Guest blog post: AAAS Annual Meeting & the chemistry connection

The 2012 AAAS Annual meeting is taking place in Vancouver, Canada from February 16-20, 2012 #AAASMtg.  The AAAS contains members of the various scientific disciplines.  One of those is Chemistry.  

Last year was 2011, The International Year ofChemistry!  Throughout the whole year, the accomplishments of Chemists and the field of Chemistry were celebrated at events nationwide and worldwide.  The four themes of IYC 2011, Environment, Energy, Materials, and Health, one for each quarter, were showcased by events and talks. 

Scientists worldwide celebrated IYC 2011 and held events to teach the public about the importance of not just Chemistry, but all of the STEM related fields and the Natural Sciences.   The AAAS did their part by having posters and banners letting everyone who visited the meeting know what year it was.  There were IYC related activities worked into the meeting schedule.  

NESACS demo of Global Water Experiment at
Cape Cod Science Cafe event IYC Q2
Photo credit: J. Maclachlan

A special 5^th theme, the Global Water Experiment, took place worldwide as scientists took measurements of the bodies of water around them and submitted that data to the global database.  The biggest portion of the GWE was a measurement of pH values of the bodies of water.  Other activities involved determining the salinity of the bodies of water, making a water distillery to supply clean water from polluted water, and purifying dirty water to make it safe to drink.

Bassam Shakhashiri, 2012 President of the American Chemical Society
 celebrates IYC with *Science is Fun* demo, CT Valley Section.
Photo credit: G. Ruger

As a Chemist, I know how important all the sciences are to the world around us.  Having attended the last two AAAS meetings, I can see a great diversity in the fields that other scientists choose to work in and to study.  The AAAS does a great job in bringing all these fields together in one place and exposing the attendees to areas that they do not see in their regular work.  While most scientific conferences are focused on a narrow range of topics related directly to that field, the AAAS does a great job showcasing many different fields. 

We, George Ruger (@gruger04) and Jennifer Maclachlan (@pidgirl) will be unable to attend this year’s meeting.  We will be in attendance next year when the meeting is in Boston, Massachusetts.  And we will be bringing our own brand of Chemistry to the event.  See some of our links below.  The New England area has many colleges and businesses, so there will be a large cross section of the sciences represented by local companies and professionals.  We look forward to seeing many of you from out of town in attendance as well.   

ACS Denver Tweetup: Chemical & Engineering News write up on this event

Greater Boston Mass Spec Discussion Group Annual Family Picnic

CT Valley Section 100 year anniversary celebration

IYC 2011 Halloween Style with the Mid-Hudson ACS

  

Cape Cod Science Cafe Kids event-a real success

@pidgirl's best in blog: IYC2011 month by month

Pittcon 2011 Tweetup

ACS Leadership Institute Tweetup 2012

There are many things to do after the meeting as well.  We hope that you all had the chance to enjoy Alison’s @AC_at_work   Social Media Soiree in Vancouver.  We hope to see it again in Boston!!  And perhaps next year you can see how we do social media events ACS style!  We promise to pick a different night of the week.  We are no match for Alison, and we know it! -George Ruger