American Chemical Society
Division of Physical Chemistry

Fall 2006 Newsletter

Officers
Remarks from Chair
Election Information and Ballot
Notes from the Secretary
Councilor's Report
Biophysical Subdivision
Theoretical Subdivision
Poster Session Awards
Request for Symposia Topics and Speakers
Recent Symposia Topics
Call for Papers — 2334d National Meeting — Chicago, IL
Fall 2007 Meeting, Call for Papers, August 19-23, 2007, Boston, MA
Restrictions for Speakers for PHYS Symposia
Submission of Abstracts
General Information for Contributed Papers
Future ACS Meetings
Information and Rules Applying to All Contributed Poster Papers
Membership Information
Membership Application

OFFICERS (August, 2006)

Chair (8/05-06) Barbara Garrison
Penn State University
Department of Chemistry
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 863-2103, fax (814) 863-5319
bjg@psu.edu

Chair-Elect (8/05-06) Bruce D. Kay
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA 99352
(509) 376-0028, fax (509) 376-6066
bruce.kay@pnl.gov

Secretary/Treasurer (8/01-06) Kenneth Jordan
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Chemistry
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
(412) 624-8690, fax (412) 624-8611
jordan@pitt.edu

Vice-Chair (8/05-06) Gregory A. Voth
University of
Department of Chemistry
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0850
(801) 581-7272, fax (801) 581-4353
voth@chem.utah.edu

Vice-Chair Elect (8/05-06) Laurie J. Butler
Department of Chemistry
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 702-7206, FAX (773) 702-5863
L-Butler@uchicago.edu

Past Chair (8/05-06) David Nesbitt
JILA/NIST
University of Colorado
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Boulder, CO 80309
(303) 492-8857, Fax (303) 735-1424
djn@jila.colorado.edu

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Mark A. Johnson (06-09) Yale University

Branka M. Ladanyi (05-08) Colorado State

Robert J. Levis (03-06) Temple University

William F. Polik (06-09) Hope College

William F. Schneider (05-08) Notre Damee University

Gustavo E. Scuseria (06-09) Rice University

COUNCILORS

John E. Adams (06-08) University of Missouri

Michael R. Berman (06-08) AFOSR

Ellen Stechel (04-06) Ford Motor Company

John T. Yates (05-07) University of Pittsburgh

ALTERNATE COUNCILORS

Peter B. Armentrout (05-07) University of Utah

Edwin J. Heilweil (06-08) NIST

Anne Meyers Kelley (05-07) University of California, Merced

Patricia Thiel (04-06) Iowa State University

BIOPHYSICAL SUBDIVISION

Chair (8/05-06) Jay R. Winkler
Beckman Institute
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
(626) 395-2834
winklerj@caltech.edu

Chair-Elect (8/05-06) Jeffrey Saven
Department of Chemistry
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323
(215) 573-6062
saven@sas.upenn.edu

Vice-Chair (8/05-06) Cecilia Clementi
Department of Chemistry MS60
Rice University
Houston<, TX 77005-1892
(713) 348-3485, FAX (713) 348-5155
cecilia@rice.edu

Secretary To Be Announced

Past Chair (8/05-06) Benoit Roux
Biochemistry Department
Cornell Medical School New York, NY 10021
(212) 746-6018
benoit.roux@med.cornell.edu

THEORETICAL SUBDIVISION

Chair (8/05-06) Krishnan Raghavachari
Department of Chemistry
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405-7102
(812) 855-9043
kraghava@indiana.edu

Chair-Elect (8/05-06) Angel Garcia
Center for Biotechnology & Interdisciplinary Science
Department of Physics
Applied Physics and Astronomy
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180-3590
(518) 276-3590
angel@rpi.edu

Vice-Chair (8/05-06) Todd G. Martinez
Department of Chemistry
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-1449
tjm@spawn.scs.uiuc.edu

Secretary (8/05-06) Jan Steckel
NETL
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
(412) 386-4430
steckel@netl.doe.gov

Past Chair (8/04-05) Sharon Hammes-Schiffer
Department of Chemistry
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 865-6442
shs@chem.psu.edu


Remarks from the Division Chair

Fall, 2006
Barbara J. Garrison

Greetings to all members of the PHYS division! As the outgoing chair for 2006, it has been extremely gratifying to see PHYS continue to grow in size, stature and richness of intellectual impact on the chemistry community. This is evidenced in many ways, by the historically large number of contributing abstracts in the biannual ACS meetings, the numerous ACS awards received by our fellow physical chemistry colleagues (and celebrated in the Tuesday award symposia each Spring), as well as the growing number of requests for interdisciplinary topic symposia in collaboration with other divisions. We can all be duly proud of the pivotal role PHYS plays in generating the fundamental ideas and technologies that so often prove crucial for enabling major advances not only in our own area, but also in a remarkably wide variety of other disciplines.

The national ACS meetings this year in Atlanta and San Francisco were a huge success and the credit goes to Bruce Kay, Program Chair for 2006 and now Division Chair. Our division is committed to a having a broad diversity in the programs at national meetings thus helping to display the pervasiveness of physical chemistry in many areas of scientific endeavors. Thanks, Bruce, for putting together two terrific programs!

The programs for the two 2007 meetings to be held in Chicago and Boston, organized by incoming Program Chair Greg Voth, promise to be equally exciting.   The program for Chicago is on-line (http://oasys.acs.org/acs/233nm/phys/papers/index.cgi) with abstracts due November 10.  Please contribute an abstract and plan on attending the meeting. We look forward to another banner year of PHYS division effort and activity under Greg’s guidance.

Programming ideas for the 2008 and 2009 national meetings should be directed to the future Program Chairs Laurie Butler (l-butler@uchicago.edu) and Martin Head-Gordon (mhg@bastille.cchem.berkeley.edu), respectively. From the input I have received on upcoming programs from these folks, it is clear we will be in excellent hands for years to come! Program Chairs are always looking for good ideas for symposia and good people to organize the symposia. Feel free to volunteer yourself or a colleague to the Program Chairs.

I would like to invite all PHYS division members to become more active in the Division, as officers or executive committee members. If you are interested in participating in this manner, please let me or any of the other Division officers know, as we are always looking for candidates. In an organization such as the ACS, where the lion’s share of the work is carried out by volunteers, it is critically important to have diverse and active participation by the Division members.

The position of Secretary-Treasurer of the PHYS Division is a five year term. A huge, special thank you goes to Ken Jordan and his assistant, Elaine Springel, for five fantastic years of service to the PHYS Division. Their superb dedication has helped make the division and the national meetings run more smoothly.  Anne McCoy is the Division’s nominee to be Ken’s successor as Secretary-Treasurer. A final thanks goes to David Nesbitt, the Past Chair for 2006, who can now attend ACS meetings with no divisional responsibilities.

In closing, I just want to say that it has been an honor to serve as the Chair of the PHYS division. I leave feeling more excited than ever about the future of physical chemistry and confident and enthusiastic about the Division’s leadership. It is truly an exciting time to be a physical chemist!

Barbara Garrison, PHYS Division Chair, 2006

 


Election Information and Ballot

Dear PHYS Division Member:

The Bylaws of the Division of Physical Chemistry, approved in 2006, 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 4,000). 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 distribute 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.

Biographical sketches of all the nominees are found below. This year, the Nominating Committee consisted of David Nesbitt, Barbara Garrison, and Fleming Crim. They have chosen the following candidates for election:

Vice-Chair-Elect:
Martin Head-Gordon (to succeed Laurie Butler)

Councilor:
Ellen Stechel (to succeed Ellen Stechel)

Alternate Councilor:
James M. Lisy (to succeed Patricia Thiel)

Executive Committee:
Jingsong Zhang (to succeed Robert Levis)

Secretary/Treasurer
Anne McCoy (to succeed Ken Jordan)

 

Martin Head-Gordon, Completed B.Sc. (Hons) (1983) and M. Sc. (thesis) (1985) degrees at Monash University in Melbourne Australia, before coming to America to obtain his Ph.D. (1989) in theoretical chemistry at Carnegie-Mellon University, working with the late John Pople on molecular orbital theory and algorithms. From 1989-1992 Head-Gordon was a postdoctoral fellow at AT&T Bell Laboratories, working with John Tully. He explored gas-surface energy exchange, and developed new models for non-adiabatic energy flow. Since 1992 Head-Gordon has been on the faculty of the Chemistry Department at the University of California Berkeley, with an additional appointment as a Faculty Scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is known for development of linear scaling methods for performing density functional theory calculations, for new methods for calculating electronic excited states, and for advances in electron correlation methods. He is one of the driving forces behind the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program. Head-Gordon has received awards that include Packard (1995) and Sloan (1995) Fellowships, a Miller Research Professorship (2001-2), and the medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences (1998). He was elected to the IAQMS in 2006, and was a Visiting Fellow of Clare Hall (2006). He is an Associate Editor of Molecular Physics and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics and several other journals. He has served as Chair of the ACS Theoretical Chemistry Subdivision (2003). Head-Gordon has over 200 scientific publications and over 150 invited talks.

Jingsong Zhang,Received his B.S. degree in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (1987) and a Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley (1993). At UC Berkeley, he studied reaction dynamics of atmospheric and combustion reactions using crossed molecular beams technique. From 1993-1996 Dr. Zhang was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Southern California and worked on photodissociation dynamics of small molecules and clusters. From 1996-2002, Dr. Zhang was an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and an assistant research chemist at the Air Pollution Research Center (APRC) at University of California, Riverside, and from 2002-2006, he was an associate professor of chemistry and associate research chemist at UC Riverside. Since 2006, he is a professor of chemistry and research chemist at UC Riverside. At UC Riverside, his research focuses on photodissociation and reaction dynamics of small molecules and free radicals important in combustion and atmospheric chemistry, as well as atmospheric chemistry and air pollution measurements. He has investigated state-resolved and state-to-state photodissociation dynamics of small free radicals in gas phase, high-temperature decomposition mechanisms of hydrocarbons and CVD precursors, and atmospheric reaction mechanisms and ambient air pollutant measurements. Dr. Zhang received the 1996 Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award and was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow from 2001-2003. During 1996-2000, he received three UC Regents' Faculty Fellowships and Faculty Development Awards. He received the Chinese American Faculty Association of Southern California Faculty Award in 2000. He served as session chair for several ACS symposiums and co-chaired the 20th Symposium on Atmospheric Kinetic and Photochemical Processes in 2003. He is on the editorial advisory board of Chinese Journal of Chemical Physics since 2002. Dr. Zhang has supervised 15 graduate students, 2 postdoctoral fellows, and two visiting scholars. Dr. Zhang is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Physical Society.

James M. Lisy, , Received B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics from Iowa State University (1974), a M.A. degree in Physics (1977) and a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Physics (1979) from Harvard University. At Harvard, he characterized the electrical dipole moments of small molecules in excited, metastable electronic states, via high resolution laser spectrometry in an electric resonance molecular beam apparatus. From 1979-81, Dr. Lisy was a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he developed methods for the infrared laser spectroscopy of neutral molecular clusters using molecular beam mass spectrometric detection. In 1981, he assumed a faculty position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as an assistant professor. He has remained there, being promoted through the ranks to full professor. He has served in administrative roles as Chair of the School of Chemical Sciences Service Facilities Committee, where he supervised the most significant renovation and upgrade of these facilities in the history of the School. From 2002-5, he served as Associate Head of the Department of Chemistry, with responsibility for the education mission of the Department at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as renovation and remodeling of all space within the Department. From 1981-87, his research focused on the vibrational spectroscopy and structural characterization of neutral molecular clusters using infrared laser spectroscopy and molecular beam techniques, and popularized the use of optical parametric oscillators (using LiNbO3 as the active gain medium) as a tunable infrared source. In 1987, he shifted his attention to the infrared spectroscopy of cluster ions, where the focus of his research has been on the competition between various non-covalent interactions. The balance between these competing interactions as a function of size, composition and temperature, has been a recurring theme in his research, which has applications, to atmospheric, solution and biomolecular chemistry. Prof. Lisy has received recognition for his research with a Dreyfus Award for Young Faculty in 1981, a Sloan Fellowship in 1987-9, a JSPS Fellow in 1996, a Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the Institute of Molecular Science in Okazaki, Japan in 1987, a chercheur associé of CNRS in 2004, a Wilsmore Fellow at the University of Melbourne in 2004-5.  He was most recently award the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy Review Lecture Award in 2006 at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy. Prof. Lisy has authored over 80 papers, delivered over 140 invited talks on four continents, chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Ionic Clusters in 1998 and 2002, and is currently a senior editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and a Fellow (2001) of the American Physical Society. He has served on a number of advisory committees for the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the ACS-PRF, the Beckman Foundation, and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Chemical Physics. During his 25 years at the University of Illinois, he has supervised the research of 12 Ph.D. awardees, 6 M.S. students and 18 senior theses. In addition, he has been recognized for his teaching excellence four times by the School of Chemical Sciences.

Anne McCoy, Received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Haverford College (1987) and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry with Ned Sibert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1992). She was a Golda Mier Postdoctoral fellow with R. Benny Gerber at the University of California, Irvine and Hebrew University from 1992-1994 and joined the faculty in the Chemistry Department at The Ohio State University in October 1994. Since that time, Dr. McCoy has risen through the ranks and is currently a Professor. Dr. McCoy’s research is in the areas of theoretical treatments of the spectroscopy and dynamics of systems that undergo large amplitude motions. Much of her work has focused on van der Waals clusters. More recent work has also included studies of the spectroscopy of hydrogen bonded systems and molecular ions, in particular CH5+. Dr. McCoy received the Bergmann Award (1998), Camille Dreyfus Teacher/Scholar (1999) and AWISCO Award for Outstanding Woman in Science (2005). She has authored 87 technical papers and delivered more than 100 invited talks. Dr. McCoy previously served as a member of the executive committee of the Physical Division of the ACS (2003-2005). She has also been active in Telluride Summer Research Center, co-organizing four workshops in the past five years, serving on the board from 2001-2004, and as an officer since 2005. She is on the Executive Committee of the International Symposium for Molecular Spectroscopy, co-chaired the 2005 Gordon Research Conference on Molecular Energy Transfer and chaired the 2006 Midwest Theoretical Chemistry Conference. Since 2005, she has been a Senior Editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Dr. McCoy is a member of the American Chemical Society (1992), American Physical Society (1995), and Sigma Xi (1987).

Ellen B. Stechel, Division of Physical Chemistry, Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, MS0734, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0734. (505) 845-1277 Email: ebstech@sandia.gov; Oberlin College, A.B., 1974; University of Chicago, M.S. 1976, Ph.D., 1978; Sandia National Laboratories, Manager Fuels and Energy Transitions, August 2006 to present; Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology, Office of Research & Development, Office of National Laboratories, Office of Technology Transition on contract from Energy, Infrastructure, and Knowledge Systems, Sandia National Laboratories, July 2005 to August 2006; Ford Motor Company, North America Engineering, Core and Powertrain Engineering, Emissions Compliance Engineering, Mgr, Nov 2002 to June 2005; Ford Motor Company, North America Engineering, Core and Powertrain Engineering, Low Emissions Technology, Technical and Project Manager, May 2001 to Nov 2002; Ford Motor Company, Ford Research Laboratories, Chemistry and Environmental Science, Mgr., Nov 1999 to May 2001; Ford Motor Company, Ford Research Laboratories, Physics, Nov 1998 to Nov 1999; Sandia National Laboratories, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Advanced Materials and Device Sciences, Mgr., Oct 1994-Oct 1998; Member ACS since 1994. Division of Physical Chemistry: Councilor 2001-2006; Past Chair 1999; Chair 1998; Chair Elect and Program Chair 1997; Vice Chair 1996; Vice Chair Elect 1995; Committee on Nominations and Elections 2007-2009 and 2005; Committee on Science, Division Rep 2000-2008, Committee Associate, 1998-1999; Committee on CAS, 2003-2004, Committee Associate, 2002; Senior Editor, J. of Phys Chem., 1998-2000; Member APS, AVS, AAAS

 

BALLOT

I approve the nomination of Ellen B. Stechel for Councilor from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2009.

          YES [     ]          NO [     ]

 

I approve the nomination of James M. Lisy for Alternate Councilor from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2009.

          YES [     ]          NO [     ]

 

Voter’s Signature                                                                  

 

Please return your ballot by November 17, 2006 to:
Kenneth D. Jordan, Secretary/Treasurer
Department of Chemistry
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

 


Notes from the Secretary/Treasurer

Kenneth D. Jordan

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 December 1 and May 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:

http://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 (http://hackberry.chem.trinity.edu/PHYS).

I also wish to use this as an opportunity to say that I have really enjoyed serving as Secretary/Treasurer for these past five years. I look forward to attending the superb symposia that the Division has slated for the upcoming meetings.

 


Councilor’s Report

John E. Adams

I use this opportunity to report on several items of possible interest to members of the Physical Chemistry Division that were announced in San Francisco at the national meeting either during the meeting of the ACS Council or during other governance meetings.

I am particularly pleased to report that fellow PHYS councilor Ellen Stechel was elected to serve on the Committee on Nominations and Elections for a three-year term starting in January. This is the committee that proposes slates of nominees for President-Elect, the Board of Directors, and certain other elected committees of the Council. Congratulations, Ellen!

There were three petitions for changes to the Bylaws on the Council agenda for consideration, i.e. to let us know formally that they will be on the agenda for a vote at the meeting next spring in Chicago. The three petitions include one that will permit a single payment of dues at the current annual rate for two- or three-year periods, one that will prohibit the Committee on Nominations and Elections from nominating someone for national office who is on that committee currently or who was on that committee last year, and one that will make changes in certain election procedures (numbers of signatures needed on petition nominations and the conduct of certain Director-at-Large elections). An ensuing short but intense (and largely out of order) discussion of the second of these petitions threw little light on the subject. But, I editorialize.

We received a report on progress made by the Governance Review Task Force, a group charged with looking at various aspects of how ACS operates.  To date, the suggestions first vetted at the previous Atlanta meeting have been divided into the categories of (1) good idea, let’s go forward; (2) basically good idea but it is still a little rough around the edges; (3) might still be a good idea, but the details need to be rethought; and (4) bad idea, dump it and don’t waste any more time on it. (These are not the “official” categories, but you get the point.) The “good idea” category includes a broadening of the eligibility for full membership in ACS. The Committee on Membership Affairs is currently working on a petition to change the Bylaws in order to implement just such a broadening.

The inclusion of a general discussion item has been a fixture of Council meetings for a few years. This time the subject was strategies for involving younger members in Society leadership positions. The results of a survey of the Council were presented prior to the open discussion.

ACS continues to be in good shape financially—current projections suggest that we will end 2006 about $8 million in the black, which is $3.5 million better than the net called for in the approved budget. We have been able to realize savings in IT expenses and healthcare costs (particularly in Columbus, OH, at Chemical Abstracts) while selling more electronic services than expected. Our investments also have done better than expected, in part because the good financial performance of 2005 translated into higher investment balances in 2006. The Committee on Budget and Finance received several proposals for funding new programs, but the committee chose to recommend funding only a few of them. The programs for which funding was recommended are (1) the Green Chemistry Institute (2007 and 2008 proposed budgets) and (2) workshops planned by the Committee on Professional Training involving institutions that serve large numbers of Hispanic and Native American students. There also is some good financial news on another front. The Committee on Meetings and Expositions recommended that given the success of the national meeting funding scheme approved several years ago by the Council, national meeting registration fees for 2007 should be the same as those for 2006. The Council quickly and gratefully voted to ratify that recommendation.

If any PHYS members have questions about actions taken by the Council, I would be happy to answer them if I can. You can contact me at AdamsJE@missouri.edu.

 


Biophysical Subdivision

Jay R. Winkler

Beginning in September, 2006, Jeffery G. Saven (University of Pennsylvania) will assume the position of Chair of the Biophysical Subdivision, replacing Jay R. Winker (Caltech) who will end his service.  Cecilia Clementi (>Rice University) will serve as Chair-Elect.

A new website that will provide information of interest to members of the Biophysical Subdivision is being developed (http://ACS-Biophysics.rice.edu/).

Future symposia of interest to subdivision members include:  Multiscaling Methods in Biophysics (Spring 2008, New Orleans); Folding: Conformations and Dynamics of Biopolymers (Fall 2008)

You are encouraged to contact Jeff Saven or Cecilia Clementi with ideas for symposia at future ACS National Meetings.

Subdivision membership is free to dues-paying members or affiliates of the Division of Physical Chemistry.  To join the Biophysical Subdivision, notify the Chair, Jeffery G. Saven, 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 Biophysical Subdivision by completing the application form at the end of this newsletter.

 


Theoretical Subdivision

Krishnan Raghavachari

Beginning September, 2006, Angel Garcia (RPI) will assume the position of Chair of the Theoretical subdivision, replacing myself. Todd Martinez will serve as Chair-Elect and Berny Schlegel will serve as Vice-Chair-Elect.

Subdivision membership is free to dues-paying members or affiliates of the Division of Physical Chemistry. To join the Theoretical Subdivision, notify the Chair, angel Garcia, 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.

 

Student Poster Awards

Bruce D. Kay

The winners of the Physical Chemistry Student Poster Award Competition at the Fall 2006 ACS meeting in San Francisco, CA, were:

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.

 


Request for Symposia Topics and Speakers

The Executive Committee solicits formal suggestions for symposia and speakers for the meetings to be held in future years. Please send your suggestions to the 2008 Program Chair, Laurie J. Butler, at the address in the table of officers. The deadline for receipt of suggestions is November 1, 2006.  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

227th ACS National Meeting
Anaheim, CA
March 28-April 1, 2004

Emerging Ultrafast Spectroscopies: From Chemistry to Biophysics
Industrial Applications of Theoretical Chemistry
Intermolecular Interactions & Reactions Involving Ions & Open-Shell Systems
Mass Spectrometry of Biopolymers: From Model Systems to Ribosomes
  Mixed Quantum, Classical, and Semiclassical Dynamics
Nanocrystals & Nanotubes
Optical Microscopy Beyond the Diffraction Limit
Protein Structure Prediction & Folding: Where Physical Chemistry Meets Genomics

228th ACS National Meeting
Philadelphia, PA
August 22-26, 2004

Advance in Quantum Chemistry: Theory, Algorithms, & Applications
Biophysical Chemistry & Novel Imaging of Single Molecules & Single Cells
Chemical Physics in Atmospheric Science
Chemistry at Ultra-Low Temperatures
Combustion Chemistry: From Elementary Reactions to Extensive Reaction Mechanisms
Liquids & Liquid Interfaces
Molecular Origin of Replication & Translation of Nuclei Acids
Quantum Classical Calculations in Chemistry & Biochemistry

229th ACS National Meeting
San Diego, CA
March 13-17, 2005

Applications of Physical Chemistry to Environmental & Biogeochemical Research
Biophysical Aspects of Protein & Peptide Aggregation: Experiment & Theory
Dynamics & Conductivity of Nanoparticles & Their Assemblies
Growth & Catalysis of Metal Overlays
Hydrogen Bonds: Developments in Experiment & Theory
NMR Research Developments in Magnetic Resonance: Liquid & Solid State Applications, Theoretical Methodology, & Emerging Techniques
Novel Directions in Photonics: Nanophotonics & Biophotonics
Water: Structure Dynamics & Reactions Across the Phase Diagram

230th ACS National Meeting
Washington, DC
Aug 28 – Sept 1, 2005

Charger Transfer Processes: Making Connections
Chemical Control of Oxide Material Response
Computational Exploration of Energy Landscapes: Challenges & Solutions
Influence of Local Structure & Reagent Energy on Chemical Reactions at Solid Surfaces
Frontiers in Photobiology
Physical Chemistry Curriculum Reform Update: Where are We & Where are We Going?
Structures & Properties of Small Clusters
Symposium on Ions in Complex Physical, Chemical, & Biological Systems

231st ACS National Meeting
Atlanta, GA
March 29-30, 2006

Emerging Issues in Atmospheric Science: A Physical Chemistry Perspective
Interactions of Peptides & Proteins with Membrane Surfaces
Molecular & Molecular-Scale Electronics
Molecules in Space
Quantum Molecular Dynamics in the Condensed Phase: Towards Bridging the Gap Between
Theory & Experiment
Spectroscopy of Interfaces
Theoretical & Experimental Advances in the Study of Low-Energy Electron-Induced Processes In Complex Systems

232nd ACS National Meeting
San Francisco, CA
September 10-14, 2006

Chemistry in Extreme Environments
Cyber Science, Chemistry
Fifty Years of Electron Transfer & RRKM Theories
Frontiers in Molecular Dynamics: Experiment & Theory
Frontiers in Single-Molecule Biophysical Chemistry & Imaging
Fundamentals of Metal Oxide Catalysis
Physical Chemical Foundations of Biological Membrane Phenomenon
Physical Chemistry of Ionic Liquids
Theory of Rare Events & Accelerated Dynamics

 


Spring 07 Meeting
Technical Program/Call for Papers
March 25-29, 2007 — Chicago, IL

The 233rd American Chemical Society National Meeting will take place in Chicago, IL, during the week of March 25-29, 2007. Dr. Gregory A. Voth, 2007 Physical Chemistry Division Program Chair, has arranged a broad range of topics in modern physical chemistry to be featured in symposia and a general poster session at this meeting. The window for abstract submission for this meeting is open until November 10th.  The topical symposia and their organizers are:

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE

A significant portion of the Division’s annual income is provided by the ACS, based in part on Division members’ attendance at the national meetings. On the advance meeting registration form, you will see a question such as that given below. If you list the Physical Division, you will contribute to our income and allow the Division to offer better symposia.

 


Fall 2007 Meeting
Call for Papers
August 19-23, 2007, Boston, MA

Program Chair:  Gregory A. Voth, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, voth@chem.utah.edu

Online abstract submission for this meeting begins in March or April, 2007. Please see http://oasys.acs.org/ for abstract submission access and guidelines. Only electronic abstracts via the ACS online submittal system, OASys, will be accepted, except by special arrangement with the ACS symposium organizers. You can check the Division’s website for specific deadlines. The web page is http://hackberry.chem.trinity.edu/PHYS.

Submit your abstract online at the ACS website: http://oasys.acs.org/. Please see the following for more information regarding submission.  As is now customary, Program Chair Voth has arranged for the presentation of contributed talks in each of the topical symposia. The contributed talks will be selected by the individual symposium organizers from among abstracts that explicitly request consideration for oral presentation. The criterion for selection will be close connection with the topics addressed in the symposia. Abstracts not selected for oral presentation will be assigned to the poster session(s), unless the authors request otherwise. Since the organizers will not be able to accommodate all requests, the poster sessions will be specifically organized to group posters by symposium topic. While the symposia do cover a wide range of topics, they cannot cover the full depth and breadth of physical chemistry.  The Division, therefore, also welcomes general contributions to the poster sessions, which will be grouped by subject area.

The planned symposia and their organizers are:

 


Restrictions on Speakers for PHYS Symposia

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.

 


Submission of Abstracts

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, http://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 Information for Contributed Papers

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, http://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.

 


Future National ACS Meetings

Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007

Program Chair: Gregory A. Voth
  University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, 84112;
voth@chem.utah.edu

Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007

Program Chair: Gregory A. Voth
  University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, 84112;
voth@chem.utah.edu

New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008

Program Chair: Laurie J. Butler
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
L-Butler@uchicago.edu

Philadelphia, PA, August 17-21, 2008

Program Chair: Laurie J. Butler
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
L-Butler@uchicago.edu

 


Information and Rules Applying to All Contributed Poster Papers

  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 ½ hour prior to the opening of the assigned poster session and removing it within ½ 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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