University of Missouri-Columbia chemist re-elected to board of world’s largest scientific society

WASHINGTON — John E. Adams, Ph.D., Curators’ Teaching Professor  Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia, was re-elected to  the Board of Directors of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. He will begin his second three-year term on Jan. 1, 2016.

Adams sees two critical areas where ACS is poised to make a real difference. “The first of these is K–12 education. The creation of the American Association of Chemistry Teachers last year by ACS was only a first step,” he said. Besides providing curriculum resources, chemical safety training materials, curated laboratory experiments and demonstrations, Adams says the Society can do a lot of good by urging its membership to engage with local school teachers, administrators and school boards to strengthen science education.

“My second emphasis is policy advocacy. Having walked the halls of the House of Representatives and Senate office buildings each of the past three years, I recognize that we must continue to keep pounding away, providing policy makers in Congress and the administration with the best scientific information available. Science is key to solving so many of the issues we face and to improving lives around the world,” he said.

An ACS member since 1974, Adams has been named an ACS Fellow and holds numerous awards for excellence in teaching and for volunteer service.

He resides in Columbia, Missouri, with his spouse, Carol A. Deakyne, Ph.D., also an emeritus member of the University of Missouri faculty.

Adams represents ACS district V, which includes parts of Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 158,000 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.

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