Email Print Share


Division of Chemistry Newsletter No. 9
September, 2006

NEW DIVISION DIRECTOR

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Luis Echegoyen as Division Director for NSF Chemistry (CHE) effective August 16, 2006.  Dr. Echegoyen comes to the Foundation from Clemson University where he served as Chair for the Department of Chemistry. Prior academic experience includes serving as Associate Professor and Professor at the University of Miami; Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park; Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Puerto Rico and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  He also conducted research at Union Carbide Corporation, Bound Brook, New Jersey.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Puerto Rico.

Dr. Echegoyen maintains an active research program with interests including Fullerene electrochemistry, monolayer films, supramolecular chemistry, and spectroscopy; endohedral Fullerene chemistry and electrochemistry; carbon nanoonions, synthesis, derivatization and fractionation; and chemical and active cation transport through membranes.  He has published numerous research papers and books.

In addition, Dr. Echegoyen has extensive past experience with NSF, including serving as a Program Officer in Chemical Dynamics Program; a member of the Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering (CEOSE); and a member of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee.  In addition, he has served as principal investigator for several research grants supported by NSF. 

We are pleased to have Dr. Echegoyen join the NSF staff and welcome him.  He can be found in Suite 1055-S, by phone at 703-292-8840 or by email at echegoyen@nsf.gov.

We wish to thank Dr. Art Ellis for serving with distinction as Division Director from June 2002 until June 2006.  His active engagement in developing new programs integrating research and education has set the Division on a sound course for the future.  Dr. Ellis’s new position as Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California San Diego began in September 2006.

RECEPTION AT THE ACS NATIONAL MEETING IN SAN FRANCISCO

We invite you to meet the new Division Director Luis Echegoyen and speak with NSF staff members at a reception and poster session to be held at the upcoming ACS National Meeting in San Francisco on Monday, September 11, 2006, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Moscone Convention Center, Room 104.  Carl Lineberger, University of Colorado, and Chair of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee, will introduce Luis.  The following NSF staff members and MPS-AC members plan to be available to meet with you informally:  Ron Christensen, Mike Clarke, Kathy Covert, Ken Doxsee, Luis Echegoyen, Mostafa El-Sayed, Colby Foss, Joan Frye, Janice Hicks, Bob Kuczkowski, Raima Larter, Carl Lineberger, Ty Mitchell, Charles Pibel, Marty Pomerantz, Zeev Rosenzweig, and Chantel Sabus.  Michael Pritchard from the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering will also attend. Colleagues from the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education will include:  Susan Hixson, Eileen Lewis, Hal Richtol and Pratibha Varma-Nelson. 

As part of the event, there will be posters highlighting recent divisional activities including the “Workshop on Building Strong Chemistry Departments through Gender Equity” (organized by Cynthia Friend of Harvard University and Ken Houk of UCLA), the Committee on the Advancement of  Women Chemists (COACh) (organized by Geri Richmond of the University of Oregon) and several ADVANCE Institutional Transformation projects (ADVANCE is an NSF program for broadening participation by women in the sciences and engineering).   There will also be a poster describing the new program to enhance Cooperative Activities in Chemistry between German and US Investigators. German Science Foundation (DFG) program officer Georg Bechtold will be present.  A video about CHE-supported work on mapping science by Katy Boerner of the Indiana University will be shown.  The recent NSF-supported workshop on Sustainability and Chemistry will be highlighted in a poster prepared by co-organizer Vicki Grassian of the University of Iowa.  A town meeting will be held from noon until 1:00 p.m. as part of the reception.  Guests Cynthia Friend, Geri Richmond and Vicki Grassian will be present at the reception to present and answer questions about the posters.  This is an excellent opportunity to share information and perspectives on developments in the chemistry community and at NSF.  Refreshments will be available at the reception.

PERSONNEL CHANGES AND AVAILABILITY OF POSITIONS WITHIN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY

In addition to the new Division Director, the Division welcomes Colby Foss, George Kenyon, Jeffrey Krause, Cynthia McClure and Wade Sisk as rotators. Colby Foss comes from Trex Enterprises, Hawaii and is working in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program.  George Kenyon will begin January 2007 in the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program, coming from the University of Michigan.  Jeffrey Krause, of the University of Florida, is working in the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program.  Cynthia McClure from Montana State University will begin October 2006 in the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program.  Wade Sisk joins us from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and is working in Chemical Instrumentation.  

We thank George Janini and Richard Foust for their service as CHE rotators in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry and Chemical Education Programs, respectively.  George is retiring and Rich is headed back to Northern Arizona University.  We also thank  Lee Magid for her distinguished service as Senior Science Advisor in the division for the past two years (Lee was also acting Executive Officer for part of that time).   Lee will be enjoying retirement in Gig Harbor, Washington.  Science Assistant Kari McCarron has moved to a new job with MIT at their office here in Washington DC, and we thank her for valuable contributions while in CHE.  Ron Christensen is moving from the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program to lead the Chemical Education part of Special Projects.  A complete listing of current staff may be found at http://www.nsf.gov/staff/staff_list.jsp?org=CHE.

The Division of Chemistry asks you to consider serving as a program officer should your circumstances permit it, and to help us identify other individuals who might serve in this capacity. Rotators are responsible for planning, coordinating, and managing programs that support research, education, and human resource development in the chemical sciences. Applicants should have a Ph.D. or equivalent training in the chemical sciences, extensive knowledge of one or more chemistry subfields, and at least six years of successful independent research activity. Applicants should be familiar with the chemistry community and have administrative experience. Other important attributes are strong verbal and written communication skills, organizational skills, facility in using technology tools, and the ability to work effectively on a team. If you are interested in serving as a rotator, please see  http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/careers/science.jsp.

About half of our 16 program officers are rotators, and they bring fresh insights to our work at NSF. Rotators can maintain their research programs while working at the Foundation. NSF provides time, travel resources, and use of technology to enable rotators to stay in touch with co-workers at their home institutions. Rotator positions are typically held for one or two years, but other arrangements are possible. Rotators not only serve the community and help to shape chemistry, but they also have excellent opportunities for professional development and establishment of new research directions upon returning to their laboratories.   Applicants interested in rotational positions should send an email describing their interest and CV to Luis Echegoyen at echegoyen@nsf.gov.  NSF is an equal opportunity employer committed to employing a highly qualified staff that reflects the diversity of our nation.

NEW NSF CHEMISTRY-SUPPORTED WORKSHOP REPORTS

Chemistry and Sustainability, Arlington VA, June 2006, Organized by Vicki Grassian, University of Iowa and Gerald Meyer, Johns Hopkins University
http://www.chem.uiowa.edu/research/sustainability/index.html

Chemistry and Sustainability:  Young Investigators, Richland WA, November 2005, Organized by Geoffrey Coates, Cornell University and Heather Allen, Ohio State University:
http://www.chem.cornell.edu/gc39/nsf/

Building Strong Academic Chemistry Departments through Gender Equity, Arlington, VA, January 2006 (co-sponsored by NSF, NIH, and DOE), Organized by Cynthia Friend, Harvard University and Ken Houk, UCLA.  http://www.chem.harvard.edu/groups/friend/GenderEquityWorkshop/ 

COMMITTEE OF VISITORS

The triannual Committee of Visitors meeting will be held for the Division of Chemistry in February 2007.  The Chair for this meeting will be Professor Geraldine Richmond of the University of Oregon.  The report from the previous COV and initial response (2004) may be found at http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/activities/cov/covs.jsp#mps. The January 2005 update can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/mps/advisory/responses_cov/che-actions-01-31-05-04-COV-report.pdf. The Division welcomes additional feedback from its community in preparation for the 2007 COV.  Please send to chemplans@nsf.gov.

REQUEST FOR QUALIFIED REVIEWERS

The Division of Chemistry seeks to enhance its pool of qualified reviewers of proposals. We invite researchers in the chemical sciences who have not previously reviewed for the Division of Chemistry but are interested in providing this service to contact us by visiting our website at
http://www.nsf.gov/mps/che/reviewer/reviewer_info.jsp and completing the online registration form.  Be sure to indicate that you are “willing to travel,” if you are interested in serving as a panelist.  We welcome qualified reviewers from academic, industrial, and government employment, as well as from other countries. It is important to recognize that the National Science Foundation reserves the right to choose reviewers. While we are unable to assure individuals that they will be asked to review proposals, we do attempt to call upon as many qualified reviewers as possible, and we try to limit the number of requests that we make to any single individual, recognizing the many demands on our reviewers’ time.

NSF CUSTOM NEWS SERVICES

In order to receive NSF program announcements, vacancy announcements, newsletters or other information as soon as they are published, you can subscribe to MyNSF. You pre-select as many key words as you like; every time an NSF document containing one or more of your key words is published, you will receive email notification with a link to the appropriate web page. For further information, please visit the MyNSF website: http://www.nsf.gov/mynsf/.