Graduate Students & Postdoc Events for 248th ACS National Meeting in San Francisco

With ACS’s Fall National Meeting right around the corner, those attending will be starting, if they haven’t already, to map out a rough itinerary for what events they want to attend. With so many great symposiums, workshops, and networking events, it can be a difficult task deciding which are the most pertinent to your aims and interests.  With this in mind, we wanted to create this short blog post offering you highlights of events happening in San Francisco.

August 10, Sunday

To start off, on Sunday evening there will be a “Journey to the Dork Side” show where you can enjoy the comedy stylings of Dr. Pete Ludovice. This will be held 7:00-8:00 PM in Moscone Center, Esplanade 305. If you are a graduate student, you should have received a ticket for this event in your registration packet.

August 11, Monday

There will be three really great events being offered on Monday. The first is the 10th Annual Fun Run, sponsored by the ACS Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) and ACS Member Insurance that will take place at 7:00 AM. Those interested should register, purchase tickets ($35 for regular ticket and $20 for students), and pick up their materials from the Fun Run desk, located in the Moscone Center North Lobby on Saturday, August 9th and Sunday, August 10th, between the hours of 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM.

The over event is entitled “Opportunities for International Careers and Studies” and will be held at the Moscone Center in Room 135 between 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM. This event will provide attendees the chance to meet professionals from international embassies and consulates, as well as private funding organizations, who will explain how international experience (internships, scholarships, or exchanges) can benefit your future academic and professional endeavors. This event is being organized by the ACS Office of International Activities.

The last event on Monday the 11^th is the “ACS Graduate & Postdoctoral Scholars Reception.”  The reception will run from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM and will also be located at the Moscone Center in Room 135. It will provide excellent opportunity to network with graduate students and postdocs, as well as ACS Division, YCC and Evonik representatives! If that wasn’t enough incentive to attend, the reception will have free food and drinks (including beer and wine), with a number of prizes (including an iPad or two) being handing out to some lucky winners. This event is co-sponsored by ACS Divisions, Young Chemists Committee (YCC) and Evonik Industries.

August 12, Tuesday

On Tuesday, between the times of 8:30 – 11:35 AM and 1:30 – 4:40 PM ACS’s Division of Chemical Education is sponsoring the Fall 2014 Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee (GSSPC) Symposium at the Moscone Center in Ballroom 304. This symposium is titled “International Collaborations with International Impact: Chemistry for Global Change” and will feature a group of graduate students from the University of Washington. In this symposium the presenters will be spotlighting international research collaboration and the impact it has on global philanthropic chemistry efforts

August 13, Wednesday

CHED is also sponsoring the “Perspectives on Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences” symposium Wednesday, August 13. This symposium will highlight results from the 2013 ACS Graduate Student Survey wherein graduate students from over 260 universities provided feedback on their graduate programs. In addition, speakers will discuss using individual development plans, research centers, chemical information literacy, and blog writing to enrich the graduate student experience. The event will be located at the Moscone Center in the Esplanade Ballroom 304 and will take place between 1:30 – 4:45 PM.

In addition to the one day only events, between Sunday and Wednesday, August 10-13, the Career Pathways Workshop series is being held at the Parc 55 hotel. Over the course of these four days there will be over 20 different workshops offered. These will include workshops such as “Finding Your Path”, “Working in Government”, “Acing the Interview”, “Working in Higher Education”, and ”Working in Industry.” To view a complete list of these professional development workshops being offered, please visit the Career Pathways Workshop website.

We Look Forward to Seeing You!

As always, there will be a variety of excellent events being offered at ACS’s National Meeting. These events are so numerous that it is not possible to give an exhaustive accounting of them here. So if you would like to get more information on the National Meeting and its various events, please check out the ACS Graduate & Postdoctoral Chemist which will contain a comprehensive meeting guide for grad students and postdocs.

By Loren White