ACS Presidential Agenda, 2005
Public Perception and Outreach

Members, especially those later in their careers, continue to be concerned about the public’s perception of chemistry. Those members believe that the public has been led to focus on negatives associated with chemistry and allowed to forget the significant benefits it brings. When miracles become commonplace, they can be taken for granted. As an example: three generations ago, chemistry conquered disease spread in the public water supply. Today, billions of people in the world still lack safe water—something curable by chemistry and the will to do so--but we in the United States have lost institutional memory of life without this miracle.

1) The Service Model for Outreach and Involvement. The public is interested in personally relevant benefits—“What’s in it for them,” so to speak. And in complementary fashion, I believe members are interested in giving back some of their time and talent so as to help solve problems that are important to the public. In my experience this is particularly true for younger members, but it is by no means their exclusive province.

Channeling an individual’s desire for connectedness into projects to benefit those who can use our help allows us to make a larger point: The science we practice and its practical application makes life better for us all. Next year I would like us to consider using service projects, especially at the Local Sections, as a way to demonstrate the benefits of chemistry and as a means of starting a conversation about chemistry with the media and the public.

In some venues the traditional “dinner and a seminar” approach no longer holds members’ attention. Some Local Sections already substitute service work as a means of attracting member involvement as well as good press. Some organizations have a “Fifth Saturday” program, wherein the fifth Saturday of the month is automatically service project day. This happens about twice a year.

The Committee on Community Activity has designed a number of programs that present a great springboard for this kind of action. In addition to everyone’s favorite, National Chemistry Week, we have Kids and Chemistry and our new Earth Day activities. Additionally, there are other opportunities for community-based service projects. As an example, my industry has worked with Habitat for Humanity for nearly ten years. An HFH “blitz build,” wherein a house is constructed in about a week, always attracts media attention. We’ve used that opportunity to point out how modern shelter is impossible without plastics. The same is obviously true for chemistry.

Similarly, a blood drive can highlight the contribution chemistry makes in the storage, testing and delivery of blood—keeping people safe in times when scrutiny of the blood supply is increasing.

Painting a shelter allows you to talk about polymers, pigments, durability and scrubbability. A food drive allows you to talk about the chemistry of cooking, canning and nutrition; teaching elementary school children the value of good hand washing for safety allows you to talk about emulsification and sanitation. The list of opportunities, like the benefit, goes on and on.

These examples are presented in the interest of catalyzing thought and imagination. The objective is to do something relevant to the community to “get the microphone” and while you have it, to talk about the benefits of chemistry.

I am working to have at least one service oriented project at each National meeting and would like to work with the organizers of the Regional Meetings to incorporate a service project into each one.

2) Better Alliances with Other Chemistry Organizations. Members in every chemistry organization, here and abroad, professional society or trade association have noticed the declining perception of our field. Many have designed programs to make the benefits case more directly to public. I will work to maximize collaboration with other chemical organizations with similar goals where there is mutual benefit.

The American Chemistry Council is embarking upon a campaign whose central feature is “Chemistry is Essential2…” Their promotional material will focus on benefit generated by chemistry without which modern life would be different if not impossible. We can help them by providing “good chemistry” stories for the campaign; they can help us by designing materials that will be appealing to our members and help them tell the benefits story. There may well be similar points of synergy with other US associations and those in Europe and Japan.

3) Direct Outreach By ACS Governance and Tour Speakers. I have challenged those of us (Board, Tour Speakers and the like) who are on the road regularly on behalf of ACS to engage more lay audiences; for example, high school classes, service clubs, local papers and radio stations. I have done this myself at each of my visits as a Tour Speaker. Each of us can generate a shorter, lay-person’s version of our presentation and work with Local Section hosts to reach larger audiences. We change the public’s opinion one person at a time and this personal interaction provides great opportunity to do so.

I would like Local Section officers to push themselves and Tour Speakers with whom they work to extend the reach of our Speakers by helping to facilitate outside presentations.