In my most recent ACS Comment ( C&EN, Jan. 10, page 40 ), I posed a question to every reader of C&EN: What do you want from ACS? What type of service, which we do not provide now, would you like to have? I also sent personal letters to every divisional and local section officer, councilor, and alternate councilor asking the same question. More than 400 responses came pouring in, through letters, e-mail, phone calls, or personally at various meetings, all with one clear message: It is time for a change in the ACS.

Attila E. Pavlath ACS President-Elect

You can read a summary of these responses on my Web page ( http://www.pavlath.org ), or write to me for a hard copy at USDA-WRRC, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA 94710. The responses encompassed a wide range of views, from comments on general philosophy to suggestions for individual actions. One of the most frequently recurring themes was employment. Everyone agreed that chemistry is an important science, but they also pointed out that chemistry is performed by human beings with human needs. Unless we develop robots to perform chemistry-related activities, we must be concerned with the factors that affect employment.

Even those with secure academic tenure decried their administrations for developing more nontenured positions. Can you then imagine how industrial professionals feel these days when their jobs could disappear at any time through downsizing, merger, or other corporate activities? Respondents had a number of specific suggestions in this area, including among others: balancing job supply and demand, developing some type of licensing/certification, offering more efficient and affordable continuing education programs, and fostering industrial sabbaticals.

Without a doubt, it will take much discussion and much work to determine the best actions and decide on the priorities. However, during my 30 years of ACS involvement I have never retreated from the difficulties. My own life philosophy is optimism. I prefer to see the bottle as half full, not half empty. We can and must listen to the concerns of our members and provide services that yield mutual benefits to members and to the profession.

In 1971, Alan Nixon, a bench chemist, was elected by the largest turnout ever in an ACS election: 40%. His election statement had one main message: "The first responsibility of the ACS is to its own members!" This statement is just as valid today as it was 30 years ago and as it will be 30 years from now. The message is crystal clear: Our members want the society to address the professional and economic status of chemists with the same vigor and efficiency that it applies to publications, meetings, and educational issues. Study after study conducted by the society since 1947 has confirmed this conclusion.

Officially, I start as president on Jan. 1, 2001, and I have been asked a number of times about the actions I will propose and initiate on that day. That day has only one special meaning: It is the start of the 21st century and the third millennium. I do not consider the presidency as an independent, one-year act. Immediately after my election, aiming to achieve coordination and continuity in our agendas, I started discussions with ACS Immediate Past-President Ed Wasserman and ACS President Daryle Busch about the issues facing today's chemical professionals.

No one has a magic wand to be waved for instant solutions, and no one can propose a single action to solve a very complex equation. We will always have problems, but in our vast network that is ACS we also have the skills and resources to start implementing actions to solve them. The various segments of our profession must be brought together and urged to map out a series of actions that will help everyone from the youngest B.S. chemist to the most respected Nobel Laureate. We elected officers of the society have a responsibility to design programs that respond to the concerns and needs of everyone in our profession. We cannot wait for the perfect solution. No decision is already a decision, and inaction can have dire consequences.

For many years, we have designed society activities with an eye toward benefiting the profession, but many such well-intended activities are seen by our members as favoring the employers over the employees. Of course, we have to be concerned with the well-being of our profession, but we must not neglect the interest of the professionals through serving the profession. Again, the message of our members is clear. We must listen, and we must address the human side of the equation first if we want to advance our profession. The continuing complaints from our membership are not, and never have been, irrelevant. We cannot sweep the problems under the rug because, in so doing, ACS itself may become irrelevant. To fail to respond to our members is to become irrelevant.

In a series of Comments over the coming months, I shall recommend for consideration possible solutions to the problems. The past is history and unchangeable. We must learn from it so that we will not be condemned to relive its mistakes. The future is bright and ours, but only if we are willing to face together the challenges that the rapidly approaching 21st century poses to us.

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