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ACS MEETS IN NEW ORLEANS Board of directors unanimous in rebuke of Kansas's stance on evolution in schools

As American Chemical Society na­tional meeting attendees slogged through 90-plus-degree days, near­

ly 100% humidity, and daily downpours, ACS governance was turning up the heat on the Kansas State Board of Education. Last week at its 218th national meeting in New Orleans, ACS added its voice to the growing chorus calling on the Kansas board to rescind its recent deci­sion to remove all refer­ences to evolution and the origins of the uni­verse from the state's education standards and assessments (see page 65).

The official ACS statement, which was unanimously support­ed by the board of di­rectors, drew applause from ACS coun­cilors and was picked up immediately by the Associated Press.

While protecting the nation's stu­dents from science curriculum changes that have nothing to do with science was foremost on the minds of governance groups at the New Orleans meeting, protecting Chemical Abstracts Service's (CAS) data collections from potential damage caused by inadequate facilities was not far behind. To this end, the ACS Board also approved $19.8 million for a new data center, as well as additional funding to improve existing CAS facili­ties in Columbus, Ohio.

Also at the meeting, CAS announced a major enhancement to its product line. Starting this week, users of ACS elec­tronic journals will be able to immedi­ately link from references to the rele­vant CAS records through ChemPort Connection. To do this, readers can click on the CAS tag following referenc­es at the end of any journal article and retrieve the corresponding bibliograph­ic information and abstract in the CAplus database.

The society's Publications Division

also reaffirmed its commitment to work with the Scholarly Publish­ing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) to pub­lish alternatives to high-cost journals. The first venture between ACS and SPARC resulted in the launch of Organ­ic Letters in July. The second venture, announced with great fanfare in New Orleans, will be Crystal Growth & De­sign, which will be launched next year. Richard K. Johnson, SPARC enterprise director, said his organization's partner­ship with ACS has been tremendous for both parties and "demonstrates oppor­tunities that exist when communities work together for their mutual benefit."

The Society Committee on Budget & Finance reported in New Orleans that ACS finances are in good shape. As of July 31, ACS core programs are project­ed to end 1999 with a net contribution of $912,000, well within board-established budgetary guidelines.

In other items related to the budget, the ACS Board approved three new pro­grams to begin next year. An office of

Clockwise from top, balloon-hatted friends at SciMix, the popular poster session; people waiting in line to register; CAS Director Bob Massie (left), SPARC'S Johnson (center), and ACS Publications Division Director Bob Bovenschulte celebrate Crystal Growth & Design.

graduate education will be established within the ACS Education Division. The proposal for this new office grew out of recommendations made by an invitation­al conference on graduate education in chemistry that was convened last February to study the role ACS should play in gradu­ate education (C&EN, March 15, page 55). This activity will be funded at a level not to exceed $170,000 for 2000.

The ACS Membership Division re­ceived funding to conduct Chem-Census 2000, a comprehensive employment survey to be sent to all working ACS members at a cost of $135,000.

The board also agreed to fund the Office of Communica­tions' request to conduct a pub­lic opinion study expected to im­prove and update the informa­

tion used to define the society's public audience. This is expected to be a three-year activity, funded at $59,000 per year.

Also reported at the meeting: As of July 31, the soci­ety's total member­ship was 153,544. That's 1,382 mem­bers more than the same time last year.

The meeting at­tracted 11,734 at­tendees and consist­

ed of 5,656 technical presentations and an exposition of 246 companies with 392 booths, as well as a variety of social func­tions. One of these was the first ChemLu-minary Awards to thank members for their volunteer efforts on behalf of ACS.

ACS President Ed Wasserman lent his name to three Presidential Events at the meeting. The first, a symposium on food chemistry, featured speakers who looked ahead to the next millennium. The second, "Visions of Materials," ex­plored the world of self-assembled ma­terials. And the third celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Younger Chem­ists Committee.

The ACS Council accepted a plan for redistricting to even out the numbers of members in the regions that elect re­gional directors. It also agreed to a new schedule of registration fees for national meetings that will ensure that the meet­ings break even over a five-year period.

Linda Raber

10 AUGUST 30,1999 C&EN