Greetings! I am honored to serve as Chair of the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry (aka. ANYL) effective October 1, 2021. First and foremost, I want to express my thanks to Paul Bohn, Past Chair, for his guidance and dedicated leadership this past year. Please also join me in welcoming newly elected Chair Elect, Mirlinda Biba; Secretary, Michelle Rivard; and Alternate Councilors, Benjamin Garcia and Rebecca Hunter. Lastly, I’d like to thank Nancy Xu for her service to the division as an Alternate Councilor and Kimberly Agnew-Heard who has finished her tenure on the ANYL Executive Committee as Immediate Past Chair, and Xiao-Ying Yu who served as Interim Secretary.
As I begin my tenure as Chair and transition duties to the 2022 Program Chair, Anna Cavinato, I can’t help but reflect on my past year’s experience. Technical meeting programming in 2021 was anything but normal, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in the Delta variant in the weeks prior to the Fall ACS 2021 meeting. Although no national meetings were cancelled, as happened in 2020, uncertainties in meeting platforms (virtual, in-person, or hybrid), changes to typical meeting production deadlines, and varying comfort levels of attendees regarding meeting in person were all very real and serious obstacles.
Despite these challenges, the ACS meeting production team and technical divisions support staff and liaisons worked creatively, generously and tirelessly to provide platforms for the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 meetings to take place. The ANYL Division programming remained strong in the breadth and depth of its content at these ACS national meetings, including notable contemporary symposia topics such as COVID-19 and Pathogen Detection, Black Chemists in the Workplace and Distance Teaching & Learning. The Long-Range Program Planning (LRPP) committee’s work furnished the foundation of this success. Many thanks to Amanda Hummon (Chair) and LRPP members: Raj Shah, John O’Brien, Amelia Palermo, Chad Herrman, Abby Cao, Suman Singh, Jennifer Schmitt, Nicholas Larkey, Tiago Belé, Edgar Arriaga, Ellie Honarvar and Lori Ana Valentin. The LRPP has lined up 19 technical symposia for the Spring ACS 2022 meeting and are focused on Fall ACS 2022. If inclined, I encourage you to contact Anna Cavinatto and the LRPP with ideas for future meeting symposia.
A goal I am interested in pursuing during my time as Chair, is to follow through on our support for equality, social justice, and fairness for Black, Brown, and Indigenous scientists by continued action. ANYL established a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Respect Committee in 2020 under the direction of Chair Kimberly Agnew-Heard and received a grant from Merck Corp to support DEI&R activities in 2021 (postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19 disruption). If you have thoughts and ideas of how ANYL can best use these resources and serve our underrepresented colleagues or are willing to take a leadership role within ANYL to champion this crucial area of focus, please reach out to myself or any of the division officers.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to corresponding more with you as time marches on.
Warmest regards,
Rebecca Zangmeister, Ph.D.
Chair, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry