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WELCOME TO THE DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY

The Division of Environmental Chemistry, Inc. of the American Chemical Society will be the premiere global professional organization providing
a dynamic, interactive and integrating community for those applying chemistry to understanding and solving environmental and sustainability issues.

 
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Current Symposia:

240th National ACS Meeting and Exposition
Boston, MA . August 22 - 26, 2010

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 Environmental Chemistry Division News:

Comments by the Chair - November 30, 2009

I want to summarize for you the activities of the year. The Division has made considerable progress in the international, educational, award, programming, and operation areas. We have a number of promising activities underway that want shepherding over the next few years. Here is an oppurtunity for you to participate in some defined projects. Let me know of your interest.

Service to our members is a priority. With this in mind, operations in the Division have been strengthened by the addition of our business manager, Ms. Peney Patton. Peney has learned many of the activities that have been carried out expertly by Ruth Hathaway. Her addition has also allowed our two program chairs, Dion Dionysiou and Souhail Al-Abed, to focus on developing programs for our members. Programming continues to be the major activity and strength of the Division. We intend to build on this by trying cooperative programs with other organizations in venues separate from the normal ACS national meetings, thereby both expanding th range of our programs and making them more accessible geographically to our members.

We are upgrading our web page to mkae it more useful to you. With partial funding from ACS DAC, Hong Zhang, Matha Wells and Mark Nanny plan to improve the layout, content, and usefulness of our web page. This will be helpful for the planned educational activites with Serbian and other collaborators (see story envirofacs.org).

International members represent about 20% of our membership. With that in mind, we continued our collaboration with the Serbian Chemical Society (see story envirofacs.org). A grant from the ACS DAC, combined with our own funds, allowed a visit by Serbian scientists to the Washington ACS meeting and their participation in a symposium on international environmental issues. The range of contacts included US EPA, NSF, ACS, and many members of the Division. As the Serbian Chemical Society examines many options arising from their visit, we stand ready to continue with our collaboration. A motivated coordinator would be helpful.

We continued our support of the South-East European chemical societies. Alan Elzerman gave a keynote presentation in Montenegro in September at the 2nd Symposium on the Environment.

Profs. Dionysiou, Nanny, and I presented papers at the 12th EuCheMS International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE) in Stockholm, Sweden. We met with the EuCheMS executive committee of the Environmental Division and decided, in principle, to cooperate in programming, specifically, to develop a workshop on important environmental issues for 2011-2013 to be help somehwere in Europe. We need a coordinator for thie exciting initiative.

Our award program expanded with the ACS/SETAC Student Exchange award (see envirofacs). This grant allows one member of the Division and one of SETAC to attend each other's meeting. Also, the Environmental Chemistry Continuing Education Grants were established for those Division members intereste in improving their professional skills (see envirofacs for both award descriptions).

In November, our chair-elect and presumed chair for the next two years, John Plude, resigned because of professional and personal conflicts with the duties. As the Division by-laws descirbe, I have appointed a new chair-elect, Dr. Dean Adams. Dean will serve as chair in 2010, with election of a chair in 2011 during next year's normal election process. Hank Ramsey is our chair-elect for 2010-2011.

The ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Chemistry is the Division's premier award to outstanding environmental scientists. The award has been sponsored by the Division and, for a long time, by Air Products, but this year the company withdrew its sponsorship. In the interim, the Division has taken on the sponsorship and attendant financial responsibilities. We, with Hank Ramsey as focus, have begun to look for new sponsors for this award. Member suggestions are most welcome.

Finally, I attended, briefly, the annual meeting of SETAC and had several discussions with their board members. We have concluded to test a joint meeting at a regional ACS meeting in 2011 or 2012. In this manner, we hope to bring important environmental, scientific issues to our members in different geographic locations at reduced travel costs. I need a coordinator for the continuation of this effort.

The executive committee and I have made our best efforts for our members and the promotion of environmental chemistry. I wish Dean Adams and the new executive committee luck during the next two years and look forward to your participation in our activities.

Jurgen Exner
Chair, 2008-2009

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..................... Editor: Dr. Mark A. Nanny [nanny@ou.edu]asp hit counterAssociate Student Editor:Dane M. Morris [greatdane@ou.edu] .....................