FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | December 01, 2014

Donna Nelson, Univ. of Oklahoma, elected 2016 president of world’s largest scientific society

WASHINGTON, December 1, 2014 — Donna J. Nelson, Ph.D., an organic chemistry professor at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, has been elected as the 2016 president of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. She will be president-elect in 2015.

As president, she will focus on advocacy and improving the public appreciation of chemists and chemistry, which she believes could lead to better funding and more employment opportunities within the science in the United States.

“Appreciation produces jobs,” Nelson says. “Chemists’ creativity gave the world vital benefits and luxuries, and producing future benefits and luxuries is dependent upon our continued creativity. But this is only possible if science is appreciated and funded sufficiently.”

Nelson earned her B.S. in chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin, and did postdoctoral work at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

In addition to her academic and ACS activities, Nelson has served on the Dow Chemical Advisory Board and was the science advisor for the hit television show “Breaking Bad.”

She resides in Norman, Oklahoma.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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Donna J. Nelson, Ph.D.