Northeastern Section

American Chemical Society, Inc.

The Gustavus John Esselen Award Committee

11 Thaxter Street                                              Phone  (617) 620-8315

Hingham, MA  02043                                             Email  JPiperGrady@gmail.com

                                                                                                                        August 15, 2021

TO:  ACS Section and Division Chairs, Editors of Newsletters, Industry Leaders, Research Directors, and Chairs of Academic Departments

FROM:  Dr. Karen Allen, 2022 Chair of the Esselen Award Committee

SUBJECT:  Request for Nominations for the 2022 Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest

The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society is pleased to invite nominations of worthy candidates for the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest.  This award recognizes a chemist for outstanding achievement in scientific and technical work that contributes to the public well-being.  The award consists of a $5000 prize and a medal of recognition.  The presentation takes place at an award ceremony in April at Harvard University, followed by a formal address by the awardee.  The tentative date for this ceremony is April 14, 2022.

The award was established in 1987 to honor the memory of Gustavus John Esselen, a distinguished scientist, entrepreneur and member of the Northeastern Section.  The first awardees were F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario J. Molina, who subsequently received the Nobel Prize.  Since then, other Esselen Award recipients have also been Nobel awardees and many have been recipients of the most prestigious awards in their various fields.

Please note: any field of chemistry or affiliation is appropriate for nomination. The primary consideration of the committee is that the scientific work has been an important contribution to the public well-being and that the work’s significant value to society has become apparent within the last five years or so.

This letter is to seek nominations of colleagues whose work meets the criteria and purpose of the award. The enclosed brochure provides more detail on the nature of the award, a list of previous awardees as well as the criteria and procedure for nominations.  Additional information is available at http://www.nesacs.org/awards_esselen.html. 

The deadline for nominations is October 15, 2021.

We would appreciate you posting the award notice and circulating the information as appropriate.  Thank you in advance for your interest.

The Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, & the Arts (Office of URSA) is excited to announce this year’s call for faculty submissions for the 2021-2022 URSA Engage Program, which is designed to provide first- and second-year students, and transfer students in their first year at OSU, opportunities to pursue research or a creative activity under the guidance of an OSU faculty mentor.  

The mentor summary submission form can be found at this link. 

Below are the steps involved for the URSA Engage Program. More detailed information about eligibility and deadlines can be found on our website. 

1. Faculty submit the mentor summary form by Friday, October 15, 2021 at 11:59pm. 
2. The opportunities submitted by faculty will be posted on our website for students to view on October 22^nd. 
3. Students will read through mentor summaries and fill out a form that will be emailed to faculty mentors they are interested in working with.  
4. Faculty and students will then discuss shared interests and whether they want to work together on a project. We encourage faculty to host group Zoom session(s) to chat with students prior to allowing them to apply.  
5. Faculty will ultimately decide which student(s) they will allow to move forward with an application to the URSA Engage Program.
6. Students who have secured a mentor will then apply to the URSA Engage Program. The Office of URSA will evaluate student applications. 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We appreciate your partnership and willingness to mentor students early in their careers at OSU!  

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is seeking outstanding candidates for the Paul D. Boyer / Donald J. Cram / Willard F. Libby Teacher-Scholar program.  This program provides both teaching and research opportunities for recent Ph.D. graduates (Ph.D. earned 2018-2022).
We will begin reviewing materials and applications on October 11, 2021.

We would greatly appreciate if you can share the flyer below with your department/division and research group alumni members. 
Application link: tinyurl.com/UCLAts22

Do you have former students or researchers who excelled at project management?  Or know of anyone else who may be interested in helping PIs manage large, complex projects?  We are recruiting for 1-2 new Research Program Coordinator (Project Manager) positions in the College of Engineering.  Our first two hires have been so successful that we’re expanding our team! 

Research Program Coordinator(s), College of Engineering Research Administration office at Oregon State University. Provide high-level project management and administration for several externally funded research projects, assist research project teams with strategic planning and effective operation of all project activities, liaise with collaborators and support services for each project, and manage a dynamic workload. Apply by 9/7/21 for full consideration at https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/105528. OSU is an AA/EOE/Vets/Disabled employer.

Please contact me at cyndy.kelchner@oregonstate.edu with any questions.

Each year, the OSU Ecampus Research Unit funds projects, up to $20,000 each, to support the research, development and scholarship efforts of faculty in online education. Many OSU colleagues have had transformative experiences in the Ecampus Research Fellows Program. A recent Fellows study highlights the ways in which these projects have advanced research in online/hybrid education. Learn more and consider submitting an application beginning Sept. 8. Contact Naomi Aguiar, assistant director of research, with questions. 

You are receiving this communication, because you currently work within a College or Division slated to Go-Live in Wave 4 of OSU’s transition to Concur Travel & Expense.  As previously announced, you will go-live Monday August 2nd.  Please review the listing below of Key Changes and Key Dates so you can prepare for this upcoming transition.

Key Changes

·         Domestic & Foreign multi-day travel will require pre-trip registration in Concur.

·         The FIS Travel Policy has been revised, effective June 21^st. 

·         A new Online Booking Tool within Concur will be available for Air, Car, Hotel and Rail bookings.

·         A new Travel & Expense Office has been created through re-organization of existing staff.

·         All travel and non-travel employee reimbursements will be processed through Concur.

·         Travel and departmental advances will be requested and issued through Concur.

·         All existing OSU credit cards will be replaced with new individually named cards.

·         New credit cards as well as updates to those credit cards will be requested through Concur.

·         Credit card transactions will be reconciled within Concur by the cardholder or their delegate.

Key Dates

7/30/21	·         This is the last day to submit a TRES reimbursement request form.
8/2/21	·         You will be able to login to Concur Travel & Expense.
8/2/21	·         Daily drop-in sessions will be available to users 3-4pm via Zoom.
9/26/21	·         Old procurement cards will be deactivated.

Training and Support

There are various training materials available to help get up to speed on the new Concur Travel & Expense software.  Please visit our training library to view training videos, process documents, or trip sheets.  We will be continually adding content to our various libraries. 

The Travel & Expense Office is holding open office hours via Zoom for in person support and assistance.  You can find the zoom details on the Contact Us page of our travel website.

For general questions regarding Concur Travel & Expense please feel free to contact our team via travel@oregonstate.edu. If you have any questions specifically about credit cards, please contact procurement.cards@oregonstate.edu

Upcoming deadline for SciRIS Stage 1 and the new COS Innovation Award proposals. Proposals are due on 15 July 2021, postmarked by 11:59 PM.

https://internal.science.oregonstate.edu/event/sciris-stage-1-proposals-and-new-innovation-award

The College of Science Research and Innovation Seed (SciRIS) Stages 1-3 Program, funds projects based on collaborative research involving the college community and beyond. The funds for this innovation seed program come from Education and General funds. We have updated the guidelines for our SciRIS Stages 1-3 that are effective immediately. Please visit the site above to review the new guidelines. 

We also have a pilot program, the Innovation Award also due. This award provides critical resources for projects that take a new direction, utilize a new technology or are in the “proof-of-concept” phase. Undergraduate & graduate students and faculty researchers can participate, with a preference given to graduate students and faculty who are developing new areas of research and/or establishing or augmenting research partnerships with external industrial partners. The Innovation award is made possible by funds from the College of Science Venture Fund.

I am forwarding you an email that all received last Friday, with a few notes about what this means for research in particular.

As of midnight tonight (12:01 am, 6/30/21), all COVID-related social distancing, capacity and mask mandates have been lifted.  This means that you may choose to meet in-person without wearing a mask (including on campus), and run labs and other facilities at pre-COVID densities.  Also, as a reminder, business travel is again permitted (since the beginning of June). In general, we are not to require of our employees or supervisees anything that is not required – for example, masks may not be mandated by us on others beyond what the policy specifies.

COS’ research page has been updated accordingly:

https://internal.science.oregonstate.edu/research-travel-resumption

This page can also be accessed from this site 

https://science.oregonstate.edu/covid-19 by clicking on the “research and travel resumption” tab. 

We will keep these pages updated for a few more months, until people are reasonably comfortable with the transition back to on-campus work.

Please take a moment to re-read Dan Larson’s note to campus and the associated websites.  If you have any questions, please reach out to Associate Dean Vrushali Bokil and your department head.

Sincerely,

Roy Haggerty

Effective September 7, 2021, Campus Mail and direct vendor deliveries ( FedEx, UPS, etc..) will resume.   We appreciate your patience this past year in retrieving all your items from the Research Way facility.  Our facility will continue to be open for mail and package pickup Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00am – 3:00pm until delivery resumes.

Any questions please contact

Judy.bankson@oregonstate.edu

Open Oregon Educational Resources, a statewide organization that promotes the use of OER, seeks grant proposals that implement high-impact, culturally relevant/inclusive, collaborative projects in support of open education and reduced textbook costs in lower-division courses. Grant applications are due July 9. Project timelines may vary, but all projects must be completed by June 1, 2023. Learn more and apply today.