Edward L. Haenisch Wabash College Crowfordsville, Indiana
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The American Chemical Society and International Activities
Ihe present Committee on Intern* tional Activities (CIA) of the American Chemical Society is an outgrowth of early work by committees of the Division of Chemical Education. The formation of CIA was recommended by the ACS Educational Conference in May, 1962. I n the Minutes of the Board of Directors for June 27,1962, there appears the following: "On recommendation of the Committee on Education and Students, VOTED to authorize a Committee on International Activities charged with the responsibility of studying and recommending appropriate Society participation and cooperation in international undertakings pertaining to chemical education, Presented as part of the Symposium on International Chemicd Educational Activities before the Division of Chemical Educe tion at the 146th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Philadelphia, Pa., April, 1964.
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professional activities, and scientific matters of interest to chemists and chemical engineers, and that this Committee coordinate its efforts with those of other organi~ations,especially the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council!'
The Committee originally appointed consisted of Dr. Wallace Brode, Science Consultant and former Science Adviser to the Secretary of State; Professor Farrington Daniels of the University of Wisconsin; Professor Robert Elderfield of the University of Michigan; Dr. Robert Grinstead of the Western Division of the Dow Chemical Company, and representing the California Section which has been active in several international ventures; the author, representing the Division of Chemical Education; Dr. Pauline Newman of FMC Corporation and a former staff member of UNESCO; Professor W. Albert Noyes, Jr., of the University of Texas, Chairman; and Dr. Arthur Roe of the Office of International Science Activities of
the National Science Foundation. Dr. Robert Henze of the ACS staff served as liaison and secretary. In 1964 Professor Elderfield was appointed Chairman of the Committee and Dr. Edward Wichers, Executive Secretary of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the National Research Council, was added as a member. So far in its existence, the Committee has served primarily as an advisory group to the ACS. The Committee held its initial meeting on January 4, 1963. It heard first from Dr. Roe as to the function of the NSF Office of International Activities; then from Mr. Edmund C. Rowan of the Officeof International Relations, NAS-NRC; Dr. Eugene G. Kovach, the Officeof International Scientific Affairs of the Department of State; Dr. Jessie D. Parkimson, Jr., of the Department of Scientific Affairs of the Pan American Union; Miss Alice D. Ball of the United States Book Exchange, and Mr. Samuel F. Babbitt of the College and University Division, Office of Public Affairs, Peace Corps. As a result of these reports, the Committee on International Activities decided to function through three sub-committees. The first of these was to deal with cooperation with other organizations. This group has prepared a draft for an information booklet for chemists and chemical engineers who plan to visit foreign couutries. The book contains a listing of: (1)United States agencies and organizations with interests in international science activities; (2) U.S. scientific attaches and deputies abroad; (3) foreign scientific personnel attached to embassies in Washmgton, D. C.; (4) international scientific organizations; (5) foreign societies of chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering; and (6) publications of interest to chemists and chemical engineers going abroad. This group also plans further cooperation with sister foreign chemical societies; profiles of these organizations are to be published in Chemical and Engineering News. CIA will also send letters of greeting to the foreign societies, informing them of the existence of the Committee, and inviting them to submit ideas for cooperative efforts. Through the efforts of this sub-committee and particulary of Dr. Paulme Newman, a reception was arranged for foreign visitors to the New York ACS Meeting in September, 1962. Attendance approximated 500. Arrangements were made in cooperation with the host sections, the New York and North Jersey Sections. In addition, a Hospitality Desk, set up in the registration area, was manned by people skilled in foreign languages. Special literature was distributed to the visitors from abroad. A second sub-committee is devoting its attention to the problem of how local sections can aid foreign scientists, especially in the newly-developing countries. The California, Chicago, and Western New Pork Sections have been particularly active. A draft has been prepared of ways in which local sections can function, includ'mg gifts of scholarship funds and of subscriptions to current journals. The distribution of surplus journals and books, with suggestions for collecting the journals, processing them for shipment, and seeing that they are distributed to worthy recipients, is another concern of this subcommittee.
Several interesting observations can be made concerning journal distributions. Except for long runs, Chemical and Engineering News has proved of little value outside of using the advertisements to keep abreast of developments in equipment and chemicals. The 8c.G entifie Amaican and The Natiimal Geographic Magazine are very much desired; any journal should be given in runs of a year or more if possible. It is wise to keep in mind that books to be given for overseas use should be less than ten years old. The third sub-committee of CIA is devoted to educational matters. The author was the United States represmtative ar H meeting in Hssle, Switzerland, Decen~ber.1962.of an ad hoc rommirttx~of rhe International Union bf &re and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to consider the desirability of the Union establishing an advisory committee on educati0n.l The ad hoc committee unanimously recommended that such a committee be formed. One of the first official acts of theACS Committee on International Activities was to endorse this recommendation and to transmit the endorsement to the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of NAS-NRC, the United States adhering body to IUPAC. At its meeting in London in the summer of 1963, the Union voted to establish a Committee on Chemical Education. The personnel of this committee should be announced shortly. UNESCO, in cooperation with the ad hoe committee of IUPAC, has been workimg on a series of surveys of chemical education in various countries. Snrveys have been prepared for the United States, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, and the USSR; these are now complete and will be published by the MIT Press, probably in the fall of 1964. This sub-committee has also been active in bringing about cooperation between UNESCO and the various ACS publications involving chemical education. In the future it may be possible for the Journal of Chemical Education and Chemistry to provide copies for distribution a t lower subscription rates by UNESCO to teachers in newly-developing countries. Through this sub-committee, CIA has requested that the Liaison Committee of the Division of Chemical Education maintain a registry of teaching and other service opportunities in foreign countries as well as a list of Americans who are interested in accepting such opportunities. CIA has considered a number of other matters, including such things as foreign lecture tours by American chemists; the tax problems of visiting foreign students and faculty; and screening devices for foreign students coming to this country. Some such services are available now from the Institute of International Education, which has offices in Nairobi (Kenya), Lima (Peru), and Bangkok (Thailand). Much thought has been given to the problem of trying to supply emergency orders for chemicals and repair parts. The principal difficulty seems to lie in getting these items through customs in the foreign countries. Distribution through UNESCO is a possibility. This problem is still under consideration, along
' S e e a180 in this Symposium MAYBURY, ROBERT H., JOURNAL, 41, 594 (1964). Volume
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with suggestions for financing the cost of such items. The Committee on International Activities has studied with great interest the work of its counterpartg in other American scientific organizations. The International Relations Committee of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, chaired by Dean F. M. T i e r of the University of Houston, was created in August, 1962, after a year of ad hoe exploratory operation. This committee has concentrated largely on Latin America. It has set up libraries in several nniversities, established cooperative programs for foreign students, devoted one of its national meetings to Latin America, and arranged a joint meeting in Mexico with the Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers. The American Institute of Physics has established an international physics information center in New York with NSF support. The director of the center is F. B.
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Riggs. Among other things it is attempting to maintain a listing of current news with reference to all international physics organizations. Finally, attentionshould be paid to the role which the ACS is playing in Central America. The paper in this Symposium by Professor Gomez-1banez"tates many of the details. The ACS has established an advisory committee to this project which is being supported by the Agency for International Development and the NSF. The project is known as the Higher Education Council of Central American Universities (CSUCA). The Committee on International Activities of the Society is in its formative stages and will welcome suggestions from anyone for further activity and investigation. G~MEZ-IB~REz, Josh D., TAIS JOURNAL, 41, 586 (1964).
