KEITH PE TERMAN

ACS NEWS

BOSTON COMMITTEE
REPORTS NOW AVAILABLE

ACS on April 4, 1915. The

Virginia Chemists Club and
its founders worked for six
years to become the 49th
local section of ACS. The
sections territory was the
whole state of Virginia, with
the exception of one county,
but two separate local sections were created from
counties within the state.
The section is now composed of 54 counties and 16 cities from
the northwestern tip through central and
southern Virginia to the North Carolina
border, and it has more than 1,300 members. In addition to receiving numerous
national awards for its programs and activities, the section hosted an ACS national
meeting and three southeastern regional
meetings.
During the gala, the local section announced a new award, the R. Gerald Bass
Award for Exceptional Service, which honors R. Gerald Bass, who has been a member
of the section for more than 57 years, was a
recipient of the sections Distinguished Service Award in 1979, and is an ACS Fellow.
In addition, the Virginia Section received recognition from Virginia Gov.
Terry McAuliffe (D), Mayor of the City
of Richmond Dwight C. Jones (D), Sen.
Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), and the board
of supervisors of Chesterfield County.
NITI SHAH, special to C&EN

The official reports of American Chemical Society committees from the fall 2015
ACS national meeting, held in Boston on
Aug. 1620, are now available online at
http://cenm.ag/committees2015. The major
actions taken by the ACS Board and Council
during the Boston meeting were previously
reported in C&EN (Aug. 24, page 7).LW

On Oct. 8, the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Health & Safety
approved the formation of the Cannabis
Chemistry Subdivision.
Cannabis chemistry represents a wide
number of public health, industry, and regulatory issues, says subdivision cofounder
and chair Ezra Pryor, who is also founder
and president of cannabis consulting firm
EZ Chem Consultancy. ACS is uniquely
qualified to provide a home for researchers, policy developers, and workers in this
rapidly expanding industry. As the medical
and commercial cannabis industries grow,
there will continue to be a need for qualified chemists.
The subdivision aims to provide networking opportunities, encourage mentoring relationships, provide symposium content, and initiate a platform for cannabis
chemistry professionals. It is planning two
symposia at the spring 2016 ACS national
meeting in San Diego.
Whereas somebody might not have had
a place for their cannabis research at ACS
national meetings before, now theres a
natural home, Pryor says.LW

DELEGATION Students Nina Diklich (from

left), Gregory Margida, Matt Bosch, Jill

Leaness, Gilbert Vial, Prakriti Shrestha,
Thomas Di Nardo, Wilmarie Marrero-Ortiz,
and Christopher Jackson will attend the
climate change conference in Paris.

ences using traditional and social media.

Myron Belkind, a former international correspondent and current professor at George
Washington University, stressed how the
principles of responsibility, accuracy, and
fairness would guide the students to report
with integrity and without compromise.
On Capitol Hill, the students met with
officials from Sen. Christopher Coonss
(D-Del.) office and from the House of
Representatives Committee on Science,
Space & Technology as well as from the Department of State and the Department of
Energy.JOAN COYLE, special to C&EN

CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION FOR ACS
VIRGINIA SECTION
The ACS Virginia Section celebrated its
100th anniversary with a gala event on
Oct. 24.
The section received its charter from

STUDENT OBSERVERS
TO ATTEND CLIMATE
CHANGE CONFERENCE
Nine student observers will represent the
American Chemical Society at the 2015
United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris on
Nov. 30Dec. 11.
The students were in Washington, D.C.,
in October for media and policy training,
which took place at the National Press Club.
Among the topics were how to effectively
communicate their messages and experi-

2015 ACS SCHOLARS

NAMED

ACS VIRGINIA SECTION

ACS APPROVES
CANNABIS SUBDIVISION

HAPPY 100TH ACS President Diane Grob

Schmidt (right) presents a commemorative

certificate to Virginia Section Chair Todd Koch.
C E N. ACS.ORG

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NOV E M BE R 2 3, 20 1 5

ACS has named its 2015 ACS Scholars, a

group of 165 U.S. students from underrepresented minority groups. The renewable scholarships of up to $5,000 per year
support students majoring in chemistry or
chemistry-related fields. Students must be
African American, Hispanic, or American
Indian high school seniors or college freshmen, sophomores, or juniors pursuing a
degree in the chemical sciences or chemical
technology. The list of winners is available
at http://cenm.ag/scholars2015.
Applications for the 2016 ACS Scholars Program are now being accepted.
Visit http://acs.org/scholars for more
information.LW
Announcements of ACS news may be sent to
acsnews.cen@acs.org.