IYC 2011 was a fruitful year with many activities and events that brought attention to the nature, value and transformative power of chemistry. The Membership and Scientific Advancement Division (MSA) organized activities and programs to spread the word domestically and internationally.  During the IYC, we launched an IYC Partner Program, a partnership with 40 like-minded societies and institutions with the goal of creating synergies surrounding celebrations of IYC.  Our IYC partners contributed activities in promoting the IYC, including posting the IYC logo on their websites; distributing literature and promotional items in bags during their annual meetings; posting IYC-related articles in their respective trade publications and blogs; featuring IYC-related symposia in their meetings’ technical program; and hosting IYC-themed events.

We also produced the IYC Bulletin, a monthly electronic newsletter distributed to approximately 4,400 individuals in over 100 countries across the globe. 

In addition, we ensured the visibility of IYC branding during the 2011 National and Regional Meetings through advertisements and specialty signage in strategic areas of convention centers and official hotels; a popular booth in the ACS pavilion; and distribution of promotional items such as lanyards, biodegradable cups, t-shirts, stickers, posters, and lapel pins. 

We coordinated the presence of an IYC booth during the annual meetings of the American Crystallographic Association and ACS Green Chemistry Institute.  We also had a booth presence at Labtech, the IYC cornerstone event for the Arabian Gulf.

We continued our participation in the Chemical Sciences and Society Summit (CS3), which is an annual event that brings together the best minds in chemical research from around the world and challenges them to propose innovative solutions for society’s most pressing needs in the areas of health, food, energy, and the environment.  This unique event boasts an innovative format, aiming to set the course of international science, and rotates each year among the participating nations.  The 2011 meeting was held in Beijing, China, and brought together 30 leading scientists from China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States focusing on the theme of “Chemistry for Better Health.”  The CS3 initiative is a collaboration among the Chinese Chemical Society, the German Chemical Society, the Chemical Society of Japan, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the ACS.  It is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the German Research Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

In 2011 the first mentor/mentee teams were selected for the  ACS Global Research Experiences, Exchanges, and Training Program (GREET). The GREET program aims to provide intensive, high-impact international research experience and collaboration opportunities to teams of U.S. chemical scientists from both the private and public sector.  GREET provides a novel approach and pathway for these individuals to establish lasting international collaborations so that their talents and expertise can be activated to benefit their own careers, institutions, nations, and to serve society.  The inaugural teams established collaborations to solve problems of mutual interest with international partners in Tanzania, Sweden, France, Romania, and the U.K.

We developed a three-part training package specifically geared towards ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapters and other partners around the globe.  The training package includes the following components: Outreach, Leadership, and the ABC’s of Running a Chapter.  The Outreach training module was translated into the Spanish language and distributed to ACS Local Sections with a heavily Spanish-speaking population, as well as to sister societies in Latin America and the Caribbean.  The training was piloted in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Thailand in the summer of 2011.