More than 24,000 ACS members live overseas. That is nearly 15 percent of our membership, and it is growing daily. So if chemistry is going global, what should ACS do? Go with it, says ACS President-Elect Nancy B. Jackson.
In a C&EN commentary earlier this year, Jackson concluded: “Leadership in the international community will help others, but it will also help our U.S. members, providing access to international networks, encouraging that the best papers be published in ACS journals, and providing us with insights into new opportunities for research and manufacturing.
“The world is changing. If ACS is to remain a global leader, the time to act is now.”
The ACS Board of Directors agrees. And in 2010 we acted vigorously to ensure our continued prominence on the global stage.
One of Dr. Francisco’s primary goals for the year was the creation of a Presidential Task Force to consider the development of an International Center. As envisioned by Dr. Francisco, this center would provide American students with the experiences, including cultural training, they will need to compete in the international workplace and help them recognize innovative advances being made in other countries. The task force report on implementing this concept was presented to the ACS Board of Directors in December and is expected to be considered in 2011.
Dr. Francisco also traveled widely on behalf of ACS and its members, visiting Canada, England, Egypt, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Norway, Columbia, Bahrain and Israel. In all of his encounters with global leaders of the chemical enterprise, he urged them to collaborate with ACS in creating opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students and researchers.
In June, ACS signed a memorandum of collaboration with the Chinese Chemical Society to further strengthen our bilateral ties. Both sides agreed to a three-year cooperation alliance beginning in 2010, promising to better serve chemical scientists, engineers, and professionals in the two countries. In September, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (the German Chemical Society, GDCh). In conjunction with our German counterparts, we plan to carry out joint activities focused on communicating the value of chemistry to the general public and the role chemistry plays in addressing global challenges.
We also followed up on a previous agreement with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), launching complementary Web sites that will help the public and chemists learn more about key global challenges and sustainability. These sites are the first fruit of several joint efforts planned under a cooperative memorandum of understanding signed by ACS and RSC in 2009.
In another action that had international implications, the Society added all ACS member profiles (except for those opting out) to the ACS Network. The Network is the premier online forum for chemists and other scientists to communicate and build professional connections. By vastly broadening its reach to more than 173,000 scientists, ACS is expanding the possibilities for its members to instantly connect and collaborate no matter where they are in the world.