While attending the American Chemical Society meeting in 
Boston, we attended a planning meeting for the International Year of Chemistry.
Here's some basic information:
The International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011) is a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind. Under the unifying theme “Chemistry—our life, our future,” IYC 2011 will offer a range of interactive, entertaining, and educational activities for all ages. The Year of Chemistry is intended to reach across the globe, with opportunities for public participation at the local, regional, and national level.
The goals of IYC2011 are to increase the public appreciation of chemistry in meeting world needs, to encourage interest in chemistry among young people, and to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry. The year 2011 will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Madame Marie Curie—an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of women to science. The year will also be the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Association of Chemical Societies, providing a chance to highlight the benefits of international scientific collaboration.
Click Here to read more.
There are many ways to participate in the International Year of Chemistry - such as:
- Treating all levels of students, from preschool children to university students, to chemistry demonstrations at appropriate levels
- Organizing visits for members of the public to industrial sites, including manufacturers, chemical producers, or metal and petroleum refiners
- Publicizing the contributions that chemistry makes to the global economy by submitting articles to newspapers and magazines or developing television and radio programs
- Sponsoring poster exhibitions highlighting the usefulness and wonder of chemistry
- Organizing problem-solving projects through which students can use their knowledge of chemistry to develop solutions to local problems
- Publicizing the contributions that chemistry has made to improve lives, particularly recent developments in chemical research
- Holding career fairs at schools at which professionals show how they use chemistry in their jobs.
- Organizing hands-on activities and demonstrations to help participants gain an understanding of what it would be like to work in a chemistry-related field
- Interacting with government leaders to underscore the importance of a strong chemical enterprise
Click Here for more ideas and information.
Please let us know if you are doing anything special for the International Year of Chemistry, especially if what you are doing involves Chromatography.
U.S. Senator Tom Carper of Delaware was presented with this year’s Medical Innovation Champion award by the 
Delaware Chapter of We Work for Health (WWFH) at Junior Achievement of Delaware (JA) in Wilmington on August 27. The award was furnished in conjunction with a WWFH roundtable discussion on the future of medical innovation in Delaware.
Senator Carper’s work has been of tremendous importance to the robust medical innovation industry in Delaware, and the workforce and economic support it provides. He has been a strong supporter of the innovators, helping ensure they are able to recoup their investments with the protection of data exclusivity rights in health care reform. He is an advocate and supporter of the Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) and Delaware becoming the first state to roll out electronic health records statewide.
“Senator Carper has gone to bat for innovators here in Delaware and around the country,” said Frank Howard, WWFH Campaign Manager. “His leadership in health care reform was critical in keeping important research alive.”
Medical innovation leaders in Delaware held a roundtable discussion following the award covering several issues of importance to the continued support of medical innovation in Delaware. Topics covered included narrowing gaps in translation research so more lab discoveries make it to market; navigating current limitations on private investment; reforming the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory review process; and stimulating the cultivation of new innovators through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and other programs.
“Today’s gathering allowed for important discussions on what steps we need to be taking to support future innovators,” said JA President and WWFH Delaware Chapter Co-Chair Rob Eppes. “Here at Junior Achievement, we are doing our part to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders in medical innovation and research.”
Attendees were invited on a tour of JA’s Innovation Hub by Eppes. The Hub is a STEM career exploration zone within the JA World experiential learning center. Through virtual expeditions, students are able to explore local STEM career opportunities and the associated educational requirements. Preparations are underway for the Hub to host 2,700 students for the JA Innovation Hub Career and College Readiness Experience in late September.
Roundtable participants included representatives from: AIDS Delaware; Analtech, Inc.; Christiana Care Health System; Delaware AFL-CIO; Delaware Bioscience Association; Delaware Biotechnology Institute; Delaware Economic Development Office; Delaware Healthcare Commission; Delaware HIV Consortium; Delaware State University; Junior Achievement of Delaware; and Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers.
We Work for Health is a grassroots initiative that unites health consumers, biopharmaceutical company employees and retirees, vendors, suppliers and other business, academic and community partners to demonstrate how these diverse groups work together to improve America’s health care system and strengthen our economy.
What happens when you mix Bio and Pharma professionals 
with one of the most prestigious schools in the country and a great, relaxing setting on Baltimore's Inner Harbor? That was the question Chris Frew wanted to answer when he helped create "Bio on the Bay" a chance for many in the Bio and Pharma communities to come together and share ideas, network, and unwind together.
Chris Frew is Scientific Director at Tech USA. Here he explains the origins of these gatherings and the kinds of people who are attending on a regular basis.
Chris can be reached at cfrew@techusa.net if you would like to learn more.
While we were at the ACS Fall Meeting, we got to meet 
several great people who use chromatography on a regular basis.
Barney Grubbs is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Stony Brook State University of New York and Scientist with the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Barney says his research group is interested in the common ground shared by polymer, organic, and materials chemistry and they are involved in the design, synthesis, and characterization of polymer-based organic materials.
Barney spent a few minutes with us talking about how he and his students use Thin Layer Chromatography in their work.
We're happy to see so many members of the Delaware BioScience Association in Boston for the ACS Fall Meeting!
This afternoon we spent some time with Paul from Adesis, then got to attend the first ACS Tweet Up. Here's the photos:
Our team flew to Boston bright and early this morning to attend the American Chemical Society's Fall Meeting.
We're meeting a lot of great people and exploring some incredible opportunities - but we wanted to share a few photos with everyone, more details to come - and don't forget, you can get live updated by following the conversation on Twitter.
Oh, and you really do need to click here to see the Word Cloud based on what's happening at ACS right now.
The ACS Conference in Boston takes place from August 
22-26, 2010.
If you are there, you'll want to keep up with the conversations - if you can't join us in person, you can still keep up with everything going on.
First, you can check out the #ACS_Boston feed by clicking here.
Second, here's the beginning of a list of individuals, companies, and organizations you can follow on twitter to know what's happening throughout the conference in real time:
ACSNatlMtg
ACSpressroom
J_A_C_S
ACSPublications
ycc_acs
iChromatography (that's us!)
AdesisInc
carmendrahl
BCECNav
cenmag
electron_pusher
pidgirl
caschatter
chem_showcase
rachelpep
egonwillighagen
rguha
NatureChemistry
jjessup44
GEresearchJobs
barneygrubbs
RandomCoil
informex
mpetescia
LeighJKBoerner
XIAMETER
pinkshah
Richvn
sciencegoddess
physicsteo
polymerphysics
BASi_news
ChemicalScience
dowcorning
Feel free to add your information in the comments section if you or your organization will be offering updates at ACS. And please join us at the ACS TweetUps!
Our good friend, PID Girl, has taken the initiative to set up 
two events for social media users during the ACS Conference in Boston.
Here's the details from PID Girl:
We've got two confirmed Social Media Events scheduled on Monday August 23, 2010 one in the EXPO and the second in the evening at an off-site location.
If you are in attendance at the National Meeting at the Boston Convention & Exposition Center (BCEC) located at 415 Summer Street, Boston at 4pm on Monday August 23, 2010, come by ACS expo booth #236 for "A Gathering of the social media peeps at the ACS National Meeting". All registered attendees/exhibitors are welcome to join us at this informal social media gathering to discuss their experience and use of social media in academia, research, government and industry. Additional discussion will be on how to utilize social media marketing to promote the upcoming International Year of Chemistry (IYC2011).
Evening Tweet-Up: Open event to Social Media Users in town for the ACS National Meeting and Local Tweeters in the Boston area. Anthony's Pier 4 welcomes our Twitter Group to meet in their lounge at 8pm on Monday August 23, 2010 at 140 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA 617-482-6262 (located on Boston Harbor-above is a daytime picture of the view from Anthony's Pier 4). This location is within walking distance from the BCEC. Spread the word.
Many thanks to PID Girl for setting these up - we hope to see you at ACS!
The fishing ban put in place after an oil tanker collision off 
the coast of India has been lifted after Thin Layer Chromatography tests on 138 samples revealed no trace of oil.
Here's excerpts from the Hindustan Times:
On August 10, three days after the collision, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had taken 138 samples of local varieties of fish such as mandeli, red prawns and Bombay duck from 30 civic markets and tested them.
The Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) test on these samples, conducted at the National Institute of Oceanography and a private institute, showed no traces of oil. “No trace of oil has been found on any of the samples. But fish-eaters should be cautious,” said Deepak Kamat, assistant municipal commissioner, markets department.
Click Here to read the complete article.
With more than 161,000 members, th
e American Chemical Society (ACS) is the world’s largest scientific society and one of the world’s leading sources of authoritative scientific information. A nonprofit organization, chartered by Congress, ACS is at the forefront of the evolving worldwide chemical enterprise and the premier professional home for chemists, chemical engineers and related professions around the globe.
From August 22-26, ACS will hold its Fall National Meeting and Exposition in Boston, MA - and we're looking forward to attending!
Be on the lookout for Steven Miles, Ned Dugan, Micky Jones, and Ken Grant on the ACS Floor and at the networking events (yes, we will be at both of Monday's Tweet Ups - 4:00 on August 23 at Booth #236 and 8:00 pm at Anthony's Pier 4).
Whether you're attending or not, you can join us here on the blog and on twitter for updates, photos, and video - hope to see you there!