Welcome to the virtual front porch of the Division of Organic Chemistry, which is your entryway to useful information about the division and the ACS as well as numerous resources of interest to our members.
The year 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting one for the DOC, starting with the 2019 National Organic Chemistry Symposium (NOS) to be held on the beautiful campus of Indiana University from June 23–27. Organized by co-chairs Lisa Marcaurelle and Paul Hanson, working with local organizers Kevin Brown and Silas Cook, the meeting boasts a wonderful slate of distinguished speakers who will present their latest work at the meeting. It will include the bestowal of the Roger Adams Award to Stephen Buchwald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, for the first time, feature presentations by NOS Young Investigators. The NOS provides numerous opportunities for attendees to scientifically interact with one another in sessions, special panels on grant writing, publishing, and careers as faculty members in primarily undergraduate institution and industry, and social events. Registration is now open for the NOS — be sure to register early to secure on-campus housing. Poster submissions are due by June 1st.
This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the Graduate Research Symposium (GRS) to be held at Duke University from July 11–14. This intimate meeting allows 50-75 advanced graduate students to engage with a select group of industry and academic leaders on matters related to science, the scientific life, and career development over the course of the meeting. There are few better opportunities to get acquainted with one’s national peer group of organic chemists. The GRS was conceived by P. Andrew Evans and Gary Molander, who still serve as its directors. The DOC leadership and, no doubt, the numerous attendees of the GRS over the years are grateful to these two leaders for their vision and effort associated with this program.
Of course, there is the usual banquet of two national ACS meetings and numerous local section meetings that present an incredible variety of programmatic and networking opportunities. For many, the first poster or oral presentation at an ACS meeting represents a memorable career experience (in my case, a nerve-wracking one as well). Add to that inspirational award and organized symposia that demonstrate the amazing range of modern organic chemistry research and its potential to positively impact the world we all share. The DOC provides support for many excellent meetings to help facilitate the broadest distribution of organic chemistry knowledge and mutual professional support we can.
Speaking of awards, access the Awards & Fellowships menu on our website and you’ll make your way to nomination information for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) awards, Organic Division Undergraduate Awards (UGA), national ACS awards, special symposia for young investigators ( academic and industry/government ), the Technical Achievement Awards (TAOC), publication awards for three of our favorite journals ( OL , JOC , & OM ), and the two awards given by the DOC (the Leete and Gassman awards). I hope you’ll consider applying or nominating someone for these honors. Only through broad participation — that is, your participation — in the nomination process can we ensure that the diversity of talent of our community will be fully recognized.
Maybe you can’t make it a meeting this year (and no one can go to all of them). Last year we introduced the inaugural series of DOC Virtual Symposia , which provided memorable scientific talks that were viewed live by virtually thousands of people all around the world. If you missed them, you can still view them here if you’re a member of the division. Not a member? Please join us by signing up here. Not only will this give you access to the programming above and biannual newsletters, but also qualify you for discounts in NOS registration and access to some fellowships. Membership costs $15/year ($5 for students) and identifies you as a part of the worldwide community of organic chemists.
Finally, I’d like to thank the all-volunteer executive committee of the DOC, who come from all walks of our community and generously give their time to better our division and science. In this venue, it’s only right to particularly acknowledge our fantastic webmasters, Joe Ward and Brian Myers. Elections will be held again in the fall, and I encourage all interested in serving to contact me at jaube@unc.edu to learn more.
In the meantime, let’s keep in touch. Besides this webpage, we are on Twitter and invite you to follow there. Feel free to contact us by email with questions or stop us at the one of the meetings (we can be identified by ribbons attached to our name badges). Thanks for your interest in the Division and best of luck in your own work.
Dr. Jeff Aubé
Chair, ACS Organic Chemistry 2019