Chemistry is essential to the developments we need to make in energy, sustainability, health, and security.  But science in general and the central science of chemistry in particular are not adequately valued by the public.  The chemical sciences are the lowest funded of the physical sciences at NSF.  Discover Magazine, a popular science magazine, covers eight categories of science – none of which are chemistry. This is not just a U.S. problem. Chemistry suffers an image problem everywhere. Concern about this image problem led chemical societies around the world to launch the idea for the UN to designate 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry.I will take ACS to a leadership position in the International Year of Chemistry, partnering with our sister societies around the world to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve the image of the chemical sciences. I will use the International Year of Chemistry to demonstrate chemistry’s value and the need for chemistry to address society’s most challenging issues.

As chemists, we couldn’t agree more that our field needs some help in the image department. Unfortunately, ignorance is rampant in our society regarding chemistry and people tend to think of any “chemical” as bad. The truth is, however, that chemistry does indeed improve the lives of humans everyday and in huge ways. In fact it is so much a part of our lives, that most people don’t realize just how dependent we are upon chemistry. Irrational fears that exist within the public can only be erased through education.

Jackson plans to do everything in her power to increase the education of the public on all issues concerning chemistry. We are very pleased that she was elected and look forward to watching her in 2011.

Photo: Carol Sonstein

Marye Anne Fox is chancellor of the University of California San Diego, and a professor of chemistry.

This article from C&EN 2007 caught our eye recently. Fox is putting feminism in action by being appointed to a position of power, and we respect her greatly. Moving from lab to classroom to chancellor, Fox is a great role model for Feminist Chemists.

When asked: “UC San Diego has a very high enrollment of women, but in the U.S. in general, this hasn’t translated into women in academic careers in science and engineering. What is missing?”

Fox replied: “We are indeed very proud that so many women are interested in science and engineering here. But you correctly capture the challenge we face in recruiting women to academic positions, whether it’s faculty or administration. I can’t tell you why that is. I can tell you we work very hard to make sure there is gender equity in candidate pools and that the evaluation of work from men and women is fair and equitable.”

Given recent conflicting reports regarding academic hiring of women, we find it informative that even powerful women like Fox, doing everything that they can to increase equity in STEM, still have more questions than answers. And unfortunately, there are still more men than women.

Keep up the great work Mary Anne Fox, you are a beacon of hope.

Professor White is racking up all of the most prominent awards, fellowships and honors available in the field of organic chemistry. Her amazing work on aliphatic C-H oxidation was recently published in Science and has been recognized as one of the top ten breakthroughs in science in 2007. Show them how it’s done Christina!

Houk Research Group

Professor Houk is an authority on theoretical organic chemistry, and his group is involved in developments of rules to understand reactivity, computer modeling of complex organic reactions, and experimental tests of the predictions of theory. Among current interests are the theoretical investigation of antibody-catalyzed reactions, the quantitative modelling of asymmetric reactions used in synthesis, and the molecular dynamics and reactions of hemicarcerands and other host-guest complexes. He has published over 600 articles in refereed journals and was one of the Top 100 Cited Chemists in the period 1981-1997.

Professor Houk is one of our allies because he is well known in the field for his efforts to increase the number of women in chemistry. He co-chaired the NSF, DOE, NIH Sponsored Workshop: Building Strong Academic Chemistry Departments through Gender Equity in 2006.

Marie Sklodowska Curie. Obviously.