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Foreword Thanks to all of you who have helped to support my vision as ACS President! I had contemplated writing a book if I got elected. In early 2012 soon after getting elected as ACS President-elect, I appointed a Presidential Task Force I decided to call “Vision 2025: Helping Members Thrive in the Global Chemistry Enterprise.” The goals for this Task Force were twofold: 1) Identify challenges and opportunities related to the global chemistry enterprise with respect to job growth, collaboration, education, and advocacy and 2) Provide recommendations to help members with jobs and to thrive in the global environment. This hard working task force was ably co-chaired by Dr. H.N. Cheng, who led the working group focused on “Globalization Opportunities,” and by Dr. Sadiq Shah, who led the working group on “Jobs and Advocacy.” As described in this book, we observed a number of trends affecting our members and others in the global chemistry enterprise. My Presidential Task Force studied both the challenges and the opportunities facing the global chemistry enterprise in order to help our members thrive and succeed. In order to get more diverse perspectives, I invited eleven presidents of chemical societies from around the world to our 2013 spring national ACS meeting in New Orleans. These presidents represented many sister societies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and both North and South America. I also invited thought leaders from across the USA representing academia, industry, government, and small business. Together, we discussed common challenges and opportunities facing the chemical industry and profession at Global Collaboration Roundtable discussions. Diverse perspectives, ideas, and experiences were shared by these invited speakers at the presidential symposium on “Globalization Opportunities.” In order to help members beyond those able to attend this presidential symposium at the national ACS meeting, I invited each speaker to contribute a chapter toward this book to make the information accessible to both members and non-members of the global chemistry enterprise. Thus, Drs. Cheng, Shah and I are delighted to be able to share the collective wisdom and ideas from a broad professional spectrum of our global chemistry enterprise. We hope that chemistry communities around the world will find this book informative, thought provoking, and a catalyst for action and partnering for progress and prosperity. I want to express my sincere thanks to my co-editors and co-chairs of my Presidential Task Force, Dr. H.N. Cheng and Dr. Sadiq Shah, for making this book possible. We have enjoyed working together as ACS colleagues on various projects for many years. Special thanks are also due to Dr. Robert Rich, Director xi Cheng et al.; Vision 2025: How To Succeed in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
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of Strategy Development for ACS, who ably supported my Presidential Task Force as the ACS staff liaison. Thanks are also due to the many members of my Presidential Task Force, the presidents of the chemical societies represented in this book, and the speakers from my Presidential Symposium at the 2013 national ACS meeting on April 8-9, 2013 in New Orleans I also want to thank my amazing daughter Lori, who married her talented Stanford classmate Evan, and my awesome son Will, who incidentally designed the Partners for Progress and Prosperity logo on the cover of this book. They inspire me to do what I can to help ensure we leave the world a better place for future generations. Last but not least, I wish to thank two other very special people who have always supported my various endeavors in life—my dear mother Tsun Hwei Li, who is now 93 years old, and my wonderful husband of over 36 years, Norm. As I have shared with our chemistry colleagues worldwide, we must continue to “Partner for Progress and Prosperity!” Please see my article in C&EN, Jan. 7, 2013, pg. 2 for more details.
Marinda Li Wu 2013 President, American Chemical Society
xii Cheng et al.; Vision 2025: How To Succeed in the Global Chemistry Enterprise ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
