American Chemical Society, Chicago Section

Chicago Section ACS 2002 Annual Report

Narrative

The Chicago Section of the ACS had a very active and productive year in 2002. The activities listed below were selected as the "Top Ten" by the Annual Report Committee.

In May the Chicago Section established an online Job Forum as a Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACSchicagojob/. This forum serves the local section as a meeting place for employers, chemists seeking work and people with experience to share in the fine art of finding the right job. The Job Forum already has thirty members and over seventy postings, including a wonderful discussion titled "Why Qualified Candidates Don't Always Get the Best Jobs" written by Larry Slesinger of Slesinger Management Services and submitted by a forum member. The forum is open to anyone in a chemistry related field who would like to contribute assistance and guidance to a fellow chemist, any employer with a job posting and anyone looking for employment in a chemistry related field. (Strategic Thrusts 2, 6, NEW)

During 2002 the Chicago Section focused several activities on Green Chemistry. The first of these was the Public Affairs meeting which featured Dr. Dennis Hjeresen of the Green Chemistry Institute offering some solutions to protect our environment. Earlier, Dr. William Nelson of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources spoke on the use of ionic liquids to replace traditional organic solvents, thus minimizing waste. At the same meeting, the three area organizations that have received Green Chemistry awards, Donlar Corp, Argonne National Laboratories and Ondeo-Nalco, were recognized. Later in the year, one of our Chemistry Day speakers was Dr. Mary Kirchhoff of the Green Chemistry Institute speaking on "Green Chemistry: a Greener Clean". The next "green" event was a teachers' workshop on Green Chemistry inspired by the Public Affairs meeting and sponsored by a local recycling education group (S.C.A.R.C.E.) and Ondeo-Nalco. The speakers included Dr. Hjeresen and Dr. Kirchhoff as well as representatives from four Green Chemistry Award winning companies. About 75 high school and college teachers attended this workshop. Two groups of teachers have continued to meet and discuss how best to integrate green chemistry into their curricula. The Section's Stieglitz Lecturer for 2002 was Dr. Pat Gruber of Cargill Dow speaking on making polymers from corn starch, green again. (Strategic Thrusts 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, NEW

Over 1000 participants enjoyed Chemistry Day 2002 held at the University of Illinois Chicago campus. There were many activities to choose from, starting with demonstrations by area high school teachers that were guaranteed to catch everyone's attention. We held four seminars on various aspect of keeping/getting clean including "Rub a Dub Dub, the Water in Your Tub", "Household Magic- Clean Your House With Chemistry", "Green Chemistry: a Greener Clean" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Indiana". These were very well attended with about 300 in the audience each time, and each of the speakers graciously answered many questions afterwards. Exhibitors included several chemical companies, student affiliates, Argonne National Laboratory, and the DEA among others. Many of these exhibits had activities for attendees to try out. In the hands-on area, children were writing with invisible ink, carrying out chromatographic separations, measuring pH with cabbage juice and doing many other activities. The efforts of more than 100 volunteers made this a success. (Strategic Thrusts 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10)

This year the Chicago Section had three SEED I students, a post-SEED II student and a college scholarship recipient. One student, Delliah Redd, did Summer I research at the University of Illinois Chicago studying the effect of tomato sauce pasta entrees on cholesterol, carotenoid and fat-soluble vitamin levels of prostate cancer patients. Summer II research was done by two students, Salvador and Jesus Gutierrez, at Finch UHS/Chicago Medical School, studying control of ion transport and cell volume in excitable nerve and muscle cells and identifying changes in specific proteins involved in mammalian and bacterial cell growth. Our post SEED II student, Jesus Ruiz, continued his research on the effects of electrical stimulation on cell volume, isometric contraction force and intracellular pressure in skeletal muscle cells. Victor Sanchez, a 2001 SEED II student, received a 2002 Ullyot SEED scholarship. New this year, Delliah Redd and Jesus Ruiz, with financial support from the Section, presented their research at the SciMix poster session at the Boston meeting. (Strategic Thrusts 3, 4, 5, NEW)

In the fall, the Chicago Section began surveying those who attend monthly dinner meetings, both members and nonmembers, to determine their satisfaction with the various aspects of the meeting and to solicit suggestions for improvements. Thus far, we have done this at three meetings with an average response of 46% of the dinner attendees. The responses rank facilities and meals in the good to excellent range, Topical Group presentations average out to be "of Use", and the Main Speakers' programs fall between the "of Use" and "of Definite Help" categories. These results are promising and many people have responded with suggestions for program topics. These have been forwarded to our Program, Topical Group and Continuing Education chairs. Some of the comments are negative, "program too long", "photographer distracting" while others are positive, " friendly members", "excellent timely program". While certainly not a comprehensive survey, this is a good start for determining how we are serving our members and what changes we should make in the future. (Strategic Thrusts 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, NEW)

This fall a meeting of representatives of various scientific societies, including the Chicago Section, was held with the head of the Science department at the Young Women's Leadership Charter School of Chicago. The students at this school are economically disadvantaged and predominantly minorities. The school's emphasis is on science, math and technology, and they are seeking individuals to serve as role models, mentors and to present career focused seminars. The Chicago Section is developing a list of volunteers to serve in this effort and has been in contact with the school to set up meetings between the students and those who have already volunteered. (Strategic Thrusts 3, 4, 5, NEW)

Chicago Section members from the Younger Chemists Committee ran a booth at Harper College's Career Fair. Information on careers in chemistry was handed out and representatives at the table handled questions concerning job opportunities, degree requirements and desirability of future positions. Many students asked what high school requirements were necessary in order to follow a degree path in chemistry or chemical engineering. Career literature was used to describe job functions of chemists and the different career ladders in various chemical industries. (Strategic Thrusts 4, 5)

An event targeted for underrepresented minority high school students was the 2002 F.U.T.U.R.E. (Factions United To Unveil Resources Through Education) College Fair held in Harvey, IL. The Chicago Section provided information to the students on the many different careers they could pursue with a degree in chemistry. They also distributed information on the many services provided by the ACS Career Services department. Approximately fifty students, along with their parents, stopped for information. (Strategic Thrusts 4, 5)

In 2001 the Chicago Section, in conjunction with the Division of Chemical Health and Safety, the Women's Chemists Committee and several units at the University of Illinois Chicago, initiated the process of nominating Alice Hamilton and the Foundation of Occupational Medicine at Hull-House as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. All of the groups worked together to complete the nominating materials and send them on to NHCL for consideration. Collaboration among the several groups eased the burden on any one group and increased the likelihood of success. This September the process came to fruition with the declaration of Alice Hamilton and her work at Hull-House in Chicago as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. An additional benefit to this cooperation has been the strengthening of ties between the Section and several units at UIC. (Strategic Thrusts 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, NEW)

In addition to the ten top activities above, the Chicago Section ACS has accomplished much more this past year. In the area of employment assistance, the Job Club has been rejuvenated, taking place prior to select dinner meetings. Job seekers are encouraged to come with resumes and business cards and a member of the Employment Committee leads the roundtable discussion. (Strategic Thrusts 2 and 4) The committee has also developed a list of area firms that employ chemists. Any member may receive a copy of this list on furnishing his or her name and the reason for the request to the Section office. (Strategic Thrust 2, New)

Our Hospitality Committee sends each new member of the Section a packet of introductory materials including a certificate for a free dinner at one of the monthly meetings. The new member is also offered the opportunity to be matched up with an experienced Section member as a mentor. Over 100 of these packets were distributed in 2002 and a few of these new members have become active in committee activities. (Strategic Thrusts 2,4 and 6)

The Hospitality Committee has also continued holding its popular drawing for a "CHICAGO" T-shirt at the monthly dinner meetings. After dinner speakers are presented with one of the T-shirts as well.

In order to encourage the attendance of students at monthly Section meetings, all high school, undergraduate and graduate students receive a 50% discount on the cost of the dinner at any monthly meeting. This was not allowed previously for the Gibbs Award banquet or the Holiday Party. (Strategic Thrusts 2, 3 and 4, New)

At the Holiday Party, we once again conducted a food drive for those less fortunate. Approximately 500 pounds of food was donated by the Chicago Section to a local food pantry this year.

The 2002 Josiah Willard Gibbs Medal Award was presented to Ralph F. Hirschmann, Makineni Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania and University Professor, Medical University of South Carolina. The award was presented:
For the discovery and development of several major pharmaceuticals including Vasotec, Lisinopril, Primaxin, Ivomec, Mevacor and Procar; introduction of the concept of stereoelectronic control; directing the first solution synthesis of an enzyme; demonstrating that the therapeutic index of an anti-inflammatory steroid can be improved via biochemistry-based prodrug design; initiating peptide-based research incorporating a rationally designed novel scaffold to replace the amide backbone.
The presentation was held on May 24, 2002 at the Guest House, Argonne National Laboratory. The award was presented by ACS President Eli Pearce on behalf of the Chicago Section. Dr. Daniel H. Rich, Ralph F. Hirschmann Professor of Medicinal and Organic Chemistry University of Wisconsin at Madison introduced Professor Hirschmann. (Appendix 1, pp A-22-25)

In the area of education, the Section continues to be a provider of Continuing Professional Development Units for teachers. Most Section activities generate CPDUs for those teachers in attendance that fill out the required paperwork. (Strategic Thrusts 2 and 3)

On Oct. 19, 2002, approximately 40 teachers attended the workshop, "Technology in the Chemistry Lab (Part 2)" and the October ChemWest meeting. Both events were hosted by the ACS High School Committee. Ami LeFevre, Mike Heinz, and Elizabeth Watkins led the technology workshop that was a follow-up to the one presented last year. Teachers received a binder with information about chemistry software, directions about lab set up, and general information about ACS. They had the opportunity to test several experiments using computerized data acquisition. The program was held at Glenbard South High School. (Strategic Thrusts 2 and 3)

On March 16,2002, the first round of the Olympiad was held at Loyola University. Approximately 30 students participated. Nine of the qualifying students advanced to the National Level held on April 20th at Loyola University. Each advancing student was personally called and congratulated. One of our students, Pericles Abbasi, qualified to attend the study camp held at the U.S. Air Force Academy in June. He was one of the top twenty students who took the National Exam. (Strategic Thrusts 3 and 4)

The ACS Scholarship Exam was held at Loyola University on May 4, 2002 under the direction of Dr. Daniel Graham. Over 80 students participated in the exam with five students receiving financial awards totaling $11,650. (Strategic Thrusts 3 and 4)

The Section held additional activities in the area of career services beyond those already discussed. The June Topical Group meeting was a workshop on Negotiating Techniques facilitated by Dorothy Rodmann of the ACS Department of Career Services. Over 50 people attended and participated in this presentation of useful strategies to help resolve issues that need negotiation. (Strategic Thrusts 2,5 and 6)

An event targeted towards young African-American girls was sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. The program, called Delta Academy, held a seminar entitled "Non-traditional Careers for African-American Women" on May 11, 2002. A Section member gave a talk on the many different careers in chemistry and what she did as a chemist. She also provided an experiment for the girls to perform. They made chemical meringues from water, egg whites, citric acid and baking soda. The girls were very interested in chemistry and they had a lot of questions. She invited the girls to Chemistry Day and many of them did attend. (Strategic Thrusts 3,4, and 5)

The Chicago Section participated in the 18th annual DuPage Area Engineers Week program on Saturday, February 23, 2002 at Illinois Institute of Technology's Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Campus. The program is a joint effort among professional engineering and scientific societies, the two area national laboratories, businesses, educational institutions and community organizations. The Chicago Section has been involved with DuPage Area Engineers' Week Open House for many years. This year the event featured a hands-on display of density. Adults tried to guess and then explain which drink (a 12 oz. can of Coke or a 12 oz. Can of Diet Coke) would drop to the bottom of a column of water. Kids constructed their own density columns using colored salt solution of varying densities. It was a real challenge to see which students choose the right order and then had patience to add the colored solution slowly enough to minimize mixing at the interface. (Strategic Thrusts 1,3,4,7 and 10)

The Chicago Section continued its practice of submitting questions on public policy issues to candidates for Governor and US Senator in Illinois. Members could then use the answers in their voting deliberations. The responses were published in the September (Governor) and October (US Senator) issues of the Chemical Bulletin and on our website. This year, we had also approached other local sections in Illinois to ask if they would be interested in providing this information to their members. Unfortunately, we did not get full cooperation from both candidates in either the Gubernatorial or Senate campaigns. Neither James Durkin (Republican candidate for US Senate) nor James Ryan (Republican candidate for Governor) provided answers to the questionnaires. Since to be really useful, answers must be received from both candidates, we did not provide this information to other Illinois local sections.

The 2002 Basolo Medal, awarded by Northwestern University and co-sponsored by the Chicago Section, was given to Stephen J. Lippard, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT. This award is given for outstanding research in Inorganic Chemistry and was established by former students of Dr. Fred Basolo.

The 2002 Stieglitz Lecture, co-sponsored by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Section, was given by Dr. Patrick Gruber of Cargill Dow. The Stieglitz Lecture was established in honor of Julius Stieglitz, former chair of the Chemistry Department at the University of Chicago and of the Chicago Section. (Strategic Thrusts 7 & 9)

The Section is hosting the Great Lakes Regional Meeting in the spring. The Organizing Committee has been working steadily and has much of the planning completed. The program is tentatively set and work is ongoing in all areas associated with the meeting. It will be held at Loyola University Chicago and will be in conjunction with the 2003 Gibbs Award. (Strategic Thrusts 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9)

The Section collaborated with the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, Ondeo-Nalco and S.C.A.R.C.E. in publicizing a series of workshops for teachers on Green Chemistry. In addition to announcing these at Section meetings, including the high school teachers' technology workshop, and posting information on our web site, we arranged to have it posted on the Illinois State Teachers' Association and the Chicago Public Schools list serves. We also publicized "Chemistry Matters" run at the Chicago Children's Museum by the student affiliate group of Northwestern University in the same manner. (Strategic Thrusts 3, 7, 9)

The Chemical Bulletin continues to be the first line of communication with our members. In 2002, ten issues were published containing articles submitted by Section members, advertisements, contact information and a listing of upcoming events of interest to the members. Among the regular features were ChemShorts for Kids, Chair's Letter, ALMA e-News (Analytical Laboratory Managers Association) and the Calendar. In addition, each issue contained several articles on a wide variety of topics. (Strategic Thrusts 3, 6)

The Section web site continues to be another means of communication. The 2001 Section Annual Report was posted on line for the convenience of the membership. There are current listings on our web page of Section officers and committee chairs along with contact information for each of them and for our Section Office Manager. On-line meeting registrations continue to be a well-accepted convenience for our members. Each meeting has a web page, including a description of the speaker, the topic, the meeting location with a map, and the menu for the evening. Photographs are posted from major Section activities and meetings. Seventy photos were posted highlighting the 2002 Chemistry Day event sponsored by the Section, including photographs submitted by five Section members. An archive has been set up listing monthly meetings with speakers and topics extending back to 1980, with links to web pages describing meetings wherever available. The archive also includes annual reports and lists of Section officers and chairs for the past two years. "Chem Shorts for Kids" is a list of over one hundred science experiments suitable for performing with young children. New experiments are added to the web page ten months of every year, all through the tireless and inspired efforts of a Section member, Kathleen Carrado. A "Touch of Humor" was added to the web page - a visit to the lighter side. (Strategic Thrusts 1, 3, 6)

The nomination of Ann Levinson, a Section member and High School Education Committee co-chair, as Outstanding High School Teacher in the Great Lakes Region was successful and she was presented with the award at the Great Lakes Regional Meeting in Minneapolis in June.

Topical Group meetings continue to be scheduled prior to the dinner meetings when facilities permit. The presentations are usually very technical and each attracts a specific audience. (Strategic Thrusts 3, 4, 6)

The Continuing Education and Professional Relations Committees planned and held a number of three-hour short courses dealing with various topics on Saturday mornings at Loyola University in 2002. In order to attract as many people as possible, the cost of these courses was kept as low as possible; $10 for employed chemists and free for students and unemployed chemists. One of the courses that were held was "Techniques in Job Searching" where all of the attendees were either unemployed chemists or students who had recently received or were about to complete their Ph.D.s. The speaker discussed resume writing, the interview process and where to search for employment opportunities. "Finding Chemical Information on the Internet", another course, included the various Web searches offered by Chemical Abstract Services such as STN Web and many other chemistry Internet sites. Other courses scheduled, including "Recent Advances in NMR", "Polymer Nanocomposities", "FTIR Sample Handling - Methods and Accessories Consulting", and "History of the Liquid Phase Combinatorial Chemistry", were cancelled due to low enrollment. (Strategic Thrusts 4, 6, 7)

Administratively, several changes were made. The Chicago Section amended its bylaws to bring them into concordance with current practices and language usage. In addition the fiscal year was changed, effective January 1, 2003, to correspond to the calendar year. Since its inception the Chicago Section has operated on a fiscal year corresponding to the academic year, from July 1 through June 30. Due to the need for meeting ACS programming obligations on a developing basis, the Section removed the establishment of standing committees from the bylaws, and transferred them to the Section's Policy Declarations. This change will allow greater flexibility in meeting the needs of our membership by permitting the Section's Board of Directors to establish, or eliminate, standing committees as appropriate to its operations, and eliminates the need for a prolonged amendment to the Section's bylaws to meet the needs of our members and of the ACS. A complete updating of the Policy Declarations to bring them in concordance with the amended bylaws and new calendar was accomplished. In addition to this, the Board manual was revised to reflect these changes.

The Chicago Section Board during its annual review discussed the possibility of reopening our own office in the space that we were renting and hiring our own employee. It was felt that this option would reduce the office overhead and streamline the operation to better meet our members' needs. A committee was formed to look into hiring an employee. After reviewing our current contract with an office management firm, the committee felt that the Section needed only a part time employee to meet our needs. With Board approval, an employee was hired and requisite office equipment purchased. As of July 1, 2002, the Section has had the office staffed 30 hours per week. Questions can be answered or referred to the appropriate individual in a more timely manner, Section resources are more readily available and the bookkeeping is standardized. Member response to this change has been very positive.

The Public Relations committee has been reorganized and a local media list generated. The committee has produced a PR plan that is being implemented. The Section purchased a digital camera to record activities and to interface more readily with web based platforms. (Strategic Thrust 10)

The Chicago Section has been extremely active in 2002 with a wide range of programming and member services, including many new ones. We plan to continue serving our members and the community at large to the extent of our abilities.

       --- Written by Susan Shih.