ACS News
Philadelphia meeting offers varied fare The first symposium ever sponsored by one of the society's regions at a nation al meeting, a four-day symposium on adhesion, and a banquet honoring 80-year-old Dr. Herman Mark, one of the deans of polymer chemistry. These will be some of the highlights of the 169th ACS national meeting in Phila delphia next week. The gathering is ex pected to attract at least 5000 chem ists. The last time the society met in Philadelphia was in the spring of 1964 when more than 6700 registered and another 1600 bought half-day tickets. 23 ACS divisions, two special sympo-
keynote state-of-the-art papers backed up with current research talks. The symposium is timely, Dr. Church ex plains, in view of topical concern over the marine resources of the Middle At lantic region, the threats of coastal dis posal of wastes, and outer continental shelf oil developments. The event will run three days, Tuesday through Thursday, and the proceedings will be published in October as an ACS sym posium series volume. The symposium on the science and technology of adhesion at Philadelphia is being sponsored by the Macromolecular Secretariat. This is a group of five ACS divisions—Cellulose, Paper & Textile; Colloid & Surface Chemistry; Organic Coatings & Plastics Chemis try; Polymer Chemistry; and Rubber. The secretariat held its first sympo sium, on acrylonitrile in macromolecules, at the ACS national meeting in Chicago in the fall of 1973. The adhesion symposium will be di vided into seven half-day sessions. They will cover interfacial phenomena and adhesion, synthetic polymers and adhesives, rubber adhesives and seal ants, natural products and structural adhesives, performance of adhesive joints, growth and change in adhesives, and adhesion related to new technolo gies. Herman Mark will present the
plenary lecture "Polymer progress worldwide." And at the symposium banquet honoring him the address will be given by Dr. Murray Goodman of the University of California, San Diego. Three ACS committees are spon soring symposia at Philadelphia. The council Committee on Chemical Edu cation is presenting the first national student affiliate research symposium. This will consist of 39 research papers given in four sessions over two days. Chemical carcinogens are the subject of a symposium sponsored by the coun cil Committee on Chemical Safety. And the council Committee on Techni cian Activities is sponsoring a one-day presentation of research papers. Among the highlights of the division al programs at Philadelphia will be a four-day symposium on polymerization and polycondensation processes being put on by the Division of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry. The Division of Chemical Literature has a sympo sium on user reactions to data and bib liographic services of Chemical Ab stracts Service. The Division of Agri cultural & Food Chemistry has a symposium on the economic aspects of new protein ventures, and the program of the Cellulose, Paper & Textile Divi sion will feature a plenary lecture by Glenn L. Werly Jr. on nonwovens. Π
Low-cost poll yields membership views
siums, and three ACS committees will account for the total of more than 1700 papers to be presented at next week's meeting, which starts on Monday and lasts until Friday. The most extensive programs are being offered by the Division of Inor ganic Chemistry, 181 papers; the Divi sion of Physical Chemistry, 149 papers; and the Division of Organic Chemistry, 139 papers. The most modest program is that of the Division of Professional Relations, which is offering a total of 10 papers in two sessions. The special symposium sponsored by the Middle Atlantic Region is on "Ma rine Chemistry in the Coastal Environ ment." It is being offered in lieu of the region's usual annual meeting. Sympo sium chairman Thomas M. Church of the University of Delaware points out that the presentation will consist of 28
C&EN March 31, 1975
The majority of ACS members would want to continue receiving their per sonal copies of Chemical & Engineer ing News even if they were given the option not to. There is some support for an ACS membership directory. And a majority of members would be inter ested in taking part in ACS group den tal and automobile insurance plans. These are some of the results stem ming from a recent mail polling of a sample of the society's members. The poll represents a second trial of a rela tively inexpensive survey technique that might be used as frequently as needed in the future to spot check members' views on society programs. The method was first used in con nection with last fall's ACS election for president-elect. It produced a voting breakdown very similar to that ob tained from the full electorate. The questionnaire for this latest poll was approved late last December by the chairmen of the council Committee on Membership Affairs and of the board Committee on Public, Profes
sional, & Member Relations. It was sent to a 500-member sample randomly drawn from a list of more than 102,000 members—total membership minus overseas members. The response rate was 65%. Of those responding, 94% indicated they would choose to continue receiv ing C&EN even if members who have easy access to the magazine from other sources were allowed to forgo a person al copy. The question specified that there would be no dues reduction if the magazine was not received. To the question of the proposed membership directory, 58% replied they approve of the idea provided it were sold on a "personal use basis" and that costs were covered through mem bership-only sales. However, 38% dis approved the idea and 4% expressed no opinion. 24% indicated they would buy such a directory if it were priced at $6.00 per copy. This fell to 9% at $8.00 and to 6% at $10. Of those responding, 53% said they would be interested in participating in
an ACS group dental insurance plan. Such interest was slightly higher, at 57%, for an ACS group auto insurance plan. There was a stronger positive response to a confidential employment service. 91% indicated they believe such a service should be made available by ACS and 81% said they would use it when seeking new employment. As proposed in the question, such a service would be useful for members currently employed but seeking a new job. It would be administered from the ACS Washington, D.C., headquarters and it would not depend on a member's presence at a national meeting. It would be funded by search fees from employers. •
First public affairs fellow appointed ACS has its first Chemistry and Public Affairs fellow. She is Dr. Renée G. Naves and she will be taking up her new position this week. Naves will spend the next 12 months working in Washington with the executive and legislative branches of the government under the supervision of the ACS Department of Chemistry & Public Affairs. Specific assignments have yet to be worked out. The primary aim of the program is to assist in the formation of public policy by making available pertinent technical expertise. The original plan was to start the program last fall. French-born Naves, 47, spent 15 years on the chemistry faculty of Newton College in Newton, Mass. She chaired the chemistry department for seven years. The college closed its doors last summer. Naves received her doctorate at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1955. From 1955 to 1957 she was a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard medical school. She currently lives in Rockville, Md. D
IEEE joins ACS and eight others in PFP The Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers has become the 10th professional society to become associated with Pensions for Professionals Inc., the pension-promoting organization pioneered by the American Chemical Society over the past four years. The new agreement with IEEE is the result of year-long negotiations between PFP, IEEE, and the independent organization, Pensions for Technical Professionals (ptp), set up by IEEE. Under the new arrangement ptp will continue to develop an immediate vesting plan for engineers and scien-
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March 31, 1975 C&EN
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