5. INTERSOCIETAL ACTIVITIES

As early as in 1975, the Division established the Intersociety Relations Committee, which in 1984 was split into Domestic Intersociety Relations Committee and the Foreign Intersociety Relations Committee. In 1985, however, the former was renamed back to its original name with its activities restricted to the U.S. societies. In 1989, several subcommittees were formed to take care separately of reciprocal relations between POLY and the American Physical Society (APS), the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). That arrangement exists to this day, and other liaisons have been added such as that to the Optical Society of America (OSA).

Throughout the last decade, POLY has continued to build coordinated efforts with other U.S. societies. Through the Intersociety Polymer Task Force, POLY has been attempting to evaluate and assist in the formulation of national policy regarding the importance of polymers.

Polymer Ambassadors (1997) - (l-r) Gordon Hahn, Lynn Higgins, William Bleam, Jr., Mary Harris, Sandra Van Natta, Ann Salamone, Jeane Delfiner, Melanie Stewart

The Intersociety Polymer Education Task Force (IPED) published in 1991 a brochure "Science and Technology Education: Building on Our Foundation of Progress", which outlined educational activities in polymer-related areas.   The Intersociety Polymer Education Council (IPEC), created through the initiative of POLY members, Ann Salamone and John Droske, in 1993 started the Polymer Ambassadors program. This program, originally funded by POLY, SPE, and AIChE established ambassadors in four states. They impacted thousands of K-12 teachers by providing lectures and instructional materials on polymers. More details on this program are provided in Section 8, "Educational Activities".

The IPEC was incorporated in 1994 and Ann Salamone continues to guide it as a POLY representative.

Many jointly sponsored intersociety symposia were held at the ACS National Meetings or at the annual meetings of other societies. Among separately held meetings, a couple might specifically be identified.

In 1993, POLY and PMSE cosponsored a first joint meeting with the Optical Society of America (OSA) on "Organic Thin Films for Photonic Applications" in Toronto, Canada.

In 1995, the Intersociety Polymer Conference, with the theme "Creation, Utilization, and Recycling of Multiphase Polymer Systems", sponsored by POLY, PMSE, SPE, and AIChE, with participation of the ACS Cellulose, Paper and Textile Division (CELL), the American Physical Society (High Polymer Physics Division), and the Macro Group UK was held in Baltimore, MD.