Intersection of lab research and industrial chemistry featured on first day of ACS virtual meeting

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2020 — Global leaders in chemistry, including academic researchers, industrial professionals and government scientists, will come together for the opening session of the ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo. More than 6,000 online scientific presentations are scheduled for Aug. 17-20.

Monday, Aug. 17, 11 a.m.-noon EDT (8-9 a.m. PDT): The virtual kickoff event, “We are all heroes in moving chemistry from bench to market,” will honor heroes of chemistry past, present and future, and will feature four leaders from academe, industry and national labs:

• Richard Mackman, Ph.D., Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Gilead Sciences
• Melissa Moore, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Moderna Therapeutics
• David Heldebrant, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Team Lead of Separations Materials at Pacific Northwest National Labs
• Malika Jeffries-EL, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Boston University

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 11 a.m.-noon EDT (8-9 a.m. PDT): The Kavli Foundation Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lecture, “Innovator’s guide to industrial impact,” will be presented by Bryan Barton, Ph.D., DuPont Electronics & Imaging.

Wednesday, Aug. 19, 11 a.m.-noon EDT (8-9 a.m. PDT): The Fred Kavli Innovations in Chemistry Lecture, “Art of building small,” will be presented by Ben L. Feringa, Ph.D., University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

Thursday, Aug. 20, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. EDT (7-8 a.m. PDT): “The case for diversity & inclusion” will be presented by Leland (Lee) T. Jourdan, Chief Diversity Officer at Chevron.

In addition, ACS will host a virtual Kids Zone event for ages 10+ on Saturday, Aug. 15, at noon PT, co-sponsored by ACS President Luis Echegoyen, Ph.D. This free event will feature virtual chemistry demonstrations conducted by popular STEM advocates, with presentations in English and Spanish.

Journalists and public information officers are encouraged to apply for complimentary press registration for this virtual conference. Contact the ACS Newsroom at newsroom@acs.org or visit our virtual press center at https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/national-meeting/about/press-center.html for details.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder^® and STN^®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.