The joint ACS/OSA meeting on Thin Films for Photonic Applications, collocated at the fall OSA (Optical Society of America) meeting, had a good turn out. OSA did not publish a proceedings from that meeting. One page abstracts of the entire OSA meeting were distributed on a CD and can probably be purchased from OSA.
Flory Education Award
The Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award recognizes outstanding achievements by an individual in promoting undergraduate and/or graduate polymer education. The winners of the 2004 Paul J. Flory Education Award is the team of Professors James E. McGrath, Thomas C. Ward, and Garth L. Wilkes. The award will be presented during the Spring 2004 ACS Meeting. The DuPont Company sponsors the award.
Two Industrial Polymer Scientist Awards Announced
The Industrial Polymer Science Award recognizes outstanding industrial innovation and creativity in the application of Polymer Science, conducted by individual scientists or research teams. The winners are Bill M. Culbertson and Craig J. Hawker. The awards will be presented at the Fall 2004 ACS meeting. The Industrial Sponsors Group sponsors the award.
Actively Seeking Nominations for the Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award and the Mark Polymer Chemistry Award
The Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award recognizes and encourages accomplishments and/or innovation of unusual merit in the field of basic or applied polymer science by younger scientists. The deadline for nominations is July 1, 2004. Please refer to the Division website or a recent newsletter for the nomination requirements. The award will be presented at the Spring 2005 meeting. Previous recipients of this award include Louis J. Fetters, Wayne L. Mattice, Edward L. Thomas, Garth L. Wilkes, Robert S. Langer, David A. Tirrell, Sukant Tripathy, Krizysztof Matyjaszewski, Bruce Novak, Joseph M. DeSimone, Craig J. Hawker and James L. Hedrick. The Dow Chemical Company Foundation sponsors the award.
Mark Polymer Chemistry Award
The Herman F. Mark Polymer Chemistry Award recognizes outstanding research and leadership in polymer science. The next award will be presented at the Fall 2005 ACS Meeting. The deadline for nominations is November 1, 2004. Please refer to the Division website or a recent newsletter for the nomination requirements. Previous recipients of this award include Paul J. Flory, Carl S. Marvel, Maurice L. Huggins, Herman F. Mark, John D. Ferry, Charles G. Overberger, Walter H. Stockmayer, Michael Swarc, E. J. Vandenberg, Harry R. Allcock, James E. McGrath, James Economy, Murray Goodman, Robert Grubbs, Henry K. Hall, Jr., Robert W. Lenz, Leo Mandelkern, Otto Vogl and William J. MacKnight. The Dow Chemical Company Foundation sponsors the award.
We have shipped to library subscribers a total of 337 copies of POLYMER PREPRINTS Vol. 45-1. This number includes 313 hard copies and 24 copies in CD-ROM format. 106 hard copies were shipped from Newark, via UPS, to domestic addresses requiring special handling. All CD-ROM's for library subscribers, both domestic and foreign were also shipped from Newark: to domestic addresses via USPS (first class rate), and to foreign addresses via USPS AIR MAIL. The cost of AIR MAIL postage for CD's is only slightly higher than SHIP MAIL, and AIR MAIL is incomparably more reliable.
We are still evaluating the merits of various formats to reproduce back issues of the PREPRINTS Vols 1- through 40-2. The paper of the older back issues is rapidly deteriorating, and the books, both for scientific and legal purposes, must be preserved. By far, the most durable and the least expensive form of preservation, used, among others, by the US Government for the preservation of all its records, is on microfilm. Regrettably, microfilm is not user friendly, which may be a problem if we tried to recover our expenses by offering complete sets for sale to libraries. On the other hand, with the rapid advance of technologies, today's favorite formats may become obsolete in the not-too-distant future. It would be wise, therefore, to risk the expense of two formats, microfilm for its durability, for our archival use, and CD-ROM for its popularity and to cover the expense, to promote aggressively sales of the more popular version. Copies are easily retrievable from both formats. It definitely would be shortsighted not to have microfilm back-up copies. We can also solicit outside funding for the project, which would amount by current quotes, to under $20,000.00 for reproducing the estimated 60,000 to 80,000 pages in both formats. This number of pages can be accommodated in 35 rolls of microfilm or on 10 CD-ROMs.
We have contacted a few present library subscribers to determine the extent of interest in purchasing sets. The most frequent reply was: "That depends on the price." Upon instruction, the circulation office will assume the responsibility for the production and the sale of the sets.
In June, we customarily publish the price list for the next year and distribute it to agents and library subscribers. We will inform all that the Division will discontinue the publication of the PREPRINTS in hard copy. Volume 46 (2005) will be offered in CD-ROM format only, at last year's price of $100.00/year, delivered anywhere in the world.
Beginning with Volume 46-1, the circulation office is offering to ship all library copies from Newark, eliminating this service currently purchased from the printers, which will significantly reduce the cost of handling.
INTERSOCIETY POLYMER EDUCATION COUNCIL (IPEC) - F. Jones (frankjones@comcast.net)
IPEC (www.uwsp.edu/chemistry/ipec/home.htm) promotes and supports teaching about polymers and polymeric materials in the K-12 curricula. IPEC's programs have proven to be an excellent way to interest students at all grade and ability levels in polymers and, more broadly, in science and technology. Students' interest can be sparked because they are familiar with polymeric materials
Most of IPEC's activity involves the Polymer Ambassadors. The Ambassadors (www.polymerambassadors.org) are about 18 talented and dedicated K-12 classroom teachers, located coast-to-coast. The Ambassadors conduct workshops at regional and national teachers' conventions, where they teach other teachers to use polymers in classroom instruction. About 100 such workshops are presented to 4000 - 5000 teachers each year. These workshops are popular with teachers, who obtain practical and effective materials for use in their classes. It is estimated that IPEC has indirectly reached over 1,000,000 students. Examples of materials developed by the Ambassadors can be found on the website. If you want to join in, try to "Imagine a Day Without Plastics."
Working with the American Plastics Council, the Ambassadors completed development of the second edition of "Hands on Plastics." Like the first edition, HOP 2 is a kit with samples of plastics and educational materials. Hundreds of thousands of HOP 1 kits were distributed to schools until supplies were exhausted. Distribution of HOP 2 will begin in April, 2004.
Polymer Ambassadors have received numerous major awards including National Teacher of the Year Awards and four Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.
Akron Initiative. In 2002, IPEC and the Polymer Ambassadors formed a partnership with the Akron Global Polymer Academy (AGPA), whose mission is to use synchronous and asynchronous distance learning to support K-12 science instruction. An important element of the project is to integrate the materials with National Science Education Standards and State Standards, since these standards strongly influence selection of curricula topics. In the July, 2003, six Ambassadors spent nine days at Akron, working with twelve other teachers and six graduate students to develop twelve polymer lessons at three grade levels. Topics include "How Toys are Made" and "Designer Sneakers." The lessons include film clips. The lessons were successfully tested and will soon be published on the AGPA web site. Ambassador workshops at Akron are scheduled for April, July, and August, 2004, where more lessons will be developed. AGPA has a major grant application pending with NSF; if received, it would support substantially increased involvement of IPEC and the Ambassadors with the growing AGPA program.
"Polymer Science of Everyday Things" (PSOET) Workshop and Symposium, August 21-22, at the Fall, 2004 American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia and at remote sites. The goal of (PSOET) workshops and symposia is to explain how the things that people encounter and use every day depend on polymer science. Do scientists, teachers and students realize that polymers are essential for transportation, computers, DVDs, the internet, musical instruments, and sports equipment? PSOET events gather and disseminate reliable information on such topics, especially to teachers.
The Philadelphia PSOET events will be modeled after a highly successful PSOET held in 2003, with all-new material. The Saturday workshop is intended for middle school and high school science teachers, who will attend at Philadelphia and at remote, interactive sites at the Universities of Akron and Arizona. The workshop will be conducted by two Polymer Ambassadors and two industrial experts. It is expected to be a model for future activities that will bring Polymer Ambassadors and industrial researchers into contact with large numbers of teachers. Topics for 2004 are "Musical Instruments" and "Communications and Entertainment."
The Sunday symposium will feature researchers presenting and disseminating scientific papers related to the main topics. Co-sponsors of PSOET are IPEC, the Polymer Division of the American Chemical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
IPEC also sponsors other workshops for high school teachers, including "Discovery in Plastics Processing" at Eastern Michigan University and "PAWS for Polymers," at Clemson University. These programs are always filled to capacity; and are well received by the teachers. Polymer Ambassadors often attend both to gain knowledge and to participate in the presentations.
IPEC is a 501(c) not-for-profit corporation. Current IPEC supporting organizations are the American Chemistry Council/American Plastics Council and the American Chemical Society Divisions of Polymer Chemistry, Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering, and Rubber. Its Board of Directors comprises two voting representatives from each member organization. Organizations are encouraged to appoint additional representatives to the Board. IPEC runs on volunteer energy. Board members receive no remuneration.
Retaining member organizations is essential, and recruiting new member organizations is vitally important. Member funding is the flywheel that drives IPEC's ongoing core activities. Funds for Polymer Ambassador training and travel accounted for 88% of IPEC's 2003 budget. A similar, balanced budget is projected for 2004. With more dues-paying members, the corps of Ambassadors could be enlarged and activity could be expanded. There are plenty of good opportunities. In addition, more member organizations would add more members to the IPEC board, increasing its capacity for new initiatives and fund-raising.
IPEC continues seeking supplementary funding from grants. For example, the Society of Plastics Engineers Foundation provided $7400 in 2003 for remote learning activities. Aid from these sources is greatly appreciated and is important in augmenting IPEC's efforts. And, as noted above, IPEC is attempting to secure major funding through the Akron Global Polymer Academy.
IPEC member organizations can be proud of what IPEC accomplishes and can look forward to more high-impact activities.
The next meeting of the IPEC Board of Directors will be Tuesday, March 30 at Anaheim in conjunction with the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society. As always, the meeting is open to any interested people; representatives of member organizations are especially encouraged to attend.
IPEC Mission Statement To significantly increase student interest and participation in science and technology subjects by incorporating the teaching of polymers and polymeric materials into K-12 curricula by utilizing the combined resources and infrastructures of the participating scientific societies.
With my transition to Member-at-Large, I am pleased to announce that the new co-chairs of the committee are Alan Hopkins and Drew Donnelly. Alan and Drew are well underway in transitioning into their new roles and are off to a great start moving forward with the 3R's!
As Member-at-Large I will focus on bringing the 3R's to the forefront of the Division's activities, particularly in regards to how POLY can tune into the graduate student population. Part of my work for 2004 will be around surveying the membership. H.N. Cheng has done a fantastic job updating the web-based survey. I will continue his work to ensure that we reach the maximum number of members in order to best determine the areas where we may need more concentrated efforts.
Major events at this meeting:
POLY/PMSE hospitality suite - Tues night immediately following the poster session in the Hilton - ask for room under D. Smith
Board member recruitment at the POLY table - - please sign up with Janelle or Pal to volunteer time and network with new members/potential members at the table
Anniversary members - 5, 10, 20, 30 yrs of membership in the Division - POLY lapel pins with gemstones unique to each category have been mailed out. We thank these members for their dedication to POLY and look forward to meeting their needs in the future.
Sci-Mix poster session - for the first time, POLY posters will be present at Sci-Mix. We are promoting networking among graduate/undergraduates - please stop by, introduce yourselves and encourage these young scientists to become involved in POLY!
Graduate Student Travel Award winners are presenting papers:
Lee G. Stanek (University of Minnesota; Advisor = William B. Gleason) "New Reactive Copolymeric Systems Containing VDMA (2-Vinyl-4,4'-Dimehtylazlactone) for Biomaterials Applications"
Jun Zhang (Stony Brook University; Advisor = Benjamin Chu) "Graft Copolymers of PDMA-g-PMMA: Solvent Quality Induced Association Behavior and its Application in dsDNA Separation"
Joette Russell (University of North Carolina; Advisor = Edward T. Samulski) "Alignment of Nematic Liquid Crystals Using Self-Assembled Carbon Nanotubes"
On going major programs under the 3R's:
Member Recruitment
a. In person recruitment of ACS attendees at National Meetings
b. Letters (electronic) to participants in POLY symposia at National Meetings
c. Letters to people who indicate "polymers" as an interest area at National Meetings
d. Letters to members who do not renew their membership
e. Journal ad exchange with publishers/scientific organizations
f. Polymer Preprints cover design for Spring/Fall 2004
Member Retention
a. Letters to 1st, 2nd yr members each Fall encouraging renewal of membership
b. Graduate Student focus
-targeting graduate student population and needs
-travel award, web-based resources, networking opportunities, etc.
Member Recognition
a. Letters/web page listing/ recognition event/ POLY pins for 5, 10, 20 ,30 anniversary members every Spring - positive response
Total Papers: 665
Total Symposia: 11, including the ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry Symposium and the Flory Education Award Symposium
Total Sessions: 44
One ACS book proposal: The Science and Technology of Silicones and Silicone-Modified Materials
Cosponsored ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry Symposium with BMGT
1 symposium cosponsored by PMSE and INOR
A number of new people are organizers
Highlight: First-time POLY participation in SciMix
In Progress: soliciting symposia topic suggestions from POLY membership
Issues: None
There are still about 1400 members on the POLY list. The volume of mail continues to be moderate and the number of complaints is low, almost negligible. Either Ken Carter or I approve postings to the list. So far, we have not had any worms or viruses slip through the cracks.
World Wide Web (www)
We have had over a year's experience with the web pages at www.polyacs.org . It seems to have gone pretty well with this site. In March, we are averaging 570visitors per day with 1800 page views. This is well up from last year (210 and 800). It might be interesting to note that 48% of the traffic is direct , 11% from Google, 8% from polyacs.org, 3.6% from Yahoo, 1.7% from the old pages, and 1.5% from ACS.
The number of members who join the Division via the www and register for workshops continues to increase.
several individual job openings had 1000-800 hits. These have not been listed.
I solicit your help. Please send me things electronically by e-mail for inclusion on the web pages. http://www.polyacs.org
I also request help in soliciting advertising for the web page. Now that the pages are on a commercial site, we have no restrictions as far as the web pages are concerned. It seems logical to do this for the web page, newsletter and Polymer Preprints with a coordinated effort.
Since I have space to fill, I thought you might be interested in where the traffic comes from. In order of hits originating from:
Unresolved, googlebot.com, inktomisearch.com, aol.com, apnic.net, looksmart.com, ripe.net, av.com, rr.com, umr.edu, comcast.net, alexa.com, uakron.edu, level3.net, vt.edu, psu.edu, in-addr.arpa, uu.net, attbi.com, poly.edu, vsnl.net.in, usm.edu, savvis.net, cnc.ac.cn, qwest.net, udel.edu, aist.go.jp, msu.edu, ge.com, rpi.edu, pacbell.net, twtelecom.net, guangzhou.gd.cn, uconn.edu, verizon.net, nus.edu.sg, cox.net, cwru.edu, att.net, bellsouth.net, adelphia.net, sify.net, isu.net.sa, dupont.com, t-dialin.net, krnic.net, optonline.net, rohmhaas.com, mindspring.com, navy.mil.
Top Countries or types, in order of use:
com (Commercial), unresolved, net (Network), edu (Educational), jp (Japan), de (Germany), uk (United Kingdom), cn (China), ca (Canada), fr (France), nl (Netherlands), kr (South Korea), in (India), gov (USA Government), au (Australia), sg (Singapore), it (Italy), be (Belgium), org (Non-Profit Organizations), arpa (Old style Arpanet), mil (USA Military), il (Israel), mx (Mexico), tw (Taiwan), es (Spain)
The Anaheim issue of Polymer Preprints [45(1), 2004] marks the beginning of our fourth year of publishing both a CD and Print version in addition to posting the Preprints on the web. This issue contains the preprints from 9 Symposia plus General Papers for a total of 625 papers published (1220 pages). It continues to be the goal of the editorial staff to elevate the stature of Preprints in the world of scientific publishing. We have established a uniform look and consistent formatting of each and every preprint. We endeavor to make Polymer Preprints the benchmark for scientific publications of its type. The CD version continues to evolve, incorporating new functionalities as technology advancements allow. We are continuing to add additional information of interest to our members to the CD version.
The editorial staff continues to see the critical importance of advertising to the future financial health of Preprints. The Polymer Division has appointed Dr. Chad Booth, coordinator of the advertising committee. In the process of publishing the New York preprints the advertising was successfully transitioned from the preprints staff/editorial administration to the Polymer Division Advertising Committee. The Polymer Preprints staff no longer has the resources or manpower available to solely handle the advertising portion of preprints as had been done for the past four issues.
Financial Status
We are experiencing significant savings in the cost of delivering the CD version due to the fact that we are streamlining the process and moving some of the production steps from Mira to the Preprints editorial staff. After serious negotiations with Mira, they agreed to give a $500 discount for this issue. Also, careful review of the publication cost, the one-year live phone and e-mail support has been cancelled, which saved $2,450 to the division. Library subscribers overwhelmingly prefer the print version. The costs associated with the print copy are continuing to raise. Paper, packaging, and postage are the major cost items and these are generally not under our control. At the division fee of $50.00 per member per year, we are not covering the direct costs of producing and mailing the Print Copy. We recommend to the Executive Board to revaluate the cost structure for library and member subscriptions to the print copy.
When the Editors initially evaluated vendors to produce Preprints it was determined that Mira Digital Publishing was the best and most cost efficient in the field. Since that time additional vendors have emerged and have presented proposals for the production of Preprints. We have evaluated each proposal and have determined that Mira Digital continues to provide the best service for the lowest price. We will continue to explore, and entertain bids from alternative vendors before we go into production for future meetings. However, Mira Digital is willing to offer a 5-10% discount for the multi issues production contract.
The Polymer Division's financial support to the editorial functions of publishing preprints has remained constant. Texas State University-San Marcos (Texas State) will continue to support the Polymer Preprints editorial functions. We would like to request funding for 2005 at the current level of $20,000/year.
The following tables outline a breakdown of the publication and editorial administration costs of producing Preprints.
Detailed Publication Cost Breakdown
New Orleans
(Actual)
New York
(Actual)
Anaheim
(Estimated)
Texas State Editorial Administration
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
Copies published CDs
Books
7,500
750
7,000
700
7,100
700
Preprints
Pages
670
1304
523
990
625
1220
CD Copy
Cost
Cost
Cost
Integrate manuscripts
$6,870
$5,440
$6,570
Index manuscripts
$1,500
$1,500
$1,250
License Acrobat Reader/create & test navigational screens and hyper-linking
The Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY) will provide up to $500 to support a well-planned regional meeting symposium. In turn POLY would like the opportunity to advertise its programs and recruit members at a table next to the room where the polymer chemistry sessions are held.
The criteria for POLY support are
1) There must be a full day symposium devoted to polymer chemistry.
2) The program should include one or more invited speakers.
3) To apply for support, the Program Chair or symposium organizer must send (a) a copy of the technical program to the POLY Committee on Polymer Programs at ACS Regional Meetings and (b) a budget showing how the funds will be used to defray registration fees and travel costs of invited speakers.
Notice of the opportunity for POLY support has been sent to the Program Chair and/or the General Chair of all 2004 ACS regional meetings. The Central, Middle Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Western regional meetings held polymer symposia with POLY support in 2003. The Northeast and Southeast regional meetings have requested support for 2004.
The President of the ACS for 2004, Charles Casey, is continuing the program started by Eli Pearce in 2002 and continued by Elsa Reichmanis in 2003, of providing support from the President for programs at Regional Meetings. He is offering up to $2500 to support technical programs that are co-sponsored by one or more divisions at each regional meeting, with the hope that the matching funds will be provided by the divisions. Matching funds could also come from industrial sponsors, PRF, or other sources. He reasons that the upcoming increased allotments to divisions should make it possible for divisions to help provide enhanced programs at regional meetings.
