A Message from the Chair

A Message from the Chair

Mid-Year Letter

Dear Colleagues,

As we approach the Fall ACS meeting (where I hope to see all of you!), and my term as chair has passed the halfway mark, I wanted to provide an update on the amazing work that the Division of Organic Chemistry has been engaged in over the last few months. It has truly been a privilege to serve as the DOC Chair for the 150^th anniversary of the American Chemical Society, but none of what I’ll talk about can happen without the group of dedicated volunteers that comprise the DOC executive committee.

As I mentioned above, this year marks the 150^th anniversary of the ACS. There have been a number of activities going on throughout the year to commemorate the event, but one I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to is a symposium at the upcoming meeting entitled “In Celebration of 150 Years: Brief Histories of ACS Divisions” detailing how the various divisions complement the national ACS and provide so many opportunities for networking, career development, mentorship and recognition. Our own Lisa McElwee-White will be speaking about the DOC, and our mission to foster and promote the advancement of the field of organic chemistry.

The DOC remains the largest ACS division, which gives us a unique opportunity to support membership. The tent of organic chemistry is large, spanning a large swath of academic and industrial career paths. This is incredibly productive when we bring members together at ACS National Meetings and other conferences but obviously creates challenges in member engagement. If you have suggestions, I’d love to hear from you!

Mentorship and recognition of our members matters deeply to me. At the Spring meeting in Atlanta, we accepted 868 abstracts across 54 half-day sessions! Of the approximately 50 ACS National Awards, 12(!) were awarded to DOC members, and that doesn’t count the Cope and Cope Scholar winners to be recognized in Chicago. Another 24 half-day sessions were organized/co-organized by division members, providing opportunities for member and broader ACS engagement. A special thanks to Scott Bagley, Emily McLaughlin and Kevin Brown for organizing.

This year marks the second iteration of the ACS Future Pharma Innovators (FPI). In addition to our founding partners, PROF and ANYL, we’ve now partnered with MEDI and BIOL to recognize 22 students. This program provides the opportunity for students considering a future in the pharmaceutical industry to be paired with a mentor and to travel to the meeting to present their graduate work and further network with their peers and industrial chemists. Please check out the FPI poster session on Monday, August 24^th, from 12-2 in Hall F2! We’re already planning for next year and look forward to working with even more divisions.

In the area of mentorship, the DOC co-organized two phenomenal symposia at the Atlanta meeting aimed at members engaging with industrial and academic chemists in their first five years to help them plan their own career trajectories. This was the third year of Biopharma 101 and the first for Academia 101. Both were well received and will continue into 2027. In addition to networking with members in the early stages of their careers, these symposia provide speaking opportunities for members early in their careers, something that isn’t always possible.

Our national meetings also consist of opportunities to meet the executive committee of the DOC and network with other members. Our tradition of an ice cream social and DEIR coffee hour on the Monday and Tuesday of the meeting from 12:30-2 happened in Atlanta and will continue in Chicago. Be sure to show up early – the ice cream goes fast!

We continue to do our best to help anyone who wants to attend a national meeting do so and offer travel awards to enable students at all levels (and PUI faculty) to present their work.

Outside of national meetings, our Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program continues strongly with the 2026 cohort set to visit Pfizer next month. This has proved to be a highly successful program over the years, with numerous recipients continuing on to successful careers in academia and industry. It serves as a wonderful counterpart to FPI at the undergraduate level!

In July, the 2026 Graduate Research Symposium at Emory University brought together fourth year graduate students and provided the opportunity to interact with leaders in industry and academia. Thanks to Angie Angeles and Andy Evans for continuing to organize this successful conference. Planning for the 2027 National Organic Chemistry Symposium is well underway, with Mingji Dai at the helm. We expect over 500 attendees at the DOC signature event next year!

In terms of member recognition, the Chicago meeting is the typical forum for our Division awards. We are excited to recognize 34 Industrial Early and Mid-Career awards, 18 Technical Achievement awards as well as 16 Academic Young Investigators…all this in addition to the Cope and Cope Scholar awards! We will also recognize the Outstanding Publication of the Year Awards for our partner journals: OL, JOC, OPRD, ACS Catalysis and Organometallics. Six division members will be recognized in the 2026 class of ACS Fellows. Professor Barry Snider will receive the 2026 Paul G. Gassman Distinguished Service Award. In the spring, Dean Tantillo received the 2025 Edward Leete Award. Finally, this year, the Division established another award to honor the legacy of Professor Amos B. Smith. This award will recognize significant contributions to organic chemistry research, collaboration and leadership. Nominations are being accepted now, with the inaugural awardee to be recognized at the 2027 NOS. As you can see, the DOC affords numerous opportunities for recognition at all career stages and pathways. Please reach out if you have suggestions on how we can recognize other member accomplishments!

The Division continues to do our best to communicate the many opportunities for engagement, mentorship and recognition through our monthly newsletters and maintaining an up-to-date website. Another huge thank you to our secretary Rick Broene and the entire web team (Joe Ward, Brian Myers, Andrew Freiburger, Jennifer Muzyka, Jessica Sampson and Khoi Van) for the many hours of work that goes into this and maintaining the videos, literature and data available to DOC members. If you are not a member, please consider joining! We hope to meet you personally in Chicago and other Division of Organic Chemistry events.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steven M. Silverman
2026 Chair, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry