ACS International Visiting

Chapter 7

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International Collaborations - Pittcon/ACS International Visiting Scientists Program Richard S. Danchik* Member, ACS International Activities Committee ACS Councilor, Pittsburgh Section 25 Thorncrest Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15235-5215 *E-mail: [email protected].

In the early 1990’s the ACS International Activities Committee (IAC) identified the lack of expertise in analytical instrumentation techniques as a major problem in developing countries. The committee resolved to invite analytical chemists from selected regions to the United States to gain experience with analytical techniques. Since 1995 IAC has worked with Pittcon (Pittsburgh Conference) and its sponsoring organizers to facilitate participation at Pittcon by early and mid-career analytical chemists from developing and transitional countries. Funding form Pittcon, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP) and the Wallace Coulter Foundation subsidizes the travel costs of attendees and also provides complimentary conference registration, housing, stipend, and travel medical insurance. Since its inception, this program has benefitted approximately 100 early- and mid-career chemistry practitioners from over 70 countries. This chapter discussed this program and how international collaborations have been developed and new networking opportunities occurred at Pittcon.

Introduction Since 1995, the ACS International Activities Committee (IAC) has worked with Pittcon and its sponsoring organizers to facilitate participation at the conference by early career analytical chemists from developing countries. © 2015 American Chemical Society Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


Funding from Pittcon, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP) and the Wallace Coulter Foundation subsidizes the travel costs of attendees and also provides complimentary conference registration and complimentary hotel rooms for the participants. IAC selects the region from which to invite participants. The Office of International Activities (OIA) contacts national chemical societies and other relevant scientific organizations and asks them to nominate scientists from their country to participate. Nominees represent industry, government and academia. OIA handles all logistics, including arrangements for publicity, solicitation of nominations and applications, and makes arrangements for local activities at Pittcon to connect participants to the ACS.occurred at Pittcon. The program is also advertised on the ACS website (1). The ACS-Pittcon is an example of a very successful international collaboration. The present author has coordinated the ACS-Pittcon program since its inception.

Pittcon Pittcon’s mission is to sponsor and sustain educational and charitable activities for the advancement and benefit of scientific endeavors. Pittcon is the world’s largest annual premier conference and exposition on laboratory science. Pittcon attracts more than 18,000 attendees from industry, academia, and government from 90 countries worldwide and is organized and managed by a committee of technical volunteers. Proceeds from Pittcon fund science education and outreach at all levels, kindergarten through adult in excess of a million dollars annually. Pittcon is the world’s largest analytical chemistry conference and exhibit. It consists of at least four key functions: 1) A showcase for scientific innovations in laboratory equipment, technology and supplies. a) Includes more than 1000 exhibiting companies worldwide b) Provides the opportunity to speak with technical staff to resolve problems c) Allows evaluations of the latest instrumentation, compares vendors, and participate in product demonstrations 2) Unique networking opportunities a) Interact with world renown scientists b) Attend conferee networking sessions to discuss topics of mutual interest c) Meet colleagues at complimentary mixers, poster sessions and other social events. 76 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

3) Educational Programs a)

Build skills by attending short courses and technical presentations b) Discover the latest techniques and advances by attending more than 2,200 technical presentations c) Numerous Award symposia


4) Employment Bureau a)

View hundreds of career postings for seasoned professionals or recent entrees into the job market b) Schedule onsite interviews c) Visit the employer and career information centers More information is given in the Pittcon website (2).

ACS-Pittcon Program The first in a series of visits for this Program occurred in February, 1995. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, 10 scientists participated from Botswana, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. They visited Hampton University, ACS headquarters and the World Bank, made site visits to a number of instrument companies in eastern United States and attended Pittcon. In the subsequent years, Pittcon, the SACP and the Wallace Coulter Foundation provided sufficient funds to make possible the invitees’ attendance at Pittcon. In 1996, 15 Mexican scientists attended as part of the Program, 20 more Latin American chemists came in 1997, 14 scientists from India participated in 1998, 17 chemists from South America were present in 1999, 20 scientists from Central Europe were present in 2000, and 10 analytical chemists from Russia and the Former Soviet Union countries came to Pittcon in 2001. The Program was an excellent example of cooperation by IAC members as hosts for the Program. The IAC selects the region from which to invite participants and the ACS Office of International Activities (OIA) contacts national chemical societies. ACS members with ties to the geographic region and other relevant scientific organizations ask them to nominate scientists from their respective countries to participate. OIA handles all logistics, including arrangements for publicity, solicitation of nominations and applications, book the delegates’ travel and makes arrangements for local activities at Pittcon. Nominees generally represent industry, government and academia. Since 1995, the Pittcon-ACS Travel Grant, administered by ACS’s OIA has brought approximately 100 early and mid-career chemistry practitioners from over 70 countries. The regions/countries that have been invited over the years are as follows: 77 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


1995: Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zimbabwe) 1996: Mexico 1997: Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama) 1998: India 1999: South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chili, Colombia, Peru) 2000: Eastern Europe (Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine) 2001: Russia, Central Europe and Central Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan) 2002: Southeast Asia (South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) 2003: People’s Republic of China 2004: People’s Republic of China (repeated due to problems with entry/exit visas) 2005: Sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zimbabwe) 2006: South America (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Uruguay) 2007: Adriatic region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro) 2008: Pacific Rim (Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) 2009: Central America and Southern Mexico (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua) 2010: Middle East/North Africa (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen) 2011: Eastern Europe (Croatia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Macedonia) 2012: South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela) 2013: Sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda) 2014: Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam) The IAC has chosen the following regional foci for the next two years of the Pittcon-ACS Travel Grant: 2015: Central America and Caribbean 2016: Balkans/Baltic Region ( to be confirmed)

2014 ACS-Pittcon Program As an example of this program, in 2014 the SACP granted $10,000 in funding to support the annual ACS-Pittcon Travel Grant. In addition, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, in conjunction with Pittcon, generously provided an additional $15,000 to support the delegation from Southeast Asia. The delegation was composed of eight early- and mid-career analytical chemists from Southeast Asian countries as mentioned above. Delegation members represented academic and research institutions in their respective countries. As part of the grant, each delegate received the following benefits: 78 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Round trip economy class air travel up to $2,000 for international Six-nights’ hotel accommodations during the conference Complimentary conference registration A US $400 allowance for meals, local expenses and airport transfers Travel medical insurance coverage.


While at Pittcon, the delegates had the opportunity to attend technical sessions, network with colleagues from over the globe and tour the exhibition. A photograph of the participants, together with IAC and OIA representatives is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. ACS-Pittcon delegation 2014. Front row from left: Elisabeth Rukmini (Indonesia), Lanny Sapei (Indonesia), Tran Thi Nhu Trang (Vietnam), Hooi-Ling Lee (Malaysia), Prinya Masawat (Thailand), and Leo Choe Peng (Malaysia). Back row from left: Mohamad Nasir bin Mat Arip (Malaysia), Mohd Firdaus Abdul Wahab (Malaysia), H. N. Cheng (IAC Chair), Janet Pifer (President, Pittcon), Rich Danchik (IAC Member and Pittcon ex-President), Brad Miller (OIA Director), Lori Brown (OIA Staff). (Courtesy of the American Chemical Society.)

Review of ACS-Pittcon Program The ACS-Pittcon program was well received and garnered an overall score of 4.5 (from a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest score) from the delegates as reflected in the survey conducted onsite. 79 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.


Some examples of the responses of several delegates of the program are shown below: 1) “It was extremely beneficial for me to meet up with other scientists from all over the world to get to hear of the issues they are facing from their context. I was excited about expanding my networks through the formation of a new African Pittcon Group that will have various agendas aimed at collaboration and increased scientific interests.” 2) “An amazing huge conference! This gives me an eye opener to deliver back to Kenya.” 3) “The conference had sessions on my own research fields and talking to other researchers has already started some future collaborations. It provided me with some personal growth experience that will enhance my development.” In summary, the Program has been extremely successful with outstanding results over the past 19 years. It has provided over 100 scientists from 70 countries the opportunity to collaborate with experts in their fields and to learn new technology and view the latest laboratory instrumentation and meet with the vendors and their technical experts on a one to one basis. With this experience, they take home a better understanding of technology and have developed lifelong contacts and networking capabilities. The Program also represents how technical societies and organizations can cooperate to provide meaningful outcomes that have world-wide benefits.

Acknowledgments Thanks are due to ACS staff in OIA for administering the program over the years and for IAC members, past and present, for their efforts on behalf of the program.

References 1.

2.

Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) Travel Grant; http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/global/ international/regional/eventsglobal/pittcon.html (accessed Aug 2014). Pittcon is the World’s Largest Annual Conference and Exposition for Laboratory Science; http://www.pittcon.org (accessed Aug 2014).

80 Cheng et al.; Jobs, Collaborations, and Women Leaders in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.

ACS International Visiting

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