Welcome Message
As we move into the spring - there are some big changes and events for the Orange County section and the Southern California ACS community. In January, I attended the ACS Leadership Institute and met leaders from all of the Southern California local sections. It was both an inspirational and educational weekend! We all discussed the upcoming Anaheim and San Diego National Meetings (2011 and 2012, respectively), including joint programming, networking and socializing for our sections. In addition, we discussed how we can better link up the Southern California sections through webinars, local programming and local speaker circuits. A lot of this information was presented at our February Dinner Meeting.
For the Anaheim National Meeting, we will be organizing at least a 1/2 day of programming and possibly an entire day. The programming will focus on chemistry from Southern California. We are discussing whether we can invite high schools from the area, along with asking the ACS to provide them with reduced or no entry fees, in order to introduce young chemists to the possibilities of scientific discovery. We are also planning a reception and other activities in order to bring together the local sections in our area.
Also, our local section will be putting a greater emphasis on our website this year (www.ocacs.org). The content, calendar and announcements will be updated regularly. So much so, that we are going to use the local section budget normally reserved for the paper newsletter - and invest it in our website. To this end, our last SCALACS participation will be early in the summer. Please visit our website, update your information with us and set it as your homepage! Also, we are on Facebook at American Chemical Society - Orange County Local Section. Please become a fan and receive regular updates on activities and programming on your Facebook page.
As always, please contact me if you have any questions. You can reach me at sthompson@buchalter.com.
Sandra Thompson, PhD
2010 Chair, Orange County Section, American Chemical Society
