6. INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

As early as 1970, the Division established the International Committee and in 1990 the Foreign Affairs Committee to develop international membership and close relations with foreign polymer societies. Since then, many joint ventures came into being, among them the Pacific Polymer Federation who had its first Pacific Polymer Conference in 1989.

The 2nd Pacific Polymer Conference, organized through the Pacific Polymer Federation (PPF), was held in Otsu, Japan, in November 1991. Otto Vogl, a founding father of the PPF, handed then the reigns over to Joseph C. Salamone.

The subsequent Pacific Polymer Conferences were held: the 3rd in Gold Coast, Australia, in December 1993; the 4th in Koloa, Kauai, HI, in December 1995; the 5th in Kyongju, Korea, in October 1997; and the 6th in Guangzhou, China, in December 1999.

In the 1990s, the Foreign Affairs Committee became the International Activities Committee, and the international activities, spearheaded by Ray Ottenbrite, Bill Daly, Joe Salamone, Stan Israel, and Jim McGrath, centered broadly on contacting foreign polymer societies and international polymer associations, and focused on joint meetings and on educational services.

A number of international symposia were held as part of the ACS National Meetings and are specifically identified in APPENDIX D.

In 1992, POLY and the RSC/SCI Macro Group UK held a 3rd Euro-American Conference, Macromolecules '92, on "Functional Polymers and Biopolymers" in Canterbury, U.K.

In 1993, the 2nd International Symposium on "Polymers for Advanced Technologies" (PAT-93) was held under the auspices of POLY, PMSE, and the European Polymer Federation in Oxford, U.K.

POLY participated in the International Meeting on "Metathesis and Related Chemistry" (ISOM 12) in St. Augustine, FL, in July 1997, with 149 participants from 22 countries.

ISOM 12 - Chemists from 22 countries were present with 149 participants and guests in attendance

POLY has participated in the International Polymer Summit meetings of the presidents and chairs of national polymer societies, organized in conjunction with the biennial IUPAC Macromolecular Symposia, held in even years between the IUPAC General Assemblies. One such meeting in 1994 at the University of Akron, hosted by Ray Ottenbrite and Burt Anderson (then the POLY 1994 chair), was attended by 100 polymer scientists, representing some 30 polymer societies and countries from around the world.

In 1999, the International Relations Committee initiated the placement of POLY information and a membership booth at four different meetings, including two in Poland and one in England.

The POLY Millennial 2000, while an expansion of the usual biennial meeting, has in fact been an international conference.