Message From the Chair

2022 NESACS Chair

Dr. Carol Mulrooney
carol.mulrooney@gmail.com

I am honored to serve as Chair of NESACS for 2022 and I am looking forward to an exciting year filled with terrific programs and events for our Northeastern chemical community! I want to thank our NESACS membership for giving me the opportunity to serve, and want to especially thank the NESACS Board members for their mentorship and support.

It was a privilege to serve as Program Chair in 2021. Despite significant challenges, including the disappointing but necessary postponement of NERM2021, our volunteer members were still able to hold outstanding events. Our very active committees in 2021 include the Medicinal Chemistry Committee, Younger Chemists Committee (YCC), National Chemistry Week (NCW) Committee, and Public Relations Committee, to name just a few! We plan to build on the successes of last year by expanding some of our successful programming while adapting our new ways of holding virtual and hybrid events. In addition to valuable programming, I am thrilled that in 2021 NESACS adopted a Code of Conduct to foster a positive scientific environment built upon a foundation of trust, respect, open communications and ethical behavior, aligning with National ACS policies.

My goals for 2022 start with supporting our Program Chair, Sonja Strah-Pleynet, in identifying diverse new scientific speakers for our monthly meetings and exploring ground-breaking chemical research. Our monthly meetings in 2021 were for the most part held virtually, but the development and distribution of vaccines against Covid-19 last year greatly reduced the danger of contracting and spreading this disease and allowed us to start planning in-person events at the end of 2021 and into early 2022. The live-streaming of presentations that we introduced during our two in-person monthly meetings (The Esselen Award Ceremony in October and the Norris Award Ceremony in November) will continue for any in-person meetings held in 2022 and we look forward to using this technology to engage with more of our members who may find it difficult to travel to our local meetings.

I have served as chair of the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) for over 4 years now and have been excited to partner with other committees and organizations to hold programming designed to support women and underrepresented scientists in the chemistry field. As the National ACS advances its core values of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Respect (DEIR), I am focused on supporting and expanding an ad-hoc DIER committee within NESACS. In 2021, we partnered with Northeastern University to host a DEIR series of three events tailored to support career development of scientists, to encourage women and minority entrepreneurs, and to learn about implicit bias and how to overcome its effect on hiring and promoting underrepresented groups. We plan to continue in 2022 with more DEIR events and are particularly excited about plans to expand the STEM Journey series of education outreach into underrepresented communities in the Northeastern Section.

Finally, I would like to reach out to the entire Northeastern chemistry community to promote the benefits of getting involved with NESACS. Mentorship has been a major theme of my interactions with the NESACS Board and committee members since my involvement with the section began. I have found that the mentorship I have received from our NESACS volunteers has helped me develop leadership and organizational skills (as well as confidence!) that I have been able to apply to enhance my own career development. With the help of some of our very accomplished committee members, I plan to hold a series of informal workshops to help current and prospective volunteers expand their skills in areas like event planning, social media advertising, writing, and others that are directly used in NESACS programs and events. Please visit https://www.nesacs.org/about/get-involved/ to find out about volunteer opportunities. I look forward to working with you in 2022!

Carol Mulrooney, PhD
NESACS Chair 2022