It is both an honor and a privilege to serve you, the Chemical Society of Washington (CSW) membership, as the CSW President in 2015. The CSW was established in 1884 as an organization and is currently the local section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for the Washington, DC area serving approximately 4,000 members.
In recent years, we have made some bold moves and have seen some great results thanks to the work of our members, the Board of Managers, and past leadership. For example, at the last National Meeting in San Francisco, we were recognized for our work in 2013 with two ACS ChemLuminary awards: for Outstanding Project SEED Program and Outstanding Local Section Career Program. We have also had great success instituting electronic voting. This has allowed us to modernize our election process and has increased voter participation from 2.5% prior to its inception in 2012 to 12% in our last election, a number which we are actively seeking to grow over the next few years with your support.
That is, of course, just a small sampling of the successes we’ve had so far, but we are not resting on our laurels. One initiative that we have in the works is the revamp of the Capital Chemist into a more interactive and dynamic digital presence where the CSW leadership, fellow members, and others can better communicate about information and issues that are important to our community. Please look forward to these exciting changes launching later this month.
As President, my goals are to facilitate the career development of chemical professionals, improve the public’s awareness and appreciation of the contributions of chemistry, expand our services to all of our members and prospective members working in all facets of chemistry, and encourage the participation of students and young chemists in all activities of the Society.
This last goal is a particular priority for me; going forward, we will work to expand mentorship of future chemists and the promotion of interest in the chemical sciences through outreach into K-12 settings, provide travel stipends for students to attend national and regional ACS meetings, bring dynamic speakers to regional K-12 institutions, develop and conduct novel workshops, and host local section meetings that aim to increase interactions between students, teachers, and the general public.
It is our goal to tailor activities towards the needs of our membership. Whether you are a returning member or someone who has just joined us, an established leader or student at the beginning of your career path, we believe you have something to offer and we want to hear from you. One easy way to make your voice heard is by joining us at one of our upcoming events. Our monthly meetings are a great place to network with fellow members, learn about interesting topics, find out how to get involved, and let the leadership of the various committees know what you think in person.
Our first meeting of the year will be on Saturday, January 10, 2015 beginning at 11:00 am. The venue will be The Cabinet Room at Old Ebbitt Grill (675 15th Street NW) in Washington, DC. During this meeting, we will recognize our long-term members and will feature a talk on the “History of the Chemical Society of Washington” by Dr. John Malin. This will be a great chance to connect (or reconnect) with CSW and we hope that you will join us.
Even if you can’t attend this meeting, we are always happy to hear from you via email ([email protected]), social media (www.facebook.com/ACSCSW), or mail (O-218, 1155 16th St, NW, Washington, DC 20036).
Again, thank you for the opportunity to serve as your 2015 CSW President, and with your help we can continue our forward momentum.
