As the academic semester comes to a close, it seems a good time to reflect on the last year. And the Cornell section of the ACS has had a busy year, that’s for sure! Due in large part to the Covid pandemic, the local section lapsed in officer appointments, and became non-viable. With the help of the Local Section Activities Committee (LSAC), we were able to re-energize our membership, hold new elections, and get some activities happening again. So far, we’ve accomplished the following:
- Election of officers. See our executive committee page for details!
- Big summer meet and greet. We held a social event at Stewart Park for members to enjoy a day in the sun, meet other chemists in the area, and enjoy some good food. We fully intend to hold this event again in the coming year, so if you missed it last time, hopefully you can stop by this time around!
- We were able sponsor several poster and travel awards for undergraduate and graduate students on the Cornell and Ithaca College campuses.
- We were also able to support activities by e.g. the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) program.
- We have an official web presence and local section email address (cornell_acs@cornell.edu).
- We successfully applied for and secured a METT (Member Engagement Through Technology) grant to obtain a portable projector, screen, and laptop. These can be made available for loan to members wishing to hold events in locations lacking AV equipment (e.g. Coffee Talks or the like), and we plan to utilize them in future events we are planning as well!
- We have begun the process of revising our section’s bylaws to account for new technology and means of communicating. Thank you to those who sent in comments. We have done our best to address various concerns, and have submitted the bylaws to the ACS Committee on Constitution and Bylaws for formal approval. We anticipate receiving the ‘final’ version of the bylaws early in the new year, and holding a vote sometime in February or March to formally adopt them.
No elections were held this year, as the current officers have only served a partial term. However, once our bylaws are officially updated, approved by the ACS, and approved by the local section membership, we will turn our attention toward securing nominations for officer positions moving forward. If you’re interested in helping to lead the local section, be sure to keep an eye out for emails about the elections, or send us a letter. Volunteers are also more than welcome to start new committees, or plan events, and we’d love to help get such things off the ground. Just drop us a line.
With that, we’re happy to call this year an unqualified success for the section, and wish many of you good luck on your final exams, and all of you a happy new year!