Continuity Dinner: still time to decide to join the celebration

The December Board of Directors meeting is also our Continuity Dinner, a fancier than usual affair to celebrate the year’s achievements, recognize certain members, announce the Distinguished Service Award (conferred in March), and pass the gavel to the incoming section officers. And then there is the Henry Godt Memorial Lecture, lightly and briefly (we promise: briefly) recapping the past year, which is given by a surprise speaker.

There will be a General Meeting of the Section to vote on ... well, come and find out. And there are almost always some new and old members whom we see only at this event. So come!

You still have time to decide to join in. The reservation deadline (see below to register online) is December 9th. After that, you have decided not to join in, a seriously bad decision!

Please join us: Thursday, December 12
Branica-Frontenac, 10411 Clayton Rd, St Louis, MO 63131 (map), in the Plaza Frontenac complex on Clayton Road just west of Lindbergh Blvd
5:30 pm social hour with cash bar
6:30 pm dinner, meeting, and Continuity events

Cost of dinner is $24. Please register by Dec 9 at goo.gl/6WkWJH and mail your check to:

Vic Lewchenko
354 Larkhill Ct
Webster Groves, MO 63119

Saint Louis ACS members meet “the other”, and it is good

Chemistry of papermaking panelists (from left) Keith Stine, Greg Wall, Hal Harris, unidentified artist participant (sorry!), Ted Gast, Alexa Serfis, Sean Dingman

Ted Gast, wearing his hat as president of Arch Paper, helped organize a national meeting of the Friends of Dard Hunter, an organization for hand papermakers, in Saint Louis in November. As part of the program, Ted recruited several local section ACS members for a panel on the chemistry that impinges on all things paper.

The arts folk who attended were amazingly appreciative and positive about the value of the event to their craft. Ted relayed several comments he received from attendees:

Collin Browne, the Friends secretary: Many members told [me] it was the best event of the whole conference.
Jennifer Baker, the conference coordinator, texted: They loved you!
Teri Williams, the director of the Papermaking Museum at Georgia Tech: I always wanted to know but didn't know who to ask. I thank you all.

Chemists who participated in the conference were every bit as positive about the experience.

Greg Wall: I would rate the event a 9.
Keith Stine: I think your event was outstanding.... The event was definitely a 10.... I enjoyed meeting some of the other papermakers afterwards and have been inspired to read a bit more about papermaking.
Hal Harris: That everyone seemed to be in good humor and participating on the last regular day of the conference was wonderful. From all accounts, everything went wonderfully and I very much enjoyed my small contribution.

In addition to those commenting, Alexa Serfis and Sean Dingman rounded out the panel of chemists, and Ted Gast MCed.

Election results finalized

With 146 members participating in the balloting—about the same number as last year—all of the candidates standing for election won narrow victories. One nice consequence of having all uncontested positions: we don’t have to listen to any concession speeches.

The following members will assume or resume their positions at the Continuity Dinner on December 12:

• Chair-elect: Pegah Jalili, with Jim O’Brien assuming the chair and Ziad Ramadan moving to immediate past chair
• Secretary: Natalie LaFranzo
• Treasurer: Vic Lewchenko
• Councilor (three-year term): Lawrence “Lol” Barton
• Alternate councilor (three-year term): Ted Gast and Chris Spilling
• Director (two-year term): Eric Ressner and Keith Stine

Two big YCC events staged in November

George Gokel, presenting on “presenting”

The November Career Management Seminar (CMS) hosted by the YCC focused on developing and executing successful poster and oral presentations. Our speakers, George Gokel from UM–Saint Louis and Brent Znosko from Saint Louis University, contributed valuable advice based on their experiences delivering and judging presentations. The event was hosted at Innovative Technology Enterprises, the Tech Incubator at UMSL. In the audience were high school students, undergraduates, grad students, and professionals. Highlights of Brent Znosko’s poster session advice are summarized in this ACS Webinet.

The next CMS focuses on technology transfer in an academic setting, and features Christopher Spilling, Chair of the Chemistry Department at UM–Saint Louis and N’Goundo Magassa, Licensing Associate in the Office of Technology Management at Washington University. The event will be held at Denton’s Law Firm on Tuesday, December 3 at 6:30pm. This issue of the Chemical Bond reaches you too late to register by the Dec 2nd deadline, but if you have already registered, don’t forget to go. Contact ycc@stlacs.org if you have any questions.

In November the YCC also co-sponsored a Networking Reception hosted by the St Louis Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). Attending the reception were both local researchers (men and women), as well as National AWIS board members and staff. The event featured a diverse group and offered the opportunity to discuss strategies for supporting women in science. A couple of candids from the event are below:

CS&T, your final reminder

Nominations for the Chemical Science and Technology Award are open until December 20. Help your favorite technologist colleague win the recognition s/he deserves. You can find all the details on eligibility, nominations, and recent winners right here.

Board of Directors

St Louis Section–ACS Board of Directors meets the second Thursday of each month, usually at the Glen Echo Country Club (map and driving directions). Meetings are open to all members, and all are encouraged to attend. Elected officers and chairs of major committees vote on questions put to the Board; others in attendance have voice but no vote.

If you want to attend for dinner, please contact the section Chair at least a week in advance. Usual cost of the dinner is $24 ($12 for post-docs and unemployed members). Members wishing to become active in section activities are welcomed for their first dinner as guests of the section.

Date: Dec 12 (Continuity Dinner, see details above)
Social hour: 5:30 pm
Business meeting: 6:30 pm (suspended for dinner when served)
Future meetings: Jan 9, Feb 13

Saint Louis University

Seminars are on Fridays at 12 noon in Carlo Auditorium, Tegeler Hall, unless noted otherwise. Refreshments follow. For more information, contact Jim Edwards, jedward5@slu.edu.

Dec 6, 12 noon in Kelly Hall
Kyle Plunkett, Southern Illinois University–Carbondale
TBA

University of Missouri–St Louis

Mondays at 4 pm in 451 Benton Hall, unless otherwise specified. Refreshments 15 minutes prior to seminar time. For more information, contact the Chemistry Department, 314.516.5311.

At publication time, there were no seminars scheduled for December.

Washington University

Seminars are in McMillen 311 at 4 pm unless otherwise noted. For information, contact: Liviu Mirica, mirica@wustl.edu.

Dec 5
Javier Read de Alaniz, University of California–Santa Barbara
New advances in the construction of C–N and C–O bonds for organic synthesis