MILWAUKEE SECTION
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Councillors' Report

Notes from the Council meeting at Chigago, IL, August 29, 2001.

1. President Attilla Pavlath reported on the two task forces he created to support the distribution of funds and revision of allotment to the local sections and divisions. He also spoke of a new task force created to evaluate the results of the electronic membership survey. The survey produced statistically and demographically important results. These results are now available to all society units for further evaluation. He noted an interest in developing a task force address issues associated with ethics as well.
   
   
2. The report from President-elect Eli Pearce dealt with the activities of the Regional Meetings and funding for the National Science Foundation. He also encouraged councilors to become members of the Legislative Alert network in order to expand the efforts of the Office of Legislative and Government Affairs who's funding for science R&D was decreased by the government. Dr. Pierce also noted that a special monetary allotment was instituted for Divisional and Local Section activities, while the issue of funding these organs of The Society are studied. As an interim solution $100,000 in emergency funding was approved for Divisions and $50,000 in emergency funding was approved by the Board for Local Sections. These funds will be dispersed by November 1, 2001.
   
   
3. The Council voted to postpone the Urgent Action request for the petition to increase the Size of Society Committees. The petition will be considered for action at the next meeting in Orlando. The Council voted and approved formation of the Division of Laboratory Automation (Probationary Status). It also approved the petition on Meeting Registration Categories and petition to Clarify Requirements for Membership.
   
   
4. The Committee on Budget and Finance reported its projection that The Society would incur a small deficit this year. This financial result is largely due to poor investment performance – based on the interest rate declines of the past year.
   
   
5. The Society Committee on Education (SOCED) completed work on the new SOCED Strategic Plan. Through SOCED efforts, ACS received recognition from the Council of Chief State Science Supervisors for contributions to safe science practices in high schools. SOCED voted not to increase its size.
   
   
6. The Divisional Activities Committee (DAC) reports that the Division of Cellulose, Paper and Textile Chemistry will change its name to the Division of Cellulose and Renewable Materials.
   
   
7. The Council acted on a recommendation from the DAC to grant probationary status to a new Division of Laboratory Automation. This status was approved on a voice vote in the Council.
   
   
8. Total attendance at the Annual Meeting in Chicago was 15,290. The exposition sold out, attracted 328 companies in 433 booths. In general, more people attended the meetings in 2001 than ever before.
   
   
9. Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs (CEPA) reported that 169 employers offered 13,921 positions for total of 1,105 job seekers. CEPA has also prepared a statement to forward to the Immigration and Naturalization Services of the federal government on the issue of immigration of science professionals to the U.S. They noted explicitly that this statement was part of an on-going process and not in response to any current immigration crisis (though concerns about the issuance of student visas were mentioned in various committees at this meeting). The statement being prepared by CEPA encourages the federal government to avoid placing any new restrictions on the immigration of scientists to the U.S.
   
   
10. Committee on Local Section Activities received 76% of the local section annual reports through Submit On-Line Annual Report System (SOLAR). Reports of 23 local sections are yet to be submitted to Washington for the year 2001. There will be a new "EZ" form for filing reports instituted this year.
    
    
11. The Committee on Meetings and Expositions brought a petition before The Council to change the categories in the registration for national meetings. The motion passed by a voice vote with a substantial majority (though a dissenting vote was voiced from Holme of the Milwaukee delegation.) The new definitions eliminate lower fees for foreign scientists who attend the national meetings. Concerns about the impact of this change on the program of the meetings were raised by members of the Inorganic Division in discussion on the floor. There was an assurance that the emergency funding mentioned in point 2 above was specifically to address the need to include foreign scientists in high quality technical programs. This assurance was considered adequate by a majority of the councilors, but to Holme, an one-time emergency funding seems too tenuous. That was his motivation for voting against this resolution.
    
    
12. Issues about the conduct of national meetings were voiced by many councilors from the floor. Concerns over transportation and meeting room locations were specifically addressed. The complexity of staging large meetings such as the national meetings are largely to blame for the modest inconveniences that occasionally arise at the national meetings.
    
    
13. The Committee on Membership brought a motion before the Council for action. This motion established new criteria for members among chemical technicians. These criteria are "An associate degree or equivalent in a chemical science or chemical technology and five years of employment in a chemical science". This motion passed unanimously.
    
    
14. The Committee on Publications reported that the Governing board for Publishing approved the creation of a new journal, the Journal of Proteome Research by early 2002.
    
    
15. In 2001, Project SEED conducted a survey of all College Scholarship recipients to evaluate the success of the program and to make an accurate assessment of the impact upon the students' career and educational goals. Project SEED also co-sponsored a luncheon and panel discussion "Models of High Impact Mentoring" with the Committee on Minority Affairs. Students from the program presented posters of their research at the 23rd Sci-Mix event.
    
    
16. The Committee on Technician Affairs (CTA) continues to use its four sub-committees ( Subcommittee on Society Interest, Education, Communication and Subcommittee on the Division of Chemical Technicians) as the working core for the Committee. CTA is preparing a Strategic Plan to be tied into the new 2001- 2003 ACS Strategic Plan.
    
    
17. Several committees discussed two new web services of The Society. jobspectrum.org and chemistry.org have both been rolled out recently with significant success. The jobspectrum site has quickly become an active site for both employers and employees. Chemistry.org will include portal capabilities that will significantly enhance the utility of this site for ACS members. All members are invited to check out these new resources.
    
    

Submitted by:

Tom Holme

Dimitri Gorjestani