6^th Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research Symposium

San Francisco - March 22, 2010

As part of the Polymer Division's initiative on graduate student membership and graduate education, the Division started a special symposium, entitled "Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research" at the National ACS Meeting in Philadelphia in Fall 2004. Since then, we have organized this symposium every year in the Spring ACS meetings. The sixth symposium was held at the National ACS Meeting in San Francisco on March 22, 2010. As before, it consisted of two half-day oral sessions, a poster session, and a networking social.
 
The purposes of this symposium were to provide recognition to outstanding graduate students in polymer science and engineering, to foster networking and exposure, and to help develop the careers of future leaders in our field. We publicized this symposium via the POLY list server, POLY web page, and direct email messages to over 100 departments that are active in polymer research. We requested that each department nominate one outstanding graduate student to speak on his or her original research in this special symposium. Each student was required to fill out an application form and have a nominating letter from the research advisor and a letter from the department head.

We had a record number of 36 students this year.  We were very impressed with the quality of the papers and the caliber of the students. In the oral sessions 18 students gave talks on their papers, and in the poster session 18 students presented their work. The program is attached below.  Both the oral and poster sessions went very well. We appreciated the excellent presentations and the energy and enthusiasm that the students displayed. 

As part of the recognition, each student received a certificate plus a cash award. It is important to note that Dr. Joe Francisco, the ACS President, had made this a Presidential Event.  Furthermore, Dr. Francisco personally attended the session at the end and spoke to the students. He then mingled and chatted with the students for quite some time.  Group photos were also taken with the students.  Realizing that he had a hectic schedule at the meeting, we truly appreciated Dr. Francisco’s support of the symposium and his efforts to speak to the students.  

Afterwards, we had a networking social/dinner at Café Bellini.  The students in both this symposium and the Undergraduate Symposium (organized by Sarah Morgan and Sergei Nazarenko) were invited.  It was wonderful that members of POLY Executive Committees and POLY Industrial Advisory Board were also present.  They interacted with the students over beer, pop, and pizza.  We had a good time.  Particularly noteworthy were the conversations among the students.  We noticed that many graduate students talked to one another, exchanging information.  Moreover, many graduate and undergraduate students sat together and talked about graduate schools.

This symposium was organized by ACS Polymer Division (POLY), and cosponsored by Presidential Event (PRES), Young Chemists Committee (YCC), Division of Professional Relations (PROF), Society Committee on Education (SOCED), and POLY. The symposium had the generous support of National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research (DMR), ACS Polymer Division (POLY), Industrial Advisory Board of the Polymer Division (IAB), and Lord Corporation. The organizers thank all the sponsors and supporters, without whom this symposium would not have been possible.
 
Symposium Organizing Committee:

H. N. Cheng (USDA)
Christopher J. Ellison (Univ. of Texas at Austin)
Erica H. Martin (Dow Chemical Company)
Timothy E. Long (Virginia Tech)

Symposium Program

Excellence in Polymer Graduate Research, March 22, 2010

Organizers:  H. N. Cheng, Christopher Ellison, Erica Martin, Tim Long

Sponsored by POLY, cosponsored by PROF, YCC, SOCED, and Presidential Event (PRES)

Financial Support:  NSF - DMR, POLY, POLY Industrial Advisory Board, and Lord Corporation.

Oral Session 1.  Monday Morning (Hilton – Golden Gate 2)

Session Chair:  H. N. Cheng

Oral Session 2.  Monday Afternoon (Hilton – Golden Gate 2)

Session Chair:  Christopher Ellison

5:30 pm                             Reception and Dinner

Poster Session – Monday 9:30 – 11:00 am  (Hilton – POLY Poster Area)