Madam Chair and members of the Board:
Our plans for the Salt Lake City meeting are really taking shape! I am pleased to announce the theme for the meeting will be - Nanoscience: Challenges for the Future. Dr. Paul Weiss, Editor-in-chief of ACS Nano and Thematic Program Chair has created an exceptional program. I am especially pleased to announce the re-introduction of a meeting keynote address which will be held Sunday, March 22 with Dr. Angela Belcher the scheduled speaker.
The Community Outreach Presidential Event for Salt Lake City is under construction but you may be interested in knowing that I am working closely with Howard Peters to throw a Chocolate Fest. Our plan is to mix tons of kids, chemistry, chocolate and local community leaders in the city’s museum.
A Presidential Symposium entitled "Leadership: Facing the Challenges of Today and Tomorrow" will help to officially celebrate the launch of the new ACS Leadership Development System. The event will also celebrate and recognize the significant contributions of those who helped create this wonderful suite of member-based educational products.
The theme for the 2009 Washington DC meeting has been set. Dr. Sadiq Shah and I are very pleased to announce that a high profile plenary session is being developed under the general theme - Chemistry and Global Security: Challenges and Opportunities. Expect to hear more as the programming is locked down.
I am excited to announce that I have been working closely with LSAC to issue my Presidential Call to Arms. Local Sections will be receiving details about the effort in September. My hope is to catalyze new relationships with community groups that we do not normally interact with; putting a human face on chemistry.
I have sent a letter of recognition and acknowledgement to Dr. Mulat Abegaz, president of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia, in observance of the Society’s 25th anniversary. The Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia has been published, uninterrupted, since 1987 and provides information regarding the chemical sciences and education across Africa. The Chemical Society of Ethiopia is proactively working with sister associations across Africa to establish the Federation of African Societies of Chemistry an activity which is to be commended.
If you have every wondered what it would be like to watch an important message about about water – under water, visit the ACS village in Second Life. Take your avatar under water to hear me talk about the Gii and our first initiative - water. In an international collaboration, the ACS Committee on Corporation Associates and the Society of Chemical Industry created the Gii to tackle imperatives such as food, energy and water through collaboration and the transforming power of chemistry. Please visit www.thegii.org and join in the discussion on this critical topic.
Finally, I am working with staff and SuperFad to create a web-based animation of the periodic table of the elephants. The target audience is elementary school children and we hope to have the initial work product ready for the 140th anniversary of the periodic table.
Madam chair, this concludes my report.