MINUTES
Division of Analytical Chemistry Executive Committee Meeting
Renaissance Boston Waterfront, Brewster Room
Monday, August 17, 2015
4:00 – 7:00 pm
Attendance: Kim Frederick, Lane Baker, Adam Woolley*, Karen Phinney*, Kimberly Agnew-Heard*, Charles Wilkins, Joel Harris*, Susan Olesik*, Thom Rossi*, Stephen Scypinski, Roland Hirsch*, Nancy Xu, Anna Cavinato*, Doug Duckworth*, Miquela Sena, Isaiah Warner, Stuart Chalk.
*Executive Committee members
- Call to Order – Susan called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm
- Approval of Minutes – Minutes were reviewed. Charles Wilkins pointed out that his name was missing from the attendance list of the EC meeting at PittCon. The minutes were corrected and approved unanimously.
- Outgoing officers’ recognition: Susan acknowledged Past Chair Thom Rossi for all his work and dedication to the Division.
- Welcome new officers: Susan welcomed Nancy Xu as newly elected Alternate Councilor.
- Officer Reports
5.1Program Chair: ACS Boston Program overview (Doug Duckworth) – Doug reported that 310 papers were submitted with 20 withdrawn. The poster session went very well with very good attendance. The food wasa good addition. A possibility for the future is to require tickets. There are still very interesting upcoming sessions for the rest of the week. .
5.2Chair: Strategic Planning (Susan, Doug and Joel) - Doug presented a summary of the activities during the strategic planning session that took place on Friday evening and all day Saturday. Supported by a grant from ACS, three students were able to participate. A framework for the strategic planning was developed along with vision and mission statements. A discussion about mission and vision followed, particularly in regards to connections between the Division and society. Goals and strategies were developed guided in part by external events that pose threats but also opportunities for the Division. To achieve such goals, we will have topopulate teams of volunteers assigned to each specific goal. A new committee structure will be proposed by September 1. Some of the more immediate goals will be to: launch the new website by October 1; establish the awards committee and promote networkingopportunities at Pittcon by January 2016; and establish a mentorprogram also by January 2016. The new proposed organizational chart was presented. Thomsuggested incorporating the experience of past chairs to better assess how effectively the Division is operating. Susan brought up that we need to have a meeting open to the membership. Thiscouldentice moremembers to becomeinvolved.
5.3Chair Elect: ANYL Boston Reception and Spring ACS Meeting (Joel Harris) –The Division dinner will be held at Joe’s American Grill starting at 6:00 pm on Tuesday evening. Joel reviewed the symposia andcontributed papers forSan Diego with topics includingfluorescence,massspectrometry, and chemistry at the interface with art and archeology. Nine ANYL sessions are planned for PittCon2016. The Division will hold the poster session on Sunday night in conjunction with the PittCon Mixer/Reception.
5.4Secretary: Anna Cavinato
5.4.1 2015 Election Results – Anna reported another successful election which was, again, held jointly with the Subdivision. Karen Phinney, NIST, was elected Chair-Elect, Anna Cavinato was re-elected Secretary, Roland Hirsch and Karl Booksh were elected Councilors and Nancy Xu Alternate Councilor. Anna reported an increase in participation with 16.5% of the membership voting. This was the highest recorded percentage since 2008. Thom Rossi, who was the point of contact, also reported an overwhelming number of positive comments from those who voted.
5.4.2 ANYL Report Card– Anna shared statistics prepared by the ACS. These include membership trends for the Division and overall ACS, annual allocation, financial year end balance, number of ANYL papers presented at national meetings, and number of Division members attending national meetings. These trends were examined during the strategic planning meeting.
5.5Treasurer: Adam Woolley
5.5.1 – Adam presented a summary of the 2015 YTD budget as well as a draft budget for 2016. He pointed out income from session chairs fundraising to support speakers. The allocation from ACS nationalhas stayed pretty stable. Adam also reviewed awards allocations. Anna pointed out that at the EC meeting held at Pittcon a motion was approved to increase the Kolthoff award to $3,750 but this was not reflected in the draft 2016 budget. The correct allocation was noted.
5.5.2 - Finance Committee Report – Total assets are currently $ 454,567.13. In October 2014 $60K were transferred from the checking account to investment accounts with a return of roughly $1K since that time.
5.5.3 - Pacifichem support for the 2015 meeting is $10K. We may receive profit sharing in return if the meeting is successful.
5.5.4 - We had a request from graduate students wanting to organize a symposium at the ACS spring meeting on chemical imaging. Adam and Susan will determine the amount of the award.
5.6 Councilors: Report from Spring 2015 ACS Council Meeting- Roland highlighted two petitions on the agenda for the Council meeting in Boston, which clarify and update procedures for member expulsion and preferential voting.
5.7Business Office Report - Miquela Sena- Miquela reviewed her activities since PittCon. Most of her effort has been on preparing for Boston and Scix. She will start working on Pittcon 2016 and the divisional awards this fall.
6.Subdivision of Chromatography and Separation Science
6.1 - Chair’s Report: Karen Phinney–Karen reported that the Subdivision held elections in conjunction with the Division between June and July. *Kate Rimmer was elected as Chair*. Unlike in previous years when it was difficult to recruit new candidates, this year there was a large pool available. This increase may have been due to increased communication with the membership.
*Information provided by Anna Cavinato, ANYL Secretary.
7.Committee Reports
7.1Awards and Canvassing: Joel – A call for nominations went out through the Analytical Chemistry journal highlights. Joel will send reminders about ACS awards, the Kolthoff and other awards. Joel pointed out that an award committee needs to be in place so that there is a larger pool of nominees. Thom suggested that Fellow nominations should also fall underthis committee.
7.2Communications: Roland Hirsch - Roland reminded the EC that the Communication Committee needs constant input about current activities. Kimberly would like to post on Facebook on a regular basis but needs the information. Posting regularly helps keeping up interest from the membership. Most of the fb population is younger males from many different countries. Once the new website is formed, it will help because a lot of traffic on fb comes from the website. We are far behind WCC and YCC but compare well with physical and organic chemistry. Sayo Fakayode is the current editor of the newsletter. The next newsletter could focused on the recent awardees as well as recently named Fellows. Again, Roland encouraged the EC to contribute to the newsletter. He also presented the new webpage. It will have a members-only part which will have to be populated with pertinent content. Roland encouraged the EC to take a look at the new website and provide feedback. Publicity will be part of the Communications Committee and it will be good to have a member dedicated to this specific task. Stuart Chalk presented the new website which can be previewed at The page was developed using the ACS template. However, some of the widgets do not work. Susan asked ifmore pictures can be added to the website. Photos can be added on the right hand side and can be rotated. Suggestions are welcome. A survey could be sent to the membership to better determine what they would like to seeon the website. Doug suggested asking the three students that participated in the strategic planning meeting for ideas. We need to appeal to the younger section of the membership. Adam suggested switching to the new site asap. Joel suggested a more visual approach to link to events with pictures and less text. Roland suggested that when the website is ready, an email should go to the EC to test the new system and provide feedback. Stuart asked ifwe have any information about web usage. Joel pointed out that other divisions have quite appealing websites. A good example is the website for the Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division which includes job postings.
7.3Education: Kimberley Frederick – Kimberly reported that she organized a very interesting session entitled “Beyond Quant: Re-envisioning the Foundational Course in Analytical Chemistry” as part of ANYL programming in Boston. It was suggested that Kimberley write a report for the newsletter. Anna also reported that she and other officers distributed certificates to undergraduate students presenting posters at the ANYL poster session on Sunday evening and the CHED poster session on Monday afternoon.
7.4Fundraising: Thom Rossi – The endowment could be increased but, in reality,the Division finances are quite strong. Thom does not see an immediate need or rationale to fundraise and he suggested that these efforts should be tied with the strategic plan. Isiah asked if the awards are well endowed. Miquela pointed out that only two of the six awards have sponsors. Fundraising efforts could be directed to awards and fellowships.
7.5Graduate Fellowship: Paul Edmiston and Emily Niemeyer – no report
7.6Long Term Programming – Joel Harris and Lane Baker – Joel presented the plan for Pittcon. The poster session will be supported by Pittcon with food and drinks. Charles suggested highlighting the program in the newsletter and in fb. The program for the ACS spring meeting in San Diego was also presented. Joel suggested an increase in the budget for programming. A letter has been drafted for symposium organizers to encourage fundraising. More publicity for the upcoming meetings, including the fall meeting in Philadelphia is forthcoming. The Chemical Heritage Foundation has been reserved for the Tuesday dinner in Philadelphia.
7.7Membership: Stephen Scypinski –Stephen reported on the analysis he conducted on employees at his own company. While money is not a factor in joining the Division, most analytical chemists do not identify themselves with ACS. The Division needs a strong, unique identity to attract more members. Stephen recommended that a similar analysis should be conducted in academia. Doug suggested developing a questionnaire that couldbe administered to the membership with help fromACS.
7.8Undergraduate Awards: Douglas Beussman – no report
7.9ASDL: Cindy Larive –Cindy was not present but a report was filed in the agenda packet.
8.Organization representatives Reports
8.1FACSS Delegates - Bonner Denton and Charles Wilkins – Charlie reported that SciX will be held in October in Providence, Rhode Island. The Division has $4,658.83 in surplus funds with SciX and will be using $4,000 of those funds to support the two sessions co-organized with the Royal Society of Chemistry.
MOTION: Charles Wilkins moved to allocate $5,000 for programming at SciX 2016. The motion was seconded by Roland Hirsch. The motion was approved unanimously.
Miquela will be in attendance and will staff the ANYL booth. There will be a joint event on Wednesday afternoon with the Analytical Chemistry journal.
8.2Eastern Analytical Symposium Delegates- Brian Bidlingmeyer - no report
9.Old Business
9.1ACS Fellows – Thom Rossi – Discussion covered under 8.1.
9.2MPPG representative –A representative from ANYL has yet to be identified. Nancy Xu volunteered to represent the Division at the next spring 2015 meeting.
10. New Business
10.1Folders for new members – RolandHirsch
MOTION: Roland moved to approve that up to $20,000 be made available out of Division reserves to provide to new and recently-joined Members of the Division a folder useful for the Member and containing information on how to become active in the Division. The motion was seconded by Charles Wilkins.
Discussion: Roland explained the nature of his proposal. Examples of folders were passed around. These folders could also be given to newmembers who sign up at the booth at a meeting. Adam suggested vetting the idea with younger people. The folder is an icon of the past. An IPad cover could be another option. Roland iterated that the folder would be a way to disseminate information about the Division. Stuart suggested amug with a QR code that would provide a dynamic link to updated information.
In light of the discussion, Roland withdrew the motion. The EC will continue to look into a meaningful gift to the new members.
10.2Roland moved to offer congratulations to Susan Olesik for a job well done.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm EDT
Minutes respectfully submitted,
Anna G. Cavinato
Secretary, Division of Analytical Chemistry