Chemistry Enterprise Research Articles

Population And Sustainability

TWO WEEKS AGO , I was in Johannesburg at the South African Chemical Institute/Federation of African Societies of Chemistry meeting. On the last day of the meeting, Werner Van Zyl, a chemistry professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, gave a talk on developing sustainable energy sources through chemistry. In discussing the priorities humans have set for R&D spending, Van Zyl said: “We live healthy lives on a dying planet. We have to stop focusing our R&D budget as if death were an option.” Last week, I was in Philadelphia for the official U.S. kickoff of the International Year of Chemistry (see page 7). The program on Tuesday morning featured six luminaries of the chemistry enterprise discussing “Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.” Daniel G. Nocera, a chemistry professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, moderated the panel discussion, during which he observed that, as a result of modern medical technology, the average life span in developed nations is now ...

Sustainable Growth Is An Oxymoron

The following is based on an after-dinner talk delivered by C&EN Editor-in-Chief Rudy M. Baum at the 25th Annual William S. Johnson Symposium at Stanford University on Oct. 8, 2010. GOOD EVENING. It has been a remarkable day. The talks we’ve heard from some of the true luminaries of the chemistry enterprise have been inspiring and remind us of how vibrant our science is. They also remind us of how much there is still to learn about the chemistry that makes our world so dynamic, that makes us who we are, and lets us live the lives we live. The title of William S. Johnson’s autobiography, “A Fifty-Year Love Affair with Organic Chemistry,” could not be more fitting. Indeed, Johnson did have a 50-year love affair with organic chemistry, and his contributions to the field were enormous. In an epilogue, Paul A. Bartlett, William R. Bartlett, John D. Roberts, and Gilbert Stork wrote: “Bill ...

C&EN In The Blogosphere

C&EN AND THE Editor’s Page have been the subject of some interesting blogging of late. Instead of responding on the blogs themselves, I want to use a couple of Editor’s Pages to comment on the substance of blogs and the comments they elicited. C&EN recently held a meeting of its editorial advisory board. Advisory board members are listed on the masthead on this page. The proceedings of the meetings are off the record so that board members can speak freely on topics relating to the chemistry enterprise and the performance of the magazine in meeting its mission. That said, advisory board members know that we use the ideas expressed at the meeting to inform our reporting and commentary. This was the first advisory board meeting for Derek Lowe, a pharmaceutical chemist who created the influential blog “In the Pipeline” in 2002. Before coming to the meeting, Lowe posted an entry in which he stated that ...

Medicine And Climate

GLOBALIZATION IS often thought of as primarily an economic phenomenon. In Thomas Friedman’s flattened world, anybody can do business anywhere. That’s not always been greeted warmly by U.S. chemists, who see manufacturing and R&D jobs being shipped abroad. For other components of the chemistry enterprise, globalization has broader and more complex implications. Research in chemistry and related disciplines has been global for decades and is becoming ever more so. A study from Thomson Reuters released last week “shows explosive growth in research output from China, far outpacing research activity in the rest of the world,” according to a press release. The study shows that China will overtake the U.S. in research output within a decade. Two stories in this week’s issue also illustrate the complexity of globalization, which is a reflection of the ever-increasing interconnectedness of human activities around the globe. In one positive instance, novel collaborations are being forged to improve the health of ...

Not Just Any Marge, Dick, And Harry

THREE CHEMISTS I’ve known for many years and consider close professional friends have recently received major honors for their contributions to chemistry and the chemistry enterprise. I can’t think of three more deserving recipients. As detailed in the lead News of the Week story on page 5, Richard N. Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at Stanford University, will receive the 2010 Priestley Medal, ACS’s highest award, for his distinguished service to chemistry. Another NOTW, on page 9, announces that Margaret A. (Marge) Cavanaugh, deputy assistant director for geosciences at the National Science Foundation, will receive the 2010 Award for Volunteer Service to the American Chemical Society. The Priestley Medal and the volunteer service award were decided by the ACS Board of Directors at its meeting on June 4–6 in Baltimore. And just three weeks ago, we learned that Harry B. Gray, a chemistry professor ...

ACS–Hach Programs: Supporting Excellence in High School Chemistry Teaching

In January 2009, the ACS received a gift of approximately $33 million from the Hach Scientific Foundation, the largest gift in the society's 133-year history. The foundation's programs will be continued by the ACS and will complement pre-existing ACS resources that support high school chemistry teaching. Three activities serve as the pillars of the ACS–Hach programs—the High School Chemistry Grant Program, the Second Career Teacher Scholarship Program, and the Land Grant University Scholars Program. Collectively, the ACS–Hach programs support high school chemistry teaching and learning by responding to the needs of both in-service and pre-service secondary teachers. The goals of each of the ACS–Hach programs align well with the ACS Mission—to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people.

More On Limits

HOW MUCH STUFF do you need? That is the fundamental question at the heart of the current global economic meltdown that is crushing economies around the world. The chemistry enterprise is by no means immune to this economic chaos, as the pages of C&EN attest week in and week out. I am not a shopper. I honestly cannot tell you the last time I was in a mall. Except for the few suits I own, almost all of my clothes are mail order. The only stores I actually enjoy going to regularly are grocery stores, because I like to cook and I like to eat good food. My wife, Jan, is not much of a shopper either, but she does, on occasion, venture out to the mall for this or that. Invariably, when she returns home, she will comment on the vast quantity of goods arrayed in the aisles of the department stores and ...

ACS, SCI TO ADDRESS GLOBAL ISSUES

GLOBAL INNOVATION Imperatives—Water (Gii—Water), a cooperative international program that aims to address, through chemistry, the world’s water concerns, made its public debut at the recent ACS national meeting in New Orleans with a well-attended town hall-style meeting. ACS, through its Committee on Corporation Associates (CCA), and the London-based Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) are the founders of the program, which had its genesis in conversations between ACS Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Madeleine Jacobs and her SCI counterpart, Andrew Ladds. The Gii mission is to create community and knowledge transfer to stimulate global scientific innovation that meets global needs. In particular, both organizations are interested in collaborating in areas where they can stimulate industrial innovation to tackle societal imperatives. “In discussions with SCI, we agreed that although there are numerous global challenges that we in the chemistry enterprise can address, one of the most pressing i...

Whatever Happened In 1908?

SOMETIME IN 2007 , Donald R. Paul, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and editor of the ACS journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research , pointed out to me that the ACS Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division would celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2008. Later in the year, I learned that the Organic, Physical, and Agricultural & Food Chemistry Divisions were celebrating 100th anniversaries in 2008, as well. I also knew that the American Institute of Chemical Engineers was celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2008. ACS lore has it that AIChE formed by splitting from ACS. I made a mental note to myself that I really needed to look up what was going on in 1908 that led to all of this activity. Anniversaries are nice to celebrate, but there was clearly some turmoil in the chemistry enterprise in that seminal year. Just after returning from the national meeting in New Orleans—where ACS ...

The Transforming Power of Chemistry Runs on Information

INFORMATION FUELS THE “transforming power of chemistry.” It energizes scientific discovery, advances the field of chemistry, and sustains those who practice it. Without uninterrupted supplies of new information, the chemistry enterprise ceases to be innovative. ACS members recognize the importance of information, as does the ACS Board of Directors. The ACS Strategic Plan 2008 and Beyond, lists the following as Goal 1: “ACS will be the indispensable professional and information resource for members and other chemistry-related practitioners.” The strategic plan has six goals, all of which are pivotal to the future success of the society (see www.acs.org/strategicplan). It is no accident that information is the first goal in the plan. Because ACS understands its members’ dependence on information, it seeks to be the indispensable professional and informational resource for them. It accomplishes this goal by offering members access to a broad array of comprehensive, diverse, and complementary information prod...

From Chicago To Israel

EVERY ISSUE OF C&EN brings its read ers abroad range of unique information regarding the chemistry enterprise. This week's issue is no different, just a little more so than usual. Let's start with its heft. At 240 pages, this will be one of the two largest issues of 2007. The bulk of those pages are devoted to the technical program for the 233rd American Chemical Society national meeting that will be held in Chicago later this month (see page 71). It is a very large meeting. The ACS president, 28 technical divisions, one secretariat, and three committees will host programming in 682 half-day oral sessions and 96 poster sessions. More than 9,400 papers will be presented. An overarching theme of the meeting, selected by ACS President Katie Hunt and the Committee on Divisional Activities, is Sustainability of Energy, Food, and Water. The program consists of 47 sessions contributed by numerous divisions. They cover a wide ...

Chemical physics: The standing of a mature discipline

It is always promising and enticing to start a new editorial task in the scientific arena and the launch of the Chemistry Central Journal is no exception. The different thematic sections making up this journal are quite representative of the whole chemistry enterprise. However, one of them has a special relevance. In fact, Chemical Physics (CP) is the most general and it embodies a wide diversity of issues. Of particular importance at the launch of this groundbreaking new journal is the confidence of the Section Editor in BioMed Central (owners of Chemistry Central) as publishers, and from Chemistry Central to its Editorial Board. I feel deeply grateful for this new assignment and I hope to be able to perform a thorough job in editing this section. Below, I make my request to you as potential authors and reviewers.

Equipping the 2015 Chemical Technology Workforce: Partnering with Key Stakeholders

The opportunities and challenges associated with establishing and sustaining successful chemistry-based technology programs were discussed at Equipping the 2015 Chemical Technology Workforce, a Presidential Event held at the Fall 2006 ACS National Meeting, kicking off an initiative by the same name. The initiative is based on the recent ACS report, The Chemistry Enterprise in 2015, and related discussions and will continue with a series of local collaborative workforce development programs.