Novel Solutions to Water Pollution at #acsdenver ACS ENVR Div Chemistry

Heading to #acsdenver? Check out one of the highlights of the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry program: Symposium featuring Novel Solutions to Water Pollution organized by my friend, S. Ahuja


Novel Solutions to Water Pollution
242nd ACS National Meeting and Exposition
Denver, CO
August 28-September 1, 2011

Sponsored by the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry

Clean water is becoming an ever-decreasing commodity across the developed and developing world. Considering that an estimated 1.2 billion people in the world use contaminated water for drinking, finding methods to prevent contamination and treat water through economic and sustainable means becomes an imperative. In the past, it was believed that known technology would be able to support the growing water needs of Earth’s residents without impairing the quality of the existing water resources. However, it became evident that this perception was false and that novel research, development and implementation of new technological solutions would be needed to reduce and mitigate the existing water pollution. Green chemistry offers scientifically sound and cost-effective solutions that could minimize release of contaminants into the hydrosphere, but also provide water pollution control and monitoring technologies applicable to point of release or point-of-use systems. This session focuses on topics related to novel green chemistry solutions applicable to monitoring, characterizing, reducing and treating a plethora of anthropogenic and naturally occurring water pollutants. Studies related to, but not limited to, the following topics can be presented:
• Monitoring potential water contaminants
• Degradation studies of various pollutants
• Green chemistry alternatives for disinfection of water
• Elimination of contaminants

Symposium Organizers:

 
Satinder (Sut) Ahuja
Ahuja Consulting


Kiril Hristovski
Environmental Technology
College of Technology and Innovation
Arizona State University

Nora Savage
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

ACS Denver Technical Session Locator 

Divisions	Return to: Divisions -> Sessions

ENVR

Dionysios Dionysiou

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Oral
Novel Solutions to Water Pollution - PM Session
Location:	Sheraton Denver
Room:	Vail
Organizers:	Satinder Ahuja, Kirill Hristovski, Nora Savage
Presiders:	Satinder Ahuja
Duration:	1:30 pm - 5:30 pm
	Pres Time	Pub #	Presentation Title
	1:30 pm		Introductory Remarks
	1:35 pm	285	Green chemistry solutions to water contamination Satinder Ahuja PhD
	1:55 pm	286	Natural treatment of groundwater in Southern California Assistant Professor Monica Palomo PhD, Professor and chair Alok Bhandari PhD
	2:15 pm	287	Comparative removal in wetland microcosms of trace organics and engineered nanomaterials from simulated wastewater Ms. Fariya Sharif, Prof. Paul Westerhoff PhD, PE
	2:35 pm	288	Polycation-tethered micelles as immobilized detergents Paul L Dubin, Ebru Kizilay
	2:55 pm	289	Full scale hybrid sequencing batch/membrane bioreactor for distributed water reclamation and reuse of domestic wastewater Jochen Henkel, Dave Vuono, Assistant Professor Tzahi Cath, Associate Professor Jörg Drewes
	3:15 pm		Intermission
	3:30 pm	290	Removing chemical contaminants from water: Kinetics of AOP radical reactions Professor Stephen P Mezyk
	3:50 pm	291	Advanced oxidation using radiolysis to understand the remediation of organic contaminant mixtures in secondary treated wastewater Julie Peller PhD, Stephen Mezyk PhD
	4:10 pm	292	Long-term trace organic pollutant biodegradation and adsorption in drinking water biological activated carbon filters Research Assistant Thomas L Zearley, Professor R Scott Summers
	4:30 pm	293	Multiple contaminant removal using Fe-impregnated granular activated carbons Paul Sylvester PhD, Kiril Hristovski PhD, Jerome Bozon
	4:50 pm	294	Ferrate: Green chemistry disinfectant and oxidant in water treatment Professor Virender K Sharma
	5:10 pm	295	Perchlorate-selective resins from hyperbranched macromolecules Dennis P Chen, C.J. Yu, Yanjian Wan, Jinn Chang, Mamadou S Diallo

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ENVR

Dionysios Dionysiou

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Poster
Novel Solutions to Water Pollution - EVE Session
Location:	Colorado Convention Center
Room:	Hall D
Organizers:	Satinder Ahuja, Kirill Hristovski, Nora Savage
Duration:	6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
	Pub #	Presentation Title
	395	Investigation of adsorption of Nonylphenol on carbon nanotube Professor Ching Yuan PhD, Graduate Student Yung-Dun Dai, Assistant Professor Chung-Hsuang Hung PhD
	396	Removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution by using calcium carbonate Prof. Dr. Mualla Oner, Dr. Ozlem Dogan, Serhan Galip
	397	Fate of hexavalent chromium in the aqueous environment: The role of fulvic acid and iron Dr. Tsanangurayi Tongesayi PhD, Aracelis Lantigua
	398	Novel method for the treatment of arsenic in drinking water Dr. Tsanangurayi Tongesayi PhD, Clara Abbey, Muhammad Ali
	399	Oxidation of azo-dyes in wastewaters by electro-generated Fenton's reagent Prof. Dr Mohamed M Ghoneim Ph D, Prof. Dr Hanaa S El-Desoky Ph D
	400	Efficient denitrification and mechanism study in an electrochemical-activated biofilm reactor Qian Xu, Yanqing Cong, Xiao yan Feng, Hua jun Feng, Dong sheng Shen
	401	Fabrication of composite Fe2O3 nanotube arrays for contaminants degradation and hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation Zhe Li, Yanqing Cong, Qi Wang, Qian Xu
	402	Low-temperature synthesis of water-dispersible anatase TiO2 with high photoactivity Jieying Jing, Jianyu Liang, Vicki L. Colvin, Wenying Li, William W. Yu
	403	Application of nanoscale zerovalent iron to decentralized drinking water systems Chunjian Shi, Daniel E Pomeroy, Pei C Chiu
	404	Arsenic occurrence in fluvial sediments: Challenges for planning sustainable water infrastructure in the Lluta river basin Paulina L Ríos BS, Paula A Guerra, Carlos A Bonilla PhD, Cristian R Escauriaza PhD, Gonzalo E Pizarro PhD, Pablo A Pasten PhD

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ENVR

Dionysios Dionysiou

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Oral
Novel Solutions to Water Pollution - AM Session
Novel Materials
Location:	Sheraton Denver
Room:	Vail
Organizers:	Satinder Ahuja, Kirill Hristovski, Nora Savage
Presiders:	Kirill Hristovski
Duration:	8:00 am - 12:00 pm
	Pres Time	Pub #	Presentation Title
	8:00 am		Introductory Remarks
	8:05 am	450	Evaluation of MnO2 bed filter for the removal of pharmaceutical compounds Mélissa Huguet, Hana Mestankova, Kristin Schirmer, Marie Deborde, Urs Von Gunten, Hervé Gallard
	8:25 am	451	In situ dechlorination in soil using stabilized zerovalent iron nanoparticles: Effectiveness and limitations Ms. Man Zhang, Dr. Dongye Zhao
	8:45 am	452	In situ immobilization of mercury in soil using stabilized iron sulfide nanoparticles Ms. Yanyan Gong, Dr. Yuanyuan Liu, Dr. Zhong Xiong, Dr. Dawn Kaback, Dr. Dongye Zhao
	9:05 am	453	Arsenic detoxification for sustainable water treatment by biomimetic and bioinspired catalysts with vitamin B12 Koichiro Nakamura
	9:25 am	454	Functionalized nanoparticles as removable membrane coatings Megan A Smith, David A Ladner PhD
	9:45 am		Intermission
	9:55 am	455	Mitigating membrane fouling using reactive electrochemical membranes Dr. Brian P. Chaplin, Dr. Orchideh Azizi, Lauren Glose, Ke-Han FanChiang, Dr. Metin Duran
	10:15 am	456	Titanium dioxide based hybrid ion exchange media for simultaneous removal of arsenic and nitrate Asst. Professor Kiril D. Hristovski Ph.D., Jennifer Elton, Professor Paul K. Westerhoff Ph.D.
	10:35 am	457	Selective removal of phosphorus combined with its recovery as a solid-phase fertilizer Professor Sukalyan Sengupta PhD, Arka Pandit
	10:55 am	458	WITHDRAWN
	11:15 am	459	Cyclic electrowinning/precipitation (CEP) system for the removal of mixtures of heavy metals from aqueous solutions Pengpeng Grimshaw PhD, Prof. Joseph M. Calo PhD, PE, Prof. George Hradil PhD
	11:35 am	460	Novel tailored activated carbon for hampering surface oligomerization of organic compounds PhD Graduate Student Liang Yan MS, Professor George Sorial PhD
	11:55 am		Concluding Remarks

Novel Solutions to Water Pollution at #acsdenver

Utilizing social media to continue the International Year of Chemistry mission beyond 2012

The American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry is co-programming with the Pittcon Technical Program and will include symposia, organized contributed sessions, and one poster session.

Utilizing social media to continue the International Year of Chemistry mission beyond 2012

Abstract Status: Accepted for Pittcon 2012 POSTER SLOT #23 03/12/12 By: Jennifer Maclachlan

The mission of the International Year of Chemistry is "to celebrate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind". Social media played an integral role in promoting the IYC; via IYC website,ACS Network, Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and blogging enabling worldwide participation and sharing. As a member of the American Chemical Society I have had the opportunity to volunteer my time to participate in numerous ACS IYC activities as well as my own IYC Cape Cod Science Cafes. Use of social media has proved successful in my mission as a Chemistry Ambassador: I spent 2011 posting IYC and chemistry related things/events/people to Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter etc.  Another mission of the IYC is to “generate enthusiasm of chemistry by young people”. The kids at my local YMCA are looking forward to participating in the world’s largest chemistry experiment: the Global Water Experiment. My goal is to support chemistry education on Cape Cod by inspiring the attendees from my IYC Cape Cod Science Cafes to volunteer at K-12 school(s) during National Lab Day, Chemists celebrate Earth Day, National Chemistry Week. I envision utilizing this group of chemists to create a mentoring chain of chemistry outreach in 2012 and beyond.  It is critical to learn from the lessons that the IYC taught us about the public perception of chemistry. For instance, the IYC had its own category in the TV show JEOPARDY!; all of the contestants shied away from the IYC column and only when it was nearly the last choice did they select it. At farmer’s markets across the Nation, produce is labeled as “chemical free”. The question and focus of this session addresses how can we change the public perception of chemistry? How do we keep up our momentum without the IYC branding?  By utilizing social media: connecting, sharing and getting the message out there that chemistry is essential for life.

Recent Discussion from the AIHA Linked-In Group about the use of a PID

American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Linked In Group Discussion

This paper describes the use of a PID Analyzers Model 102 photoionization analyzer with a long life 11.7 eV lamp to measure chlorinated HC including carbon tetrachloride.

Measurement of chlorinated HC with an 117 PID.pdf gasanalysis.blogspot.com

Measurement of chlorinated HC with an 117...

3 days ago

4 comments

Gershon Schwartz • An interesting article indeed.

Still I wouldn't use a PID if I had more than one solvent as it would be extremely difficult to differentiate between them especially if one was a chlorinated hydrocarbon and the other was a non chlorinated solvent. A PID would be useful if you are doing a general survey to determine presence of solvents in an area were you already know qualitatively what exists in the matrix. But then an FID or an FPD would do the same job why use a PID ? A more difficult question is why would you want to do such a survey at all? I have used TO-17 or T0-15 for surveys for years and in my opinion the results much more accurate results albeit you have to wait for the laboratory analysis.

As I said in the beginning of this discussion if you must have immediate results I would use a portable GC-MS . Yes its heavier ,more expensive and difficult to use, but its also more accurate and the results coming from it definitely would stand up in court were as I sincerely doubt if results from a PID scanner would.

see http://www.epa.gov/ttnamti1/airtox.html#compendium for all the ambient methodology when you need to use a Mass spec otherwise http://www.osha.gov/dts/sltc/methods/organic/org007/org007.html or
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-154/

Although we will never get one opinion in here ,maybe someone from NIOSH or OSHA is listening and could weigh in??

2 days ago

Jack Driscoll • A portable mass spectrometer is a nice piece of equipment but at $100K, it is not an analyzer that every industrial hygienist has at his or her disposal. The PID with an 11.7 lamp, on the other hand is about $3K and many industrial hygienists do have PID’s. The 11.7 lamp is needed for detecting many chlorinated hydrocarbons since they have higher ionization potentials than 10.6 eV. The FID has a very poor response to chlorinated hydrocarbons like carbon tetrachloride. This chemical used to be used as a fire extinguisher on airplanes. The FPD’s on the market respond to S or P but not Cl-HC.
The main advantage of a PID is that it does respond to many compounds so one does not need a specific analyzer for every solvent that they use. The PID has a fast response (90% in 1 second) and can detect very low levels of VOC’s (ppb) so it can be used to find problem areas very quickly. Once an area is mapped, a charcoal tube sample is collected in the “hot” spots and returned to the laboratory for a detailed analysis of the chemicals in the area by various OSHA methods. In fact, the portable PID’s are used by OSHA to determine sampling locations during their surveys of industrial plants. With a PID to determine which problem areas to sample, one would have a more accurate assessment of the site.

17 hours ago

Gershon Schwartz • Very good and clear explanation.

I agree with you 100%.

The right tool in the right hand at the right time,

Thanks, this is the good kind of quality discussions we should have here.

Have a nice day

9 hours ago

Jack Driscoll • Thanks for your comments Gershon.

45 minutes ago

Gershon Schwartz • Thanks for your comments also.
After living thirty years of Industrial Hygiene and Atmospheric Science you
must understand that I have heard many long tales of misuse of equipment
and then had to eat the dust myself. How many times have a heard people
trying to convince a Judge that they measured concentrations with whatever
handheld sensor and that a 3 second measurement was equivalent to a
measurement over 30 minute average period which was required by law???
This discussion started before I was born in 1955 with Leidel and Leidel
when people were trying to prove that you could simulate worker exposure by
setting up and number of sensors in a factory, measuring the time the
worker was in each area, integrating between time and exposure and hockus
pockus you get an exposure value which is supposed to represent reality.
Well in reality this method didn't work in 1955 and it doesn't work now
either.
Then again as you explained very clearly there are advantages to a
screening tool and it always comes down to the right tool in the right hand
at the right time.
Thanks for the opportunity to discuss a real hot potato and for handling it
in a very professional way.

Hope that we will have many more such discussions here.

Best Regards
Gershon Schwartz

3 days ago

Stepan Reut • We use PID and FID detectors put sequentially on GC. Absolutely priceless configuration for detection and quantification of light aromatic in complex mixtures (like naphtha).

1 day ago

Gershon Schwartz • In the lab or in the field? Used to be a portable gc by a company named
sentex weighed over 20 kg and gave me a slipped disc. Then there was the
Photovav gc pid which wasn't very stable in the field. Does anybody know if
there are any portable gc's available today? Seems to me like another great
idea on paper that never worked in the field?


Best regards

1 day ago

Stepan Reut • Sorry, I was not clear in my wording. My GC is custom configured lab unit.

1 day ago

Jack Driscoll • Stephan- Do you have any interesting PID?FID chromatograms and or applications that we could use on our gcdetector blog?

1 day ago

Stepan Reut • FID+PID configuration gives unique selectivity for low molecular weight compounds: C1-C10. Methanol gives zero solvent pick on PID detector, so you can see traces on C2-C3 unsaturated compounds (Vinyl Chloride) which would be otherwise covered under MeOH.

Let me check what I can find for your blog.

1 day ago

Stepan Reut • As for field PID, I had an idea how to increase selectivity, but never could test it. It looks like one can do crude separation of VOC's based on the boiling point. If you insert a 100mg Carbosieve trap in PID probe, you eliminate all organic starting from C3 and up. Charcoal trap would eliminate everything from C4 and up, XAD2 traps C6 and up, Sulfuric acid on ceramic - eliminates amines, and so on. With some experimenting this can be developed into simple field chromatography: PID with disposable packed column for fractional separation of the VOC's . If one plots dPID/dt you have a real chromatogram from a handheld PID

1 day ago

Jack Driscoll • see the recent blog on PID/FID

21 hours ago

Rob Hill • We used an 11.7 eV lamp PID years ago when doing leak detection (i.e., when we knew what the constituents/mass fractions were in the process lines, tanks, etc.) You have to be very aware of the relative response of each chemical with regard to whichever lamp you use. If I remember correctly, carbon tet and formaldehyde could be seen by the PID with the higher eV bulb, but you still had to multiply your reading by the response factor, which was about 10 for these compounds. Which means that you're being exposed to 10 times the concentration of what the reading on the instrument is telling you. The manufacturer can provide you with a table of response factors, so ask for them.

If you need a good field instrument or something accurate but portable, I'd recommend the Miran SapphIRe - it uses infrared spectroscopy and the XL model has a comprehensive library that calibrates the unit to 150 compounds for unknown identifications and can be customized for whatever you are looking for. (Here's the spec sheet)

It's a whopper to carry around but very helpful in instances where we needed to know the actual concentrations (or as nearly as we could get). The Miran is cheaper than a portable GC-MS (costs around $25K to buy), but with all these detectors, you can rent them from folks like Ashtead or Geotech for a reasonable fee... Lastly, as Gershon mentioned above, TO-15 or TO-17 canister sampling can be done, and if you are in a hurry, there are mobile labs that can do these analyses on-site (such as H&P Mobile Geochemistry and Con-Test) using Tedlar bags and/or Summa canisters.



 

Add a comment...  Updated as of 8/15/11 by Posted by PID Girl: Jennifer Maclachlan

#acsdenver Tweetup at the Fall National Meeting

Join fellow #acsdenver tweeps at the Tweet-up at the Fall National Meeting. LODO's boasts the "best rooftop patio(s) in Colorado" and I've got tables reserved on the rooftop under the name: "ACS Tweetup". 

It's an Official IYC Event. Click here for details.

When:Before SCI-MIX Monday 8/29 5:30pm-7pm

Where:LODO's Bar & Grille

1946 Market St, Denver, CO 80202

  

Who to follow on Twitter for #acsdenver tweets: follow this list and please let me know who needs to be added.

 

Directions  -  Print

Just a 6 minute walk to SCI-MIX at the Denver Convention Center, join in the fun and meet the tweeps from the #acsdenver Twitterfeed.

Join in the conversation in person at #acsdenver and let's inspire folks to get out, volunteer and celebrate National Chemistry Week #NCW in their own community during the fourth quarter of the International Year of Chemistry #IYC2011. Go Chemistry Ambassadors #chem_amb!

RSVP via Schmap here

Distinguished Women in Chemistry / Chemical Engineering at #iupac

Congratulations to Carolyn Ribes and Nancy Jackson for being two of the twenty-three women honored at the Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering at the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Puerto Rico, an official International Year of Chemistry event.

"The symposium is planned for August 2, 2011 at the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Puerto Rico, and will also inlcude the award presentation to the 23 Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, and a public event, a re-enactment play of Marie Curie by professional actress, Susan Frontczak.

"Distinguished Women in Chemistry / Chemical Engineering" project, supported by an ACS Challenge Grant, will:

1) host a day-long symposium at the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress featuring internationally-prominent chemists speaking to the topic, "Are women still underrepresented in science?";

2) recognize the recipients of the honor, "Distinguished Women in Chemistry / Chemical Engineering", an award to acknowledge and promote the work of women chemists/chemical engineers worldwide;

3) publish web-based interviews with these Distinguished Chemists/Chemical Engineers to share their research and roles as chemists/chemical engineers in their respective countries;

4) host a public event at the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress - a play re-enactment of Marie Curie by professional actress, Susan M. Frontczak. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/89/8921sci2.html

Prof. Ingrid Montes, Principal Investigator; Janet Bryant, Co-organizer; Judith Cohen, Core Project Team Member"

Posted by Janet Bryant original IYC Activity Listing

43rd IUPAC World Chemistry Congress Pages 24 & 25 from the FINAL PROGRAM describing the Distinguished Women of Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Symposium and Recognition Ceremony on August 2, 2011:
Pages 24 and 25 From Final_Program

Greater Boston Mass Spec Discussion Group Annual Summer Picnic

Please join the Greater Boston Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group (GBMSDG) & the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) on Thursday August 25, 2011 for a picnic in celebration of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). 

Listed in The Chelmsford Patch's top 5 things to do August 25. See here. They were kind enough to send a photographer to the event.

EVENT INFO:

Thursday August 25, 2011

1pm-5pm

22 Alpha Road

Chelmsford, MA  Map

Cost: FREE

Registration: Required to plan event catering

Bring your Family & Friends. 

Featuring kid and adult friendly green-science experiments led by the Chair of the Mid-Hudson Section of the American Chemical Society.

Sponsored by GBMSDG and NESACS

Register today for this social and educational event.

REGISTRATION LINK

George Ruger, Chair Mid-Hudson ACS and Jessica taste test the chemistry made ice cream!

Ladies and Gentlemen, this banana IS frozen ie) more fun with Liquid Nitrogen

Making glue from scratch: filtration step

Pennies for PUR, National Chemistry Week and Pittcon

Group project: making glue

Wicked awesome lab coats...courtesy of George

Sustainability of Water Quality et al at the 43rd IUPAC World Chemistry Congress

Ahuja & Charpentier, Chair ACS Board of Dir

My first visit to ACS HQ

Earlier this Spring, I met my friend, Sut ie)  Satinder Ahuja at the American Chemical Society headquarters in Washington, DC during the Sparkle Local Section Public Relations Chair Training. I introduced Sut to my husband at the Saturday evening reception. They had barely finished shaking hands before Sut rushed off to the corner of the room to make a phone call from the hotel house phone. Maybe three minutes passed and then Sut's wife appears and a lively conversation about the adventures of the day ensues between our spouses who were left alone to explore the city whilst Sut and I were fully immersed in intensive PR training and too bad that they didn't know there were other spouses and that they could have gotten together and done some sight-seeing and were they both going to Denver? etc. The next morning at the breakfast meeting while chatting with our fellow trainees we discovered even more spouses had tagged along for the trip!

Chemistry Ambassadors at the CC Sci-Cafe 2: Tanner, NESACS Chair-Elect, Driscoll, Me, Nocera, Hoffman, NESACS IYC Chair

I had just flown into DC that morning still soaring from the success of my second Cape Cod Science Cafe in celebration of Q2 of the International Year of Chemistry where Dan Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was my keynote speaker.  I was all geared up to speak on the subject of Social Media at Sparkle and surely couldn't contain my enthusiasm. Sut then told me about his upcoming symposium on the Sustainability of Water Quality at IUPAC in Puerto Rico. We exchanged contact information and I told Sut that I would utilize my social media vehicles to publicize his participation at IUPAC. I followed up with Sut when I returned to Cape Cod and now with the IUPAC conference looming near it is time to tell everyone about it. My intention was to  include Sut's information although now reading through the program information and seeing what an incredible line-up of speakers  that IUPAC has organized I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dan Nocera was speaking, ACS President Nancy Jackson whom I had the pleasure meeting at the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society's February 2011 monthly meeting, ACS President Elect, Bassam Shakhashiri as well as seven Nobel Laureates each of whom are delivering plenary lectures! I can see that it is a true privilege to be included in this comprehensive technical program.

I'm star-struck meeting ACS President Nancy Jackson

So I ask the question: Heading to Puerto Rico for the 43rd IUPAC World Chemistry Congress? Then here are some highlights (featuring Sut, Dan and Nancy of course) from the scientific program that are not to be missed if you are in attendance!

5. CEN500- “Sustainability of Water Quality”, Hemda Garelick (Middlesex Univ. UK), Satinder Ahuja (Ahuja Consulting, USA)

Sponsors: IUPAC Chemistry and the Environment Division (Division VI), ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry, and Global Innovation Imperative (Gii): A Program of the American Chemical Society and the Society of Chemical Industry  

 

Abstract: Failure of safety measures relating to production, utilization, and disposal of many inorganic/organic compounds can cause contamination of water supplies. A number of water contaminants can also arise from the materials we use frequently. The symposium will address the following topics:

Global water quality issues
Monitoring contaminants in water
Remediation of various contaminants

9. AES400- “The Chemistry of Solar Energy”, Daniel Nocera (MIT, USA), Jorge Colón (UPR-Río Piedras)

Speakers:
1. Dan Nocera (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)- "Personalized Solar Energy for the Non-Legacy World"
2. Tom Moore (Arizona State University)- "Combining physics, chemistry and biology to transcend evolutionary constraints on photosynthesis."
3. Fraser Armstrong (University of Oxford)- "The importance of understanding enzymes at the detailed electrochemical level, for realizing future biohydrogen production and developing catalysts for energy conversions"
4. Ted Betley (Harvard University)
5. Matt Kanan (Stanford University)
6. Nate Lewis (California Institute of Technology)

Sponsors: ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry

Abstract: The Chemistry of Solar Energy symposium will cover the most-current fundamental research and contributions being made to solve the energy and climate crisis taping solar energy as a sustainable energy source. Chemistry is providing innovation through creative, new ideas to improve our life and secure a clean and sustainable future through solar energy.  The symposium will include the last research on artificial photosynthesis, multielectron catalysis, biohydrogen production, oxygen-evolving catalysts, carbon-dioxide reduction, enzyme-based fuel cells, and photoelectrochemical cells.

22. CEH500- “Are Women Still Underrepresented in Science?”, Ingrid Montes (UPR-Río Piedras), Janet L. Bryant (Scientist/Engineer IV National Security Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Chair, ACS Women Chemist Committee)

Speakers:
1. Nancy Jackson -  2011 ACS President, USA
2. Carolyn Ribes - Netherlands
3. Nicole Moreau – 2010 IUPAC President, France
4. Vanderlan Bolzani – Past President, Brazilian Chemical Society, Brazil
5. Natalia P Tarasova –Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology, Russia                                   

Sponsors: ACS Challenge Grant

Abstract: Over the years the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has provoke worldwide discussion. Researches had offered possible explanations that include; education environments, lack of roles models, poor preparation and lack of encouragement in STEM subjects among others.  It had also been suggested that underrepresentation is mainly a cultural phenomenon and that policies can affect workforce diversity. With this in mind and providing an opportunity to recognize the contributions of women to chemistry a full day program at the 2011 IUPAC World Congress is proposed. The full day symposium will include discussion of statistics in different countries, possible causes of underrepresentation and the ongoing challenges that are faced worldwide. Each presenter will also discuss the attitudes, behaviors, opportunities and resources that lead to their success.

To support the objective of the IYC 2011 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Mme. Marie Sklodowska Cure – the Play A Living History of Marie Curie by Susan Marie Frontcsak, Storysmith® will be presented.

Support from ACS groups: Women Chemists Committee (WCC), Young Chemist Committee (YCC), International Activities Committee (IAC), Committee on Minority Affairs (CMA), Committee on Chemists with Disabilities (CWD)

I will not be in Puerto Rico for this amazing conference whose theme is "Chemistry Bridging Innovation among the Americas and the World" but I will be in Denver at the Fall ACS National Meeting. Click here for information on the Denver Tweet-up (if you've brought your spouse to the meeting make sure to bring them to the Tweetup), follow along on Twitter using the #acsdenver hashtag and for specific location information on my poster presentations at the meeting: Cape Cod Celebrates the International Year of Chemistry and What's in the Air Now? Photochemical Smog Components in Air using a portable analyzer.