2011 ACS President Leads International Collaboration
The International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011) was an excellent window of opportunity for ACS and its members to communicate the importance of chemistry to the public. During 2011, ACS promoted and contributed to IYC’s national and global successes by creating new networks and programs. These were aligned with the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) goals and objectives for this IYC historic year. Dr. Jackson participated in IYC 2011 opening ceremonies in both Philadelphia and Paris.
2011 provided many opportunities for international collaboration for Dr. Jackson and ACS. A notable highlight included the signing of a collaborative alliance between ACS and the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS). The three-year alliance is characterized by mutual benefits, impact, and commitment to cooperation in service to chemical scientists, engineers, and professionals represented by their respective organizations.
One way ACS engaged the global scientific community in celebrating IYC was with “365: Chemistry for Life,” a web feature that highlighted chemistry’s contributions to humankind with a chemistry-related nugget of information for every day of the year. Another was the IYC Bulletin, a unifying resource for IYC planners worldwide. In addition, the ACS IYC Virtual Journal repurposed content from ACS journals to illustrate the many ways chemistry improves everyday life for people around the world. One of Dr. Jackson’s top ten observations from her IYC adventure was, “A remarkable and inspiring number of chemical scientists dedicate so much of their lives to the betterment of others – as educators, volunteers, mentors, researchers, and advocates – that it has been humbling and uplifting to spend my year among so many people I consider heroes.”
Keeping with the IYC 2011 theme, Dr. Jackson sponsored Presidential Symposia at the national meetings in Anaheim and Denver on the value of chemistry to the public and the importance of international collaborations. They included “Hollywood Chemistry”, “Asia-American Chemical Symposium,” “Empowering Tomorrow’s Science Super Heroes,” and “Science on the Hollywood Screen.”
One of Dr. Jackson’s accomplishments this year was to establish an ACS Presidential Roundtable on Sustainable Manufacturing. The Roundtable includes representatives of Air Products, Dow, DuPont, Eastman Chemical, Praxair, Sandia National Laboratory, Weyerhauser, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the Council for Chemical Research. Their goal is to further enable innovation and integrate sustainability into the chemical and allied products industries. Specific plans include: completing and publishing roadmaps for different elements of a sustainable manufacturing research agenda, hosting a congressional briefing on the research agenda and associated policy and economic issues, featuring the sustainable manufacturing agenda in the publications and communications of ACS and all roundtable members, and highlighting the sustainable manufacturing agenda to U.S. policy leaders.
Another collaboration Dr. Jackson began with AIChE was a Sustainability Metrics for Energy Systems project. Established in response to industry interest, the partnership agreed on an objective to “enable a sound data-based framework to assist in effective decision making for energy research and technology development investment, as well as energy policy and regulation.” The initial workshop in 2012 will address alternative and conventional hydrocarbon-based transportation fuels, with guests from government, industry, academia, national labs, and NGOs. Their presentations will result in a workshop report intended to build a broader framework when combined with additional future workshop reports.
Dr. Jackson represented ACS before the U.S. Congress. She testified before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research and Science Education about the effectiveness of the merit review process used by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to decide which scientific research proposals to fund. “Assuring a balanced portfolio of research is critical,” said Jackson, “especially now as we continue to work to ensure that our federal dollars are spent wisely.” Jackson continued, “In tough economic times, it is vital to spend prudently. In order to do this, we need to guard against becoming too conservative in our decisions. Rather, we must continue to support a portfolio of research that leads to both improvements in existing ideas and technologies as well as to innovations. Now, more than ever, America needs pioneering research that will create economic renewal and jobs and will train the scientific workforce of the future.”
During IYC 2011, Dr. Jackson traveled widely, representing ACS in 15 countries, including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand.
Dr. Jackson ended 2011 by saying, “May the spirit of the International Year of Chemistry live on and on!”