ACS Fellows Nominee Impact Examples
Nominations for the 2025 ACS Fellows closed on April 1, 2025.
The 2025 Class of ACS Fellows will be announced in C&EN in July and celebrated at ACS Fall 2025 in Washington, DC.
The selection of ACS Fellows is based on documented excellence and leadership in both of two areas:
- Documented excellence and leadership that has an impact in the science, the profession, education, and/or management; and
- Documented excellence and leadership in volunteer service, based on specific results achieved, in service to ACS and its membership and community.
In a successful ACS Fellows nomination, there should be a clear description of the nominee's excellence and leadership and their impact in both of the above areas.
The key nomination form sections for communicating impact are:
Non-Impactful vs. Impactful Examples of Nominee Activities
| Non-Impactful | Impactful |
| The nominee served as our Division Councilor (or any other office) from 1986 to 2014. | The nominee served as our Division Councilor (or any other office) from 1986 to 2014. During that time, they were a leader in updating our bylaws and worked hard to bring modern topics such as robotics to our programming. |
| Our local section has 13 committees and the nominee has served on each of them. | Our local section has 13 committees and the nominee has served on each of them. On most of these committees, they acted as a leader focused on improvement. For instance, they suggested effective new ways to use the e-rosters to contact new section members. They also used their years on the Student Committee to energize virtually every student chapter in our section, resulting in membership increases of over 25% and sponsored activity increases of over 50%. |
| For 15 years, the nominee has served as the Department Chair at our University. | For 15 years, the nominee has served as the Department Chair at our University. As Chair, they have led the effort to build a state-of-the-art science facility on campus. While doing that, the nominee also improved our degree program by developing an elective course on nanotechnology and encouraging every other faculty member to develop elective courses in their fields. |
| The nominee has secured 68 patents at our company. | The nominee has secured 68 patents at our company. Of these patents, our company CEO has singled out 14 of them as game changers that have increased sales and profits by $X. In addition, two of the products are recognized as life-saving medical devices. |
| Forty-five internal reports were generated by the nominee's division of our company. | Forty-five internal reports were generated by the nominee's division of our company through their dedicated leadership. These internal reports were the basis of our company's long-range planning group’s recommendations to restructure the company in order to regain leadership in our product line. |
| The nominee taught 5,623 students in organic chemistry from 2002 to present. | The nominee taught 5,623 students in organic chemistry from 2002 to present. These students have consistently exceeded expectations, evidenced by very high scores on the ACS Organic Chemistry Exam and by the number of students obtaining internships between their second and third years. |
| Everyone in the environmental community knows the nominee and the quality of their work. | Everyone in the environmental community knows the nominee and the quality of their work. In particular, papers 16, 22, and 45 in their publication list are considered the most significant work on coral reef erosion in the past ten years. Of particular interest, the nominee usually has one to three undergraduate student co-authors on each of their papers. |
| The nominee has many publications in their field. | The nominee has many publications in their field. Of their 1,283 publications, the nominee is acknowledged as the initiator of the wide-ranging fields of corrosion (papers 34, 68, 326), new lightweight alloys (papers 457, 623, 634, 662), and three-dimensional printing using metals rather than waxes (papers 12, 18, 22). |
| Working with the ACS has been the nominee's passion over the past 16 years. | Working with the ACS has been the nominee’s passion over the past 16 years. Joining the ACS in college led to volunteering for community activity events at ACS Spring 1998 and ACS Fall 2001. The nominee then joined YCC, initiating and organizing several successful charity events such as the Totally Organic Boat Race down the Chicago River during the ACS Spring 2007, which raised $X in scholarship funds. Since then, the nominee has been active on other committees, including … |
| The nominee has served full terms on elected committees such as N&E and ConC. | The nominee has served full terms on elected committees such as N&E and ConC. While on N&E, the nominee was instrumental in suggesting changes (such as incorporating audience questions and allowing two speakers per question) that have revitalized town hall meetings. On ConC, the nominee has received notes from committee chairs and liaisons attesting to their well-received and helpful suggestions. Their suggested improvements have included ... |
| Mentoring students is a key focus of the nominee's career. | Mentoring students is a key focus of the nominee's career. They have had 27 Ph.D. students and approximately 236 undergraduates working in their lab during their time at the University of X. Of the undergraduates, 62% have gone on to Ph.D. programs in chemistry and 22% have gone into medicine. The nominee's graduate students are known for their success in academia and industry. In a day-long retirement symposium, these students recounted their careers and the impact of their mentor in their success. |
Contact Us
ACS Fellows Program
American Chemical Society
1155 16th Street NW | Washington, DC 20036
Email: fellows@acs.org
