Report from NERM 2009
Morton Z. Hoffman, Boston University [hoffman@bu.edu]
NESACS Representative to the Board of Directors, Northeast Region of the ACS, Inc.

The 36th Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM) was held on Wednesday-Saturday, October 7-10, 2009, in Hartford, Connecticut, at the Hilton Hotel; Julianne Smist (Springfield College), served as its General Chair, and Tyson Miller (University of Connecticut) and Edward Fitzgerald (Trinity College) served as Program Co-Chairs.  About 380 oral and poster papers across a wide range of the chemical sciences, including nanotechnology, environmental and green chemistry, medicinal and biochemistry, and chemical education, were presented for more than 500 registrants that included graduate and undergraduate students.  A full day of workshops for high school teachers took place on Saturday at the Connecticut Science Center.  In addition, the meeting exhibition featured 12 vendors.

Acknowledgement and thanks were given to NESACS in the program book and on the meeting website <http://membership.acs.org/n/nerm/> for its financial support of the symposium, “Persistent Organics in the Environment – Sources, Levels, Transport, and Fate,” organized by Melita Lihzis and Gary Hunt (TRC Environmental, Lowell, MA).

The official opening reception for all attendees and guests took place on Wednesday evening at the Science Center after a reception sponsored by the Connecticut Valley Local Section, the host of NERM 2009.  District I Director Anne O’Brien and Director-at-Large (and candidate for re-election) Valerie Kuck sponsored a lunch for attendees at which issues of ACS governance were discussed.  The candidates for the District I Director position, Richard Cobb (Rochester Local Section) and Neil Jespersen (New York Local Section), were featured at an ice cream social.  The following Northeast Region awards were presented at the banquet on Friday evening: The ACS Division of Chemical Education Award for Excellence in High School Teaching to Diana Simpson (Seton Catholic Central High School, Binghamton, NY); The E. Ann Nalley Award for Volunteer Service to the ACS to Willem Leenstra (University of Vermont); The Award for Achievements in the Chemical Sciences to Steven Suib (University of Connecticut).

NERM was also the occasion for the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Northeast Region of the ACS, Inc., which includes the following local sections: Binghamton, Central Massachusetts, Connecticut Valley, Cornell, Corning, Eastern New York, Green Mountain, Maine, Mid-Hudson, New Haven, Northeastern, Northern New York, Norwich, Penn-York, Rhode Island, Rochester, Syracuse, Western Connecticut, Western New York.  The Board reelected Julianne Smist as Chair and Richard Cobb (Eastman Kodak) as Vice Chair of the Region; Christopher Masi (Westfield State College) and Wayne Jones (Binghamton University) will continue as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, for another year.

The Board received a final report on NERM 2008 (Burlington, VT) from its General Chair, Willem Leenstra, and an interim report on NERM 2009 from Julianne Smist.  The Board also announced the following future NERMs: 37th: Potsdam, NY, June 2-5, 2010 <http://membership.acs.org/n/nny/NERM2010.htm>; 38th: Worcester, MA, June 12-15, 2011; 39th: Rochester, NY, June or October, 2012.  Expressions of interest to host NERMs in 2013 or 2014 were made by the New Haven and Binghamton Local Sections.  The Board will meet next at NERM 2010.

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