A. Submission of symposium proposal form to Program Committee. If the proposed topic seems appropriate, the second key step is the identification of an organizer. Once an organizer has been identified, then the Program Chairs will identify the proper venue for the proposed symposium and assign it a tentative number of half-day sessions. Once the symposium has been approved by the program committee, the organizer can begin to invite speakers. Organizers are encouraged to include one or more introductory or tutorial lectures at the beginning of the symposium or at the beginning of subtopical half-day sessions.
B. Publicity is vital, as it will enhance attendance at both the symposium and the meeting. The Program Chairs will have the symposium posted at the ACS and POLY web sites and in the C&EN and POLY Newsletter listings of future programs. The organizer should send a 0.25-page advertisement to the Business Office Manager for publication in the POLY Newsletter, and may distribute additional publicity. Announcements and “call for papers” for individual symposia can be sent to other POLY members through the POLY electronic discussion list. Descriptions of the symposia can also be listed on the POLY website by sending this information to the POLY WEBMASTER.
C. Symposium organizers must have a current ACS ID and Password, so that they may be assigned their roles as Symposium Organizers by the Program Chairs. Approved symposium organizers who do not have a current ACS ID and Password can easily register for one by logging into the ACS Program and Abstract Creation System (PACS), found at http://abstracts.acs.org. Once Symposium Organizers are logged in, the Program Chairs will assign Symposium Organizer status and access to all Symposium Organizers, who will then have online access to their symposia so that they may evaluate abstracts and begin organizing their symposium.
D. Details for how to use PACS to organize symposia after abstract submission are provided in the following document.
E. Submission of a preliminary program (number of sessions and names of all speakers) to the Meeting Program Chairs. The due date for the preliminary program will depend on deadlines for entering it into PACS and will be submitted through PACS. The preliminary program must contain:
1. The exact title of the symposium. You may also wish to indicate specific subtitles for each session.
2. The exact number of half-day sessions each of which is 3-4 hours in length. The order and length of talks must be specified. The time allocated to each speaker must be in the range of 20-30 minutes unless there are extraordinary and compelling circumstances. Normally invited speakers are given 30 minutes and others 20 minutes.
Note that it is preferable to have fewer sessions of higher quality papers than to expand the program to fill the allocated time.
3. Specification of an “Intermission and POLY/PMSE Poster Session” to begin sometime between 9:30 and 11:00AM in morning sessions and 2:30-4:00PM in afternoon sessions. These intermissions are to be scheduled for 30 minutes. POLY and PMSE posters are being presented during the day at upcoming ACS meetings and attendees must have sufficient time to view posters.
4. A realistic estimate of attendance at each session.
5. The distribution of half-day sessions must abide by the Even-Programming rules of the ACS.
F. Submission of a final program and abstracts on PACS to the Meeting Program Chairs three to four months preceding the National Meeting at which the symposium is to take place. The Preliminary Program submitted via PACS will be finalized with the assistance of the Program Chairs. The final programs from each symposium organizer are assembled into the final block program for each ACS National Meeting by the Meeting Program Chairs. The final assignments of dates for the half-day sessions will be made by the Meeting Program Chairs in accordance with ACS guidelines. Exact dates for these submissions will be supplied by the Meeting Program Chairs to symposia chairs. See section III, below, for more details about the final program.
G. The symposium organizers are responsible for notifying speakers how to submit abstracts and Polymer Preprints at the ACS web site.
All contributed oral and poster presentations at American Chemical Society national meetings in the Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY) require submission of an ACS abstract AND a Polymer Preprint to the ACS web site PACS at http://abstracts.acs.org. Instructions for preparing a preprint are at the Polymer Preprints web site, http://uweb.txstate.edu/science/polymerpreprints/instructions.htm. The title of the paper and the authors names on the ACS abstract and on the Polymer Preprint must be identical. Abstracts submitted on paper will be rejected.
Submit both the abstract and the Polymer Preprint via PACS to either a topical symposium or to General Papers. The symposium topics and organizers are listed in the Call for Papers section of Chemical & Engineering News published the first week of January and the first week of July each year and are published at the POLY and ACS web sites. Questions about General Papers submission should be directed to D. Garcia, Arkema Inc., 900 First Avenue, King of Prussia, PA 19406, 610-878-6731, e-mail: dana.garcia@arkemagroup.com
H. POLY would like to financially support technical symposia as much as possible. However, funds for this purpose are limited and are meant to be seed money to help you solicit further support from other sources, including:
o ACS grants-PRF, Corporation Associates
o Government Agencies - NSF, AFOSR, ONR, ARO, DOE, NIST
o Industrial corporations with related interests.
1. The following guidelines should be used in planning to finance your symposium.
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POLY will allot $500.00 per oral session (up to a maximum of 4 half-day sessions ($2,000)) to support symposium activities and invited speakers or members of other professions, who would not normally join the American Chemical Society. You must request this support from the POLY treasurer. This support only applies to POLY sponsored symposia. An additional $500 per symposia is available for symposia with at least one full tutorial session.
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All grant applications should be sent to the appropriate funding agency with one copy going to the Treasurer for review and signature (well before the deadline). Federal Agencies can require that your proposal must be awarded BEFORE the symposium takes place, which means that your proposal applications may need to be submitted nearly one year prior to your symposium. Applications for grant support must be countersigned by POLY. It is the responsibility of the organizer to ensure that the appropriate number of copies is sent to the funding agency. The Treasurer will not make copies of the grant proposals. The funds must be awarded to the Polymer Chemistry Division and the checks should be sent to the Division Treasurer (see organization chart for addresses.)
2. Specific grant opportunities
Information about grant opportunities from the ACS (including Petroleum Research Fund and Corporate Associates Seed Grants) can be found online at:
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=627&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=ba51414e-c412-4895-93c7-0008c5039418
a. PRF Grants
b. Corporation Associates Seed Grants
To qualify for consideration for a grant, a symposium would need to address educational interactions with a broader community:
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=1454&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=b50e5d52-ef58-433c-8feb-80076066bb7e
Corporation Associates Funding Process:
Symposium chairs will submit a completed application form and a detailed outline that provides the symposium title and explains how the guidelines will be met and how CA funds will be used. This application and outline must be sent to the ACS Headquarters, Office of Corporation Associates, 1155th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036; by the deadlines provided online.
More information can be found on the link below:
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=1454&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=b50e5d52-ef58-433c-8feb-80076066bb7e
3. Letters requesting support from private donors can be sent by the symposium chair(s) without review of the treasurer. Support from private industry should be directed to the POLY treasurer with instructions that indicate the specific symposium the funds are intended to support.
4. Upon receipt of symposium support funds, an Excel file for your symposium will be created to include budget information and the symposium chair's instructions for the dispersal of funds. There are no restrictions on dispersal of industrial funds provided that they are used to support your symposium. All requests for checks (for speaker support, symposium activities, etc.) should be addressed to the POLY Treasurer.
5. With treasurer’s approval, the POLY business office can submit registration fee waiver requests to the National Office if such requests are provided prior to the ACS deadlines. The badges for speakers registered in advance will be available at the ACS Hospitality Center. Note that the cost for these “waived” registrations will be subtracted from the respective support budgets of the symposia.
6. Upon request from the symposia chairs, the POLY treasurer will prepare travel reimbursement checks from available funds (i.e., from the specific symposia budgets) for speaker support/travel expenses, etc. With prior notice from the symposia chairs (at least 1 week before the meeting), the POLY treasurer will prepare checks to be available for distribution at the POLY desk (near the POLY Symposia meeting rooms). Identification and completion of an IRS Form W-9 from each recipient is needed to pickup these checks. The W-9 form can be downloaded from here or the IRS web site.
7. For tax documentation purposes, the POLY division requires the collection of travel receipts from U.S. and international participants (photocopies are acceptable). Note that undocumented support funds (i.e., $ not accounted for by receipts) are subject to Federal and State income taxes from the recipients. The POLY treasurer will file an IRS Form 1099-Misc. for all U.S. recipients that have received an accumulated annual amount of $600 or more of undocumented funds.
8. Do's and Don'ts
a. Do seek outside support for your symposium. POLY funds are not adequate to support more than 1 speaker/session
b. Do be very explicit on the extent of support you intend to provide for each speaker. Be conservative, if you do manage to raise more funds, no one will object if their stipend is increased
c. Do not offer to pay all expenses for a speaker
d. Do not hesitate to ask for funds to pay for mailing costs or secretarial services. Remember that these costs will also come from the initial funds allocated or from the outside funds raised.
e. Do plan receptions well in advance so that the POLY Secretary can make the appropriate arrangements with the hotel. It is particularly advantageous to coordinate receptions from a number of symposia and pool funds
f. Do not hesitate to ask questions of the program chairs or the treasurer.
TREASURER
(see organization chart for addresses.)
BUSINESS OFFICE MANAGER
(see organization chart for addresses.)
If you know of a individual or non-ACS group who may be interested in the subject of your symposium, advise them that the full texts of most of the papers presented are available in Polymer Preprints.
Individuals can receive the Polymer Preprint as a POLY Division Member. Contact the POLY Business Office at 540-231-3029, e-mail: KATHYL@VT.EDU , or go on-line to become a member and receive this benefit.
Polymer Preprints for Library’s are available on CD and On-line. The CD version costs $100 per year. Please contact, Fred Dammont, P. O. Box 20453, Newark, NJ 07101. (phone: 973-482-5744) to place your order. The On-line version varies in cost due to the Library location and specials. It is approximately $420 per year. Please contact Bob Hauserman, ACS (e-mail: b_hauserman@acs.org ) for additional details.
