Chemistry for a Better Future

Tom Barton

Candidate

ACS President-Elect 2013

cf. www.ktep.org/files/archive_3020.mp3   and

www.benchfly.com/blog/tom-barton-phd-acs-presidential-candidate

http://blog.chembark.com

Why do I want to be ACS President?

Chemistry faces a very difficult situation. Jobs are being outsourced, unemployment among chemists is at an all time high, adequate funding for research is uncertain in the forthcoming days of budget cutting and chemistry seems less appealing to our youth. The ACS has spent considerable effort in identifying proper goals for the society addressing these problems and in developing strategies to accomplish them in “Strategic Directions for 2012 and Beyond”.   However, plans remain only words unless there is leadership who passionately believes in our mission, and has the background, talents, capabilities and time available to lead the effort to carry out these strategies, to sell these strategies and to energize the membership of ACS to carry them out with zeal. I want to repay something to the profession that has given me so much by addressing the following crucial problem areas.

Education

Despite decades of warnings and suggestions by various elite commissions, the quality of the product of America’s K-12 science educational efforts continues to decline.  Our nation simply can’t afford this performance and it is essential that ACS be a major partner in a committed effort to reverse this trend.  I believe that this can only be accomplished by enhancing the rigor of our education (yes, includes longer school years!) and increasing the quality of teaching and teachers (yes, greater selectivity and better pay).  My long history of developing such efforts as middle-school and high-school science bowls and grades 8-12 minority science education programs, and 45 years in chemistry education will serve me well in this arena.

Public Appreciation of Chemistry

It often seems that the media only finds the negative side of chemistry to be newsworthy, and fails to celebrate the numerous contributions benefitting our lives. We must do a better job of changing this situation.  The education of the nonscientific public of the fundamental importance of chemistry is essential.  There won’t be new, more powerful drugs for pancreatic cancer without chemical research, there won’t be better catalysts for conversion of biomass to fuels, or plants and animals becoming the chemical factories of the world, or a solar-activated catalyst for the conversion of water to hydrogen and oxygen to solve this planet’s energy crisis without chemical research.  The ever increasingly complex problems which face our world are sometimes those in which we have had a part in the making, but far more often they are ones in which it is essential that we are a part of the solutions. Ours is an enabling science and the world depends upon our success far more than is commonly recognized.

Employment and Globalization (can't consider one without the other)

The ACS absolutely must continue to be a world leader for chemistry, but at the same time we must be concerned about the effect of globalization has on the domestic job market.  I have considerable experience in assisting entrepreneurship in technological enterprises and would focus on this and innovation, as our best hope of reducing the continuing loss of chemist jobs to foreign lands.  I strongly back the recent plan of the ACS blue-ribbon task force in this arena.

My Experience 

I worked 45 years as a research scientist and teacher of chemistry, 18 years as director of a national laboratory and 10 years as director of a federation of campus-based research centers collaborating strongly with American industry, and one year as interim director of the Iowa Energy Center. I also have years of experience advocating for scientific enterprises to legislative groups and public service organizations and am eager to be a passionate spokesman for chemistry.  I am now retired and am both willing and able to devote my entire efforts to this cause.

What can I do? 

While the ACS president is only one person, an energetic, experienced president can lead by coordinating the effort of 165,000 bright, well-educated members and their collective wisdom to take us into the future. I will continue to probe the entire spectrum of our membership to assure that we are filling their actual needs. I will   seek your ideas and you can start sending them now (Contact Tom).  I pledge to listen to those from all corners of our profession.  I would relentlessly urge you to become a member of our Legislative Action Network and join the less than 10% of your fellow members who write letters to legislative members in support of vital ACS priority issues. The concerted voice of a truly engaged 165,000 scientists could pack a powerful wallop!