the ACS Chemistry Advocacy Workshop, a self-paced workshop that will provide virtual training for ACS members who are passionate about chemistry and science advocacy. ACS has typically provided in-person advocacy trainings at national and regional meetings and through Act4Chemistry resources at www.acs.org/act4chemistry. This new on-demand workshop will make that information available to any chemistry advocate, anytime, anywhere. “The current global crisis brought on by COVID-19 has illustrated, perhaps more than ever before, the challenges and importance of having scientific experts available to policy makers responsible for the daily function of our federal, state, and local governments,” says ACS President Luis Echegoyen. “Scientific experts have been critical to ensuring policy makers understand the severity of COVID-19, the best policies to implement for public safety, what actions to take to care for the sick, and how to plan for vaccine development.” The workshop can be completed

Audit committee and factors that affect its characteristics: the case of Greece

Policy-makers currently place great emphasis on strengthening the audit committees’ structure. Underlying this is a belief that strengthening the audit committees’ structure may enhance the effectiveness as well as the quality of financial information. In this research, we examine the relationship between audit committee characteristics (number of AC members, percentage of independent audit committee members and percentage of board directors) and structure, accounting and corporate governance-related measures. Using a sample of 126 listed companies on the Athens Stock Exchange, we show that audit committee size has a positive relationship with the number of the firm’s employees and negative relationship with operating cash flows and the presence of an executive chairman. Moreover, we find that audit committee effectiveness has a positive relationship with the percentage of independent directors. On that basis, our findings are important since they highlight the usefulness of audit committees and offers insights to academics, practitioners and policy-makers.

In stressful times, ACS Member Insurance provides added peace of mind

“It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Various versions of this quote have been attributed to Niels Bohr, Mark Twain, Yogi Berra, Nostradamus, and many others. With resp...