Finally, congratulations to Peter Rossky, the first recipient of the annual ACS Physical Chemistry Division Award in Theoretical Chemistry.  Peter will give the plenary talk at the at the Telluride School on Theoretical Chemistry, held every other year in Telluride, Colorado, beginning in the Summer of 2009. These summer schools were personally endowed by Jack Simons, with matching funds from other sources including the PHYS Division. 

I would like to thank the present officers and executive committee members of the PHYS Division for their time and scientific expertise.

The nominations committee, comprised of Greg Voth, Laurie Butler and Mike Fayer,is seeking nominations for opened positions on the executive committee. The positions include: Vice-chair elect, one councilor, one alternate councilor, two members of the executive committee.

The vice-chair elect is a multi-year position as an officer in the division. The vice-chair elect in 2010 will be the vice chair in 2011; chair elect and program chair in 2012; chair in 2013 and immediate past chair in 2014. Following our tradition ofalternating between experimentalists and theorists in the executive committee, the next vice-chair elect will be an experimentalist.

Please send suggestions directly to Greg Voth, voth@hec.utah.edu at your earliest convenience but not later than June 6, 2009.

The Bylaws of the Division of Physical Chemistry, approved in 1999, call for the Division Chair to appoint a three-person, Nominating Committee before the spring meeting.  A complete slate of candidates prepared by this committee will consist of one candidate for Vice-Chair-Elect, one candidate for each vacancy on the Executive Committee, and one candidate for each vacancy that may have developed in the ranks of the division Councilors, Alternate Councilors, and Secretary/Treasurer position. The Vice-Chair-Elect automatically becomes the Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect, Chair, and Immediate past-Chair in each succeeding year.  Thus, this person makes a commitment to serve five years on the Executive Committee. In the year this person serves as Chair-Elect, the duties of Program Chair are also his or hers. The term of office for other Executive Committee members, Councilors, and Alternate Councilors is three years. The Secretary/Treasurer serves five years.

The Secretary/Treasurer is required to announce the slate of candidates in the fall newsletter.

To increase the input of the members in this nominating process and to broaden the pool of candidates, the Executive Committee seeks input directly from members for use by the Nominating Committee.  Any member may suggest nominees to any of the officers of the PHYS division in writing.  The nominee must agree to serve.

Additional nominations can come from the membership in the following fashion:  A petition candidate must be supported by the signatures of not fewer than 4% of the members of the PHYS division in good standing (presently approximately 5,500). No signature shall be valid if it appears on more than one nominating petition for the same vacancy during the same calendar year.

A letter shall be submitted from each petition nominee stating willingness to be a candidate for election and to serve the Division for a full term if elected.  No nominee may be a candidate for more than one vacancy.  If nominated for more than one vacancy, the nominee must choose which nomination to accept.

Four weeks from the date of the mailing of the fall newsletter shall be allowed for additional nominations to be received by the Secretary/Treasurer.  All valid nominations received within that period shall be accepted and no others.

If no valid nominations are forthcoming from the membership, the nominees submitted by the Nominating Committee for Vice-Chair-Elect, Secretary/Treasurer, and membership on the Executive Committee are declared elected.

Regardless of whether petition nominees are validated or not, the Bylaws require the Secretary/Treasurer to mail to every PHYS division member a ballot that bears at a minimum the names and biographical sketches of the single candidates for each Councilor and Alternate Councilor vacancy submitted by the Nominating Committee.

New Officers for the PHYS division follow. The first six physical chemistry officers assumed their respective offices at the close of the national meeting in Philadelphia, PA. The Councilors and vice-councilors began their terms of service on January 1, 2009.

The Physical Chemistry Division thanks outgoing officers Gregory Voth (Chair), Laurie Butler (Chair-Elect), Martin Head-Gordon (Vice-Chair), Mark Johnson (Vice-Chair Elect), Will Polik (Executive Committee), Gustavo Scuseria (Executive Committee) for their service to the Division.

Anne B. McCoy

This newsletter contains information about the ACS national meetings and any other items of interest to significant numbers of PHYS Division members.  All members of the PHYS Division are welcome to submit items to the Secretary for inclusion in this newsletter.  The deadlines are generally around August 1 and March 1 for the newsletters appearing before the Spring and Fall ACS meetings, respectively.  Submissions may be made via mail, FAX, or e-mail.  The current ACS Bylaws & Regulations may be viewed at:

www.chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=committees%5Ccnb%5Cindex.html.

Click on the link to Documents of the Committee and then on the link to Charter, Constitution, Bylaws, and Regulations of the American Chemical Society (Bulletin 5).

A copy of the bylaws and regulations is also included on the Division’s web page (hackberry.chem.trinity.edu/PHYS.)

Paul Jagodzinski

Fellow members of the Physical Division,

The most pressing issue facing the ACS is the ramification of the recent market downturn. The finances of the Society are sound, but are significantly weaker that they were just a few months ago. The operations of the Society returned $9.7M ($560K favorable to budget) to the asset pool for 2008, however investment losses and federal mandates coupled with Pension Fund investment losses reduced unrestricted net assets from $212M (December 31, 2007) to $60M (December 31, 2008). One of the tenants of the Society is that we, as members, ensure the financial strength of the Society in order to ensure its future. The Board of Directors and the Society Committee on Budget and Finance received detailed budget briefings at the recent national meeting in Salt Lake City and are doing everything possible and appropriate to address the situation, including a reduction in force representing 3% of the 2000-person ACS workforce. An open letter to the membership related to budget issues is available via the ACS homepage www.acs.org

Contained below is a synopsis of the actions taken and the information reported during Council meeting held at the Spring 2009 national meeting in Salt Lake City.

• Council selected Nancy B. Jackson and Cheryl A. Martin as candidates for President-Elect. They will stand for election, along with any petition candidates, during the Fall National Election. Please exercise your right to vote for the candidate of your choice.
• Via a mail ballot, Council selected D. Richard Cobb and Neil D. Jespersen as candidates for District I Director, and Judith L Benhan and Peter K. Dorhout as candidates for District V Director. They will stand for election along with any petition candidates. Please exercise your right to vote for the candidate of your choice.
• Council elected Roland F. Hirsh to fill vacancy on the Committee on Committees (ConC) and Robert A. Pribush to fill a vacancy on the Committee on Nominations and Elections (N&E).
• Council received one petition for consideration in Salt Lake City with action expected at the Fall Council meeting in Washington, D.C. This petition, the Petition on Election Timelines 2009, presents election procedure refinements that are intended to balance the concerns of participants as requested by Councilors and candidates. If passed, this petition would result in shorter timelines for the campaign periods associated with President-Elect, District Directors, and Directors-At-Large. In addition, the petition would result in “petition candidates” becoming “petition nominees” with Council choosing which nominees will become candidates and actually run for these offices.
• Council voted (348 for and 79 against) to set the member dues for 2010 to the fully escalated rate of $145 which is based on the inflation-adjustment formula in the ACS Constitution and Bylaws.
• The Society experienced a 2% drop in membership from year-end 2007 (160,052) to year-end 2008 (154,024). It is important to realize that the Society loses approximately 16,000 members each year for a variety of reasons with this loss normally offset by the addition of approximately the same number of new members. This did not happen during 2008. President Tom Lane has introduced a program entitled the 2009 Membership Growth Challenge in an effort to increase the membership numbers (for information go to Membership & Networks on the ACS website). The Physical Division needs to proactively recruit new members since the funds that the Division receives from the ACS via the divisional allotment are predicated on division membership numbers. Please recommend to your colleagues that they join the division.
• Council voted to approve the Professional Employment Guidelines as submitted by the Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA). The new guidelines are available at the Careers page on the ACS website.
• The United Nations has declared 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). You will hear more about ACS related activities during the coming months.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about these or any other issues.

Martin Zanni

The Biophysical Subdivision announces that Doug Tobias from the Chemistry Department at the University of California at Irvine is rotating on as Vice-Chair of the sub-division following the conclusion of Cecilia Clemente's 3-year term. Doug is a theorist and a simulator. He specializes in membrane protein structures and dynamics, as well as surface effects of ions. He has a good mix of physical and biophysical chemistry that is well-suited to serve the PHYS Division.

The Biophysical Division also announces our new website, web.chemistry.gatech.edu/~payne/ACS_biophys.html. The site is also linked to the main page of PHYS. If there are announcements that our webpage can help advertise, please let us know.

H. Bernhard Schelgel

Subdivision membership is free to dues-paying members or affiliates of the Division of Physical Chemistry. To join the Theoretical Subdivision, notify the chair, H. Bernhard Schlegel, at the address in the table of officers. Indicate that you wish to join and mention that you belong to the PHYS Division.  If you do not belong to the Division, you may join both the Division and the Theoretical Subdivision by completing the application form at the end of this newsletter.

ACS Graduate Student Awards in Computational Chemistry:

Two awards in computational chemistry are available for current graduate students. One award is for up to 30,000 service units and the second award is for up to 60,000 service units on NCSA's Teragrid resources. These awards are designed to encourage graduate work in computational chemistry, to recognize research accomplishments, and to stimulate interest in the Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry and the Physical Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Society. The competition is open to any graduate student (regardless of citizenship) who began graduate study after August 1, 2005, and who is an ACS member (or whose advisor is an ACS member). Applications should be sent by e-mail to acspchem@chemistry.ohio-state.edu with the applicant's name and "student award" in the subject line of the email. The deadline for applications is August 1. 2009. Awardee selection will be made on a competitive basis. Applicants should be working on new and innovative computational chemistry methods or applications in theoretical chemistry. Applicants should prepare a written description of a computational chemistry research project that requires high-performance computing, with an explanation of the scientific importance of the project. Proposals need to include an estimate of the computing resources required and how they will be used. Two letters of recommendation, including one from the student's advisor, along with a vita and transcript, are required. The proposal, including the vita, should not exceed four double-spaced pages. In addition, a faculty person (typically the applicant's research advisor) responsible for the applicant's use of the NCSA Teragrid resources must be identified. We are grateful to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications for their support of these awards.

Martin Head-Gordon

The winners of the Physical Chemistry Student Poster Award Competition at the Spring 2009 ACS meeting in Salt Lake City, UT were:

• Sarom Sok, Iowa State University, "Coupled-cluster based effective fragment potential method”
• Michelle Lynn Hall, Columbia University, "Localized orbital corrections for the calculation of barrier heights in density functional theory"
• Theresa E. Cooper, University of Utah, "Absolute Hydration Energies of Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺"
• Robert C. DeMille, University of Utah, "Improving computational efficiency by eliminating electrostatic interactions"

Congratulations to the presenters of these excellent posters!  Each winner received $300 and a signed award certificate.  The Physical Chemistry Division thanks the many other people who entered the competition and also the anonymous and impartial judges.

Mark A. Johnson

The Executive Committee solicits formal suggestions for symposia and speakers for the meetings to be held in future years.  The Executive Committee met in Salt Lake City, UT in March, 2009, to plan the programs for 2010. We will finalize the programs during the ACS meeting in Washington, DC in August 2009. Please send your suggestions to the 2010 Program Chair, Mark A. Johnson, or the 2011 Program Chair, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, at the address in the table of officers.  The deadline for receipt of suggestions is July 1 of the preceding year. These suggestions will be essential input for organizing the programs of the meetings.  For greatest effectiveness, follow these guidelines:

• a) Recommend a symposium topic, organizer, and list of suggested speakers (a list of recent PHYS symposia follows for informational purposes).
• b) Provide a brief description of the significance of the symposium.

Recent Symposia Topics

Program Chair:  Martin Head-Gordon, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA94720 (510) 642-5957, mhg@cchem.berkeley.edu

The symposia and their organizers are:

• Molecular Basis of Protein Aggregations and Amyloid Fibril Formation, Joan-Emma Shea (University of California Santa Barbara) and Ehud Gazit (Tel Aviv University)
• New Developments in Strongly Correlated Electrons, Garnet Kin-Lic Chan (Cornell University) and Steven White (University of California, Irwin)
• 25 Year of ZEKE, Daniel Neumark (University of California, Berkeley) and Masaaki Fujii (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
• Protected Metallic Clusters, Quantum Wells and Metal-Nanocrystal Molecules in Fundamental and Applied Chemistry, Robert L. Whetten (Georgia Institute of Technology), Ignacio Garzon (Universidad Nacional University of Michigan)
• The Physical Chemistry of Photon to Fuel Conversion, Heinz Frei (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), David Chandler (University of California, Berkeley) and Elaine Chandler (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
• Graphitic Materials, Gustavo Scuseria (Rice University) and Yael Hanein (Tel Aviv University)
• Fluorescence Microscopy Beyong the Diffraction Limit, James Weisshaar (University of Wisconsin) and Jan Liphardt (University of California, Berkeley)
Chemical Reaction Dynamics in Gaseous and Condensed Phases, Simon North (Texas A & M University) and David Blank (University of Minnesota)
• Special Symposium for Postdoctoral Presenters, Martin Head-Gordon (University of California, Berkeley)

Program Chair: Mark Johnson, Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (203) 436-4930, mark.johnson@yale.edu

The planned symposia and their organizers are:

• Chemical Complexity at Multiscales: Theory, Simulations and Experiments, Rigoberto Hernandez (Georgia Tech), Christy S. Landis (Rice University)
• Physical Chemistry of Ionic Liquids, Edward W. Castner (Rutgers), James F. Wishart (BNL)
• The Laser at Fifty: Measuring and Manipulating Condensed Phase Chemistry in Time and Frequency, Nancy Levinger (Colorado State), Valeria Kleiman (U. Florida)
• Optical Science and Emerging Energy Technologies, Robert Walker (Maryland), Jeffrey Orutsky (NRL)
• Dynamics in Cluster and Floppy Systems: Mutual Tests Between Theory and Experiment, James M. Lisy (Illinois), Anne B. McCoy (Ohio State)
• Recent Advances in Observational and Experimental Astrochemistry, Thomas M. Orlando (Georgia Tech), Geoff Blake (Caltech)
• Fluorescent Probes in Biophysics and Chemistry, Kim Schifferli (MIT)

A speaker may give, at most, one invited talk in the PHYS Division in any given meeting. Note that this rule does not apply to contributed talks and posters, so there is still plenty of opportunity for all physical chemists to present their research results in the PHYS Division.

Abstract Requirements: Submit a 150-word abstract via the ACS web-based submission system, OASYS.  Submission instructions and information on abstract requirements can be found at the ACS Web site, www.acs.org/meetings.

Request for Contributed Oral Presentations: Authors who submit a contributed paper to the program and wish their abstract to be considered for possible oral presentation in a topical symposium must indicate such preference. The abstract should be submitted to the symposium in which oral presentation is desired and is due one week prior to the deadline.

General Papers – Members are cordially invited to present papers at the poster sessions.  Abstracts should be submitted as instructed on the ACS Meetings web page, www.acs.org/meetings. The deadline, as published in C&E News, on the OASys web site, and the call for papers must be observed to allow the ACS to compile the program and to print and to circulate the abstracts.

1. No paper will be accepted unless an author expects to be present.
2. ACS Bylaws 3(a) require that “papers by American Chemists or chemical engineers not members of the Society shall not appear on the program unless they be joint with one or more Society members.”
3. Prospective poster presenters who also submit papers to other Divisions should inform the Chairman-Elects as to the Division, titles of papers and co-authors by the deadline date.
4. Each poster paper will have a poster board measuring 4’x8’.
5. All illustrations, charts, and textual material to be posted must be prepared in advance since materials for these purposes will not be available at the meeting.
6. Posters should be mounted prior to the opening of the session and left in place until the close.  Authors are encouraged to be present the entire session.
7. There must be a heading (with letter at least 1” height) giving the title of the papers, the author(s), their affiliation(s), and the number assigned to it in the program.
8. Illustrative material will be read by attendees from a distance of 3’ or more, so lettering on illustrations should be at least 3/8” high.
9. There should be a logical sequence (introduction, development and conclusion) to the display and each sheet should be numbered.
10. Mounting the sheets on colored construction paper and using other techniques for improving graphic impact will enhance the presentation’s effectiveness. Ease of reading is far more important than artistic flair.  Certain color combinations, for instance, may look beautiful but may be almost impossible to read, especially in the absence of optimum lighting.
11. Do NOT mount illustrations on heavy stock, which is difficult to mount on the poster boards.
12. Each author is responsible for mounting his or her material at least ˝ hour prior to the opening of the assigned poster session and removing it within ˝ hour after the close of the session.  ACS cannot assume any responsibility for materials beyond those time limits.
13. Do provide sign-up sheets to record names and addresses of attendees who wish more information.
14. Do bring duplicates of data and conclusions. Duplicating facilities are unavailable through ACS.
15. ACS provides a modest supply of pushpins, masking tape, and felt-tipped pens, but it is wise to bring your own.  Upon advance request, ACS will arrange for blackboards to be available in the room.
16. Admission to poster sessions will be by ACS meeting badge only.
17. A poster paper submitted to the Program Chair (before the deadline) for presentation at a national meeting should be considered accepted unless the author is specifically notified to the contrary by the Division of Physical Chemistry Program Chair.

American Chemical Society, Division of Physical Chemistry

Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry and Subdivision of Biophysical Chemistry

We invite you to encourage non-members to join the PHYS division.  It is the professional organization devoted to physical chemistry and physical chemists and can be most successful with maximum participation by physical chemists.  Some of the more practical advantages of membership are:

1.             Members receive, in advance, abstracts of the papers to be delivered in the Division of Physical Chemistry programs at national meetings of the ACS

2.             Members receive a newsletter with the abstracts of the National meetings listing future symposia and divisional meetings and giving the deadlines for submission of papers to be presented at these meetings.  The newsletter is included with the abstracts of papers for convenience.

3.             Members receive discounts on the purchase price of the complete bound books of meeting abstracts.  Discounts for other books and journals are also available, and new arrangements are negotiated from time to time.

4.             The Division of Physical Chemistry is an affiliate of the American Institute of Physics, and members of the Division are eligible for a discount on various AIP publications including The Journal of Chemical Physics.

5.             The Division holds mixers at each national meeting of the ACS at which a division program is presented.  These events are held in conjunction with a poster session and provide an excellent opportunity to meet other physical chemists.

6.             Members may vote and hold office in the Division and participate in its activities.  Division Affiliates may not vote and may not hold office.  Members and Affiliates are invited to suggest symposium topics, speakers, and organizers.

7.             The Division maintains a close relationship with the Journal of Physical Chemistry.  Through the Division programs and through cooperation with the Journal of Physical Chemistry, we seek to call attention to the vigorous and dynamic character of physical chemistry in this country and to stimulate intellectual cross-fertilization between the different fields of research in physical chemistry.

8.             The Division hosts important awards symposia.  The Debye, Hildebrand, and Theoretical Chemistry awards are given each year, the Langmuir Award every other year by the ACS.  In addition, the Pure Chemistry and Nobel Laureate Signature awards are frequent features in Division symposia.

9.             In 1978, the Division established the Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry.  There is no additional fee for membership in the Subdivision.  The subdivision provides special services and participates fully in developing symposium topics at the national meetings, specifically for the theoretically inclined.

10.          In 1978, the Division established the Subdivision of Biophysical Chemistry.  There is no additional fee for membership in the Subdivision.  The subdivision provides special services and participates fully in developing symposium topics at the national meetings, specifically for the biophysically inclined.

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