Welcome, attendees, to the 261st ACS National Meeting! PMSE was hoping to greet visitors in Texas (my home state) this Spring. San Antonio is beautiful this time of year, and the food alone is worth the trip. But we are happy to have your participation in our second virtual National Meeting. Its format has been enhanced significantly from Fall 2020 to feature more live presentations and interactions. During the first two weeks, ACS will host 100+ live technical sessions, as well as a Society-wide “large poster session” on April 21st, and continued on-demand content in weeks 3 and 4.
A year late, we’re celebrating “Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century.” Polymeric materials and science will take center stage at the meeting Opening Session and in a Committee on Science-organized Presidential Symposium, “Chemistry and the Future of Plastics.” The meeting program will be available at the ACS 261st National Meeting Website. The PMSE website will also feature meeting-related information.
PMSE Technical Program: Live-streamed technical sessions will be held April 5-9 and 12-15. Our program features >400 oral presentations and >100 posters. Sessions will be moderated and include Q&A:
- 2020 ACS Award for Team Innovation: Symposium in Honor of Otto Berbee, Jaap den Doelder, Lori Kardos, Teresa Karjala, and Joe Ortega
- Advances in Functionalized Polyolefin Synthesis
- Bio-inspired Macromolecular Materials
- Clay/Polymer Composites: Nanoclays and Other Natural Nanoproducts
- 2020 Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science & Engineering Symposium, in Honor of Ahmed Abuelyaman, Peter Bissinger, Christopher Bowman, Bradley Craig, Karsten Dede, Timothy Dunbar, Adrian Eckert, Babu Gaddam, Guy Joly, Larry Krepski, Joe Oxman, and Timothy Scott
- 2021 Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science & Engineering Symposium, in Honor of Eric W. Cochran, R. Christopher Williams, and Donald Sjogren
- 2020 Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science
- Fundamentals of Macromolecular Crystallization
- Fundamentals of Polymer Mechanics
- Macromolecular Materials for Structural Applications
- Polymers for the Environment
- Designing Polymers for Electrical Energy Conversion and Storage
- General Papers/New Concepts in Polymeric Materials
- PMSE/POLY Poster Session (+ PMSE Sci-Mix posters)
PMSE/POLY Plenary Lecture & Award Reception: Our headliner event will be Wednesday April 14, 5-7 p.m. (Pacific Time). Prof. Tim Lodge, University of Minnesota, will present an address on “Pillars of Polymer Science.” Registration information will be released closer to the event date. We will be celebrating these awardees:
- PMSE Fellows: Gregory Beaucage, Cristina Thomas, Bryan D. Vogt
- Doolittle Award: Enrique Gomez
- Cooperative Research Award (2020): Ahmed Abuelyaman, Peter Bissinger, Christopher Bowman, Bradley Craig, Karsten Dede, Timothy Dunbar, Adrian Eckert, Babu Gaddam, Guy Joly, Larry Krepski, Joe Oxman, and Timothy Scott
- Cooperative Research Award (2021): Eric W. Cochran, R. Christopher Williams, and Donald Sjogren
- ACS Award for Team Innovation: Otto Berbee, Jaap den Doelder, Lori Kardos, Teresa Karjala, Joe Ortega
- PMSE Best Poster Awards (Fall 2020): Whitney Loo, Chan Ho Park, Isaac Shin
- Distinguished Service Award: Melissa Grunlan
- Past Chair Award: Eva Harth
- PMSE Graduate Student Travel Awards: TBA
The April 6th, 5-7 p.m. (Pacific Time) session of “Advances in Functionalized Polyolefin Synthesis” will honor our long-time PMSE colleague and volunteer Abhimanyu Patil, who passed away in 2020.
Poster Session: Our traditional PMSE/POLY Poster Session will be held as part of the ACS-wide poster event Wednesday, April 21st. Each poster will have its own “breakout room” for display and live interaction with the presenter. The poster “rooms” will be placed within group Zoom rooms mimicking physical poster session rows.
Special Events:Hanging with friends at the PMSE Desk is a meeting tradition! Join our live Zoom Membership Desk at the times shown below. You can join PMSE (first year free!), check your membership status, see an award slideshow, chat with officers and volunteers, and possibly snag some fun giveaways. New members will be entered in a raffle to win STEM toys. The Desk can be accessed via PMSE’s program page on the ACS Meeting website. April 7 is Student Chapter Day – a great opportunity to network with faculty and chapter members from other institutions. Our first 10 student Desk visitors that day will win packages of PMSE swag!
PMSE Zoom Membership Desk Hours (Pacific Time)
| Mon 4/5 4-5 pm | Thu 4/8 7-8 am | Tue 4/13 8-9 am | |
| Tue 4/6 12-1 pm | Fri 4/9 12-1 pm | Thu 4/15 8-9 am | |
| Wed 4/7 4-5 pm | Mon 4/12 4-5 pm |
Please check PMSE’s program page on the ACS Meeting website for additional, symposium-specific networking events.
Not sure where to start once you’ve joined? A new member virtual cocktail hour will be held Thursday, April 15th from 4-5 p.m. Pacific Time (special Zoom link details will be provided during membership enrollment and via email).
Follow PMSE on Twitter (@acspmse) and Facebook (facebook.com/acspmse) and add your comments to the collective meeting experience. #ACSspring2021
Membership Promotions: The first year of PMSE membership is always free. New members joining April 5-16 will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card. We are also having a special Member-Get-A-Member campaign during the meeting. The first 100 PMSE members who refer a newly joining member will also receive a Starbucks card. Contact Eileen Ernst (eernst61@gmail.com) or check our website to participate in these promotions. And please consider enlisting as a volunteer, we’ll need all hands on deck when in-person meetings resume.
Special thanks to our PMSE programming team. The Program Committee (Jen Schaefer, Adam Burns, and Dhriti Nepal) and our administrative assistant, Eileen Ernst, kept us on track through many uncertainties and delays. Our symposium organizersalso showed exceptional perseverance and flexibility: Yifan Dong, Eva Harth, Damien Guironnet, Changle Chen, Bradley Carrow, Matthew Webber, Phillip Messersmith, Sébastien Lecommandoux, Neha Kamat, Yuri Lvov, Nicholas Kotov, Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky, Liqun Zhang, Atsushi Takahara, Cristina Thomas, Semra Colak Atan, Surya Mallapragada, Erik Hagberg, John Gilmer, Jason Jenkins, Chad Snyder, Adam Burns, Edwin Chan, Yoan Simon, Hilmar Koerner, John Connell, Ranji Vaidyanathan, Matthew Celina, Margaret Sobkowicz-Kline, Wan-Ting Chen, Jennifer Schaefer, and Jodie Lutkenhaus. Thank you all!
Enjoy the meeting, see you in “San Antonio!”
Lisa Baugh
Chair-Elect and Program Chair, PMSE