Many articles in the Capital Chemist have focused on the challenge of employment and careers. Incoming ACS President Donna Nelson has instituted a Task Force to look into exactly that issue. Recently, President-Elect Nelson reached out to the Capital Chemist with the following invitation to participate in an upcoming symposium on chemical employment. I encourage anyone with interest to participate!
At the ACS National Meeting in San Diego next March, my Task Force on Employment in the Chemical Sciences is having a symposium on its activities. One session in that symposium will be contributed posters. Each ACS member is invited to submit a poster to that symposium.
If you have ideas or experiences to contribute, please submit your poster in MAPS at http://maps.acs.org/. The deadline for submission is Oct 31st.
You are welcome to speak on any aspect of the problems related to employment. Some topics being addressed by the Task Force are:
- What factors determine the balance between supply and demand?
- What is the employment situation for technicians?
- What are benefits and handicaps of possible certification, licensing, and registration of chemical professionals?
- Do we prepare our graduates for jobs offered by industry?
- What causes young graduate and mid-career chemical professional unemployment, and how can we help?
- What is needed to increase underrepresented groups in the workforce?
- What global factors influence the US employment situation? Problems of outsourcing and immigration?
If you have questions about submissions to this poster session, please contact the TF Co-chair, Attila Pavlath, or the Program Co-organizer, Debbie Crans. Please submit your poster by Oct 31st.
Additional potential ACS member concerns will be addressed in contributed poster sessions on “Diversity – Quantification – Success” (the use of data to help diversify the chemical sciences with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender) and “Is there a Crisis in Organic Chemistry” (the anticipated reduction of enrollment in traditional organic chemistry classes).
Please take advantage of these sessions via your attendance, ideas, and participation; they are intended to be opportunities for discussion and member contributions.
I look forward to seeing you at these symposia in San Diego!
Donna Nelson
Directions to submit an abstract:
The ACS website where abstracts are to be submitted is ready for you to
submit your paper now. Please go to the website URL below and follow
the instruction steps given below.
The following selections will give you access to the abstract submission
website:
Go to URL: maps.acs.org
Select: “251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CA”
Login using your ACS ID and password; create them if you need to.
Select: “Submit or Edit an Abstract”
Select: “Create new submission”
The following steps will lead you through creating an abstract:
1. Select PRES as program area
2. Type your title and abstract
3. Select POSTER ONLY as your presentation type
4. Select DO NOT CONSIDER for Sci-Mix
5. Select your symposium –Discussions with President’s Task Force on
Employment
6. Select I was specifically invited to submit this paper.
7. Type in my name and email address as the person who invited you
8. Select Are not applicable
9. Agree to the next 4 criteria.
10. Select your employment sector(s)
11. View your proof and make corrections
12. Submit your abstract
Photo credit: dirkhansen / CC BY 2.0
