Homeland security highlights ACS scientific meeting in New York Sept. 7-11

ACS, the world's largest scientific society, expects more than 9,000 scientists to attend the meeting. Nearly 7,000 papers have been submitted for presentation at more than 800 technical sessions, which will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 W. 34^th Street, and at various hotels around the city.

Among the meeting highlights will be a Presidential Event on Sunday, Sept. 7, celebrating the125^th anniversary of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the 80^th anniversary of Chemical & Engineering News. The special program also will include a Heroes of Chemistry celebration honoring breakthroughs in improving children's health.

Another Presidential Event is a symposium planned for Thursday, Sept. 11: Issues of Homeland Security: What Can Chemists Do? The program will focus on current homeland security issues and will identify potential terrorist threats that should be addressed with chemical expertise.

In addition to the scientific research, there also will be an exhibition Monday through Wednesday at the Javits Center by more than 300 companies providing goods and services of interest to the chemical community.

Other symposia and research papers on the New York program include:

Irradiation of food
Processes for developing cleaner gasoline and diesel fuels
The latest DNA research from a variety of international experts
The collapse of the World Trade Center: what scientists have learned about the consequences of dust clouds on health and the environment
New methods of protecting water quality

Homeland security topics include:

Homeland Defense: Analytical Support for First Responders
Advanced Analytical Techniques for Homeland Security
Body Armor for Emergency Responders: Personal Protective Equipment and Homeland Security
Monitoring of radioactivity to detect possible terrorist nuclear attacks

Members of the news media interested in attending the meeting can contact newsroom@acs.org to register, and visit the ACS Web site at http://www.chemistry.org/meetings for further information, including registration for housing.