Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

WesTEC 2021: Driving 30 Years of Technical Excellence

20 Dec 2021

The Royal Society of Chemistry are pleased to continue our support and celebrate the 30^th annual Western Canada Operations Technical Excellence Conference (WesTEC), hosted by Dow Canada. This year’s theme, “Driving 30 Years of Technical Excellence”, captured the spirit of WesTEC: discovery, momentum, and continuous improvement and advances.

We are delighted to be invited again this year by Analytical Methods Editorial Board member Dr. Jim Luong to contribute a congratulatory letter and sponsor the Best Presentation and Best Exhibit Prizes at the WesTEC 2021 event. Through these efforts, the Royal Society of Chemistry is honored to recognize the skill and excellence across the breadth of Dow Canada.

Best presentation award winners: Kristie Ann Bell, Christon Wilson
From left to right: Jaime Curtis-Fisk, Senior R&D Leader, Kristie Ann Bell, Christon Wilson, Tonya Stockman, R&D/TS&D Director

Best Exhibit Award Winner: Ingrid Montpetit
From left to right: Catherine Costin, Vice-President of Dow Canada and Site Director and Ingrid Montpetit, AB Ops Learning Leader

As with many across the global chemical science community, Dow employees have tirelessly and
successfully worked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, having been designated an essential service by
the government of Canada. The RSC is proud to partner with our colleagues at the Canadian Society for Chemistry to acknowledge and support their ongoing efforts.

Congratulations again on the occasion of the 30th WesTEC conference. We look forward to ongoing
innovation and collaboration for another 30 years, and beyond.

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Congratulations to WesTEC 2020 Award Winners

25 Jan 2021

We are pleased to support the 29^th annual Western Canada Operations Technical Excellence Conference (WesTEC) hosted by Dow Canada, continuing from previous years. Despite 2020 being an atypical year with the COVID-19 situation, many Dow employees continued to innovate and drive excellence in science and technology for a better future.

This year, we were delighted to be invited again by Analytical Methods Advisory Board member Dr. Jim Luong to contribute a congratulatory letter and sponsor the Best Lecture and Best Poster Prizes at the WesTEC 2020 event.

Best Lecture Award winners Allison De Man and Jerome Wong with Catherine Costin Vice-President of Dow Canada and Site Director

Best Poster Award winners Wade Osicki and Todd Blumentrath (not pictured) with Catherine Costin, Vice-President of Dow Canada and Site Director

Congratulations to everyone for their research and development achievements!

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Welcome 2020 North and South American Editorial Board members!

15 Dec 2020

The RSC US and Brazilian offices want to give a big welcome to our North and South American board members appointed in the past year!

Michelle Arkin, University of California San Francisco (USA)

RSC Chemical Biology Editorial Board Member

Curtis Berlinguette, University of British Columbia (Canada)

Journal of Materials Chemistry A / Materials Advances Associate Editor

Lin Chen, Northwestern University (USA)

Chemical Science Associate Editor

Zhongwei (John) Chen, University of Waterloo (Canada)

Energy & Environment Book Series, Editor in Chief

Jianjun Cheng, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (USA)

Biomaterials Science Editor in Chief (formerly Associate Editor)

Wendell Coltro, Universidade Federal de Goiás (Brazil)

Analytical Methods Associate Editor

Neil Donahue, Carnegie Mellon University (USA)

Environmental Science: Atmospheres Editor in Chief

Norm Dovichi, University of Notre Dame (USA)

Analyst Editor in Chief

Leanne Gilbertson, University of Pittsburgh (USA)

Environmental Science: Nano Editorial Board Member

Jen Heemstra, Emory University (USA)

RSC Chemical Biology Editorial Board Member

Corey Hopkins, University of Nebraska Medical Center (USA)

Drug Discovery Book series, Series Editor

CJ Li, McGill University (Canada)

ChemComm Associate Editor (previously Green Chemistry Associate Editor)

Jennifer Love, University of Calgary (Canada)

Chemical Society Reviews Editorial Board Chair (previously Catalysis Science & Technology Associate Editor)

Gabriel Merino, Cinvestav Mérida (Mexico)

Chemical Science Associate Editor

Shirley Nagagaki, Universidade Federal do Paraná (Brazil)

RSC Advances Editorial Board Member

Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska, University of Michigan (USA)

RSC Chemical Biology Editorial Board Member

Dong Qin, Georgia Tech (USA)

Nanoscale / Nanoscale Advances Associate Editor

Joel Thornton, University of Washington (USA)

Environmental Science: Atmospheres Editorial Board Member

Doug Stephan, University of Toronto (Canada)

ChemComm Editorial Board Chair (previously Chemical Society Reviews Editorial Board Chair)

Stacey Wetmore, University of Lethbridge (Canada)

RSC Advances Editorial Board Member

Hua-Zhong (Hogan) Yu, Simon Fraser University (Canada)

Analyst Reviews Editor

Vassilia Zorba, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA)

JAAS Editorial Board Member

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PAN-NANO-2020: a unique event before the crisis

23 Jun 2020

The second Pan-American Nanotechnology Conference

PAN-NANO-2020 happened Mar 4-7, 2020 in Águas de Lindoia-SP, just before the Covid-19 crisis struck Brazil. During that week, we were aware of the situation spreading in the world, but Brazil had just a few cases and social distancing was only a distant idea. Águas de Lindoia has hot springs where people normally go to relax and is attractive due its mild climate. The organizers prepared for the uncertainties (with masks and alcohol-gel), and around 200 attendees, in total, were present. This conference was a joint effort between several engaged institutions with common interests and the same continent, the Americas.

Being “Pan-American”, related to North, South and Central America collectively, the organizers used their common scientific subject, NANO, to create the PAN-NANO event. The purpose was to develop useful and sustainable applications of nanotechnologies throughout the Pan-American region by understanding nanotechnology and nanoparticles’ behavior in biological, chemical and environmental systems.

The Royal Society of Chemistry had already sponsored its first edition, and the journals Nanoscale, Nanoscale Advances, Nanoscale Horizons and Environmental Science: Nano saw a good opportunity to get involved with a such variety of communities, which include Physicists, Chemists and Engineers.

RSC supported Prof Rebecca Kapler (U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee), who gave a plenary talk on Interactions at the Nano-Bio Interface Across Biological Systems. The talk showed the significant variation in these interactions due to differences in the biological characteristics of organisms and the environments where they are found. She highlighted how it is necessary to probe the molecular interactions that occur at the interface of the nanomaterial and the places where the material comes in contact with the organism. In addition, she discussed the molecular interaction of nanomaterials across species. On the same day, RSC promoted a special Meet the Editor event, in a “Pint-of-Science” like format, to attract the audience and encourage them to have a beer and relax during the discussions.

Elizabeth and Rebecca gave an overview of RSC, promoted the main RSC journals in the area, as well databases and books. Finally, Prof Rebecca gave general tips on how to submit and write, giving inside information on the article life cycle. Some slides supported the talk, but the audience got involved in a vivid discussion on publication motivation; Editors’ expectations; and the importance of showing novelty, comparing with the existing work and including backup citations.

Finally, at the end of the conference, RSC awarded two poster prizes, each consisting of £100 book voucher and certificate from Nanoscale and Environmental Science: Nano. We would like to congratulate the winners shown below receiving their prizes at the closing ceremony:

Poster prize winners with Prof Debora Frigi Rodrigues (Houston University), the winners Kayla Kurtz (University of Rhode Island) and Izaac Sit (University of California, San Diego), and also Profs Rebecca Klaper (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Isabel C. Escobar (University of Kentucky) and Ademar Benevolo Lugão (IPEN/CNEN).

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Recognizing the Brazilian Chemistry Community

15 Aug 2019

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Brazilian Connections

While many people can properly guess that the Royal Society of Chemistry originated in the UK, they may not be aware of just how far we’ve come, literally, since our British beginnings in 1841. Over 175 years later, we have offices around the world, including one in beautiful São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil and in the Southern Hemisphere. The city has one of the most vibrant and thriving economies in Latin America, but even though the country has seen growth in the science and engineering research sector over the last decade, times are hard right now for academics in Brazil. In the spirit of internationalization, our office in Brazil has been working hard to promote the science that is being accomplished here to our colleagues around the world.

It certainly helps that we’re located next to the Science and Innovation Network in Brazil, one of the British government’s strategic partnerships in 30 countries/territories, that aim to mutually benefit both the UK and host-country. Through the RSC’s physical presence in this partner nation, we can forge strong UK-Brazil interactions that support research and innovation for the whole world. We have been working with other partners to create networking opportunities that put researchers in the global spotlight, and lubricate the group gears in the search for solutions to global problems. It is a win-win situation. You interact more, you expose yourself, you embrace big problems and that helps push to solve local (and often critically necessary) ones.

One of our long-term Brazilian partners is Sociedade Brasileira de Química (SBQ), the Brazilian Chemical Society; as a not-for-profit organization like the RSC and as a scholarly and professional society, SBQ supports the chemical sciences in Brazil and even publishes its own Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, which it makes freely available to read to advance science literacy. The RSC’s support of SBQ has been historical and since 2007 we have been taking part in the SBQ annual meeting.

The Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction

For 2019, the IYPT, apart from the splashing success of our IYPT lanyards, we decided to take a step forward and award the researchers who have been publishing with us in the last 2 years. As a publisher, we measure engagement by publication numbers. More importantly, we want to recognize engagement, and we hope this boosts publications further and leads to further engagement. As examples, we took part of some Newton Fund Brazil activities and also the Brazil-UK Year of Science and Innovation. We worked together with our recent partner, CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) – the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – which is a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology under the Brazilian federal government. Joining forces with CNPq, we put the new prize together: the Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction. The idea was to recognize researchers with outstanding publication records and give back the opportunity for networking, to help make the awardees gain further recognition and encourage the new ones in the game to look for opportunities.

During the 42th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society in Joiville last May, we presented the prize winners. During the honor ceremony we presented the two awardees. Firstly, representing Women in Chemistry, Prof Dirce Pozebon from UFGRS, was awarded. Prof Pozebon publshed 6 Articles in 2017-2018 which collectively received 39 citations. Prof Eufrânio N. Silva Jr from UFMG, was awarded after publishing 8 Articles in 2017-2018, which received 42 citations. He was not able to attend, but Prof Luis Claudio Barbosa from UFMG (one of our FRSC) represented him during the ceremony.

Prof Dirce Pozebon (3rd from the left) from UFRGS receiving her prize certificate from the hands of Prof Alsion Hulme (representing RSC), Prof Vanderlan Bolzani (representing the CNPq president João Luiz Filgueiras de Azevedo) and Prof Norberto Pereira Lopes (representing SBQ).

Prof Luiz Claudio Barbosa from UFMG receiving Prof Eufrânio´s prize certificate from the hands of Prof Alison Hulme (representing RSC), Prof Norberto Pereira Lopes (representing SBQ) and Prof Vanderlan Bolzani (representing the CNPq president João Luiz Filgueiras de Azevedo).

The selection guidelines for the Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction can be found here. This prize it will contribute to winners in their dual roles as the researcher and the professor, with the opportunity to travel abroad to attend an international conference and/or spend some short period interacting with fellow colleagues. The prize includes money towards accommodation and travel from both CNPq and RSC. The Certificate of Distinction shows our commitment to recognizing our interactions with our communities in Brazil. It gives concrete ideas for the future stakeholders who embrace internationalization and networking tools, in giving back to the academic society the knowledge that science, in the end, brings to our lives. A nation with no investment into the scientific community does not flourish, as no progress can be made in the right direction.The scientific production in Brazil needs to be recognized, and the quality of the work done here can make an impact – if only, with all the differences we face and discuss, it is put to the task to solve technological problems.

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Highlighting the 6th Annual Alberta Nano Research Symposium

18 Jul 2019

NaNoTeCH: Elements of the Periodic Table in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

The Alberta Nano Research Symposium is co-hosted by the University of Alberta Nanotechnology Group and the University of Calgary nanoGroup, and this year it was held at the Shaw Convention Center in Edmonton, Alberta. The interdisciplinary nature of nanoscience and nanotechnology brings together researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds, which makes the Alberta Nano symposium attractive to individuals with backgrounds in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, and Computer Science who were encouraged to share knowledge, develop collaborations, and celebrate their accomplishments with fellow experts in the nanotechnology field. The theme of this year’s symposium, NaNoTeCH: Celebrating the Periodic Table, was chosen to coincide the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT), and continued to highlight the diverse and collaborative nature of the field.

Alberta Nano Poster Prize Winners

Taylor Lynk, winner of the Chemical Science poster prize at the 2019 Alberta Nano Research Symposium

To recognize some of the outstanding research presented at the Alberta Nano symposium, the Royal Society of Chemistry sponsored two poster prizes to be awarded to the young researchers that presented their fascinating research and most impressed the judges. The winner of the Chemical Science poster prize was Taylor Lynk, an MSc Candidate in the McDermott Group at the University of Alberta, where she is focusing on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for the detection and quantification of natural plant products. Her poster showcased the application of this technique to cannabinoid and terpene detection as a method to provide chemical fingerprints for target molecules. Her poster, cleverly titled ‘The Hunger Games: In-Process Quality Control of Cannabis-Based Consumables,’ surely caught the attention of many attendees, as the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada and upcoming legislation processes has presented a clear unmet need for more advanced analytical tools for this rapidly-growing market. Before coming to Alberta, Taylor worked in the research lab of Prof Christa Brosseau at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Prof Brosseau’s lab focuses on sustainable chemistry and materials, and Taylor co-authored one of the group’s papers that was published in Analytical Methods earlier this year. You can follow Taylor on Twitter @taylorlynk and you can follow Mark McDermott on Twitter @MarkTMcDermott for more updates from the group.

Nidhika Bhoria, winner of the Nanoscale Horizons poster prize at the 2019 Alberta Nano Research Symposium.

The winner of the Nanoscale Horizons prize was awarded to Nidhika Bhoria, an MSc student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Calgary, where she works with Prof Md Golam Kibria. Prof Kibria’s research group focuses on electrocatalysis and photocatalysis for the sustainable synthesis of hydrogen and ammonia, as well as carbon fuels or feedstocks, including CO₂ conversion to high-value chemicals, which is the focus Nidhika’s work. She presented her poster on ‘Nanostructured MOF Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon dioxide.’ Her poster illustrated the selectivity for 2-carbon and higher products of carbon dioxide reduction, which could provide a basis high-throughput industrial-scale conversion. We look forward to seeing more of the research that both Taylor and Nidhika will be working on over the coming year and wish them the best in all of their endeavors. We will be happy to see the Alberta Nano Research Symposium return again next year and are excited to see how this unique and high-quality meeting continues to grow.

Highlighting Elements in Nano and Materials Research

The Royal Society of Chemistry has also been celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Mendeleev periodic table, and with the addition of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 to the 7th row of the periodic table in 2016 we were able to complete our beautiful ‘Visual Elements’ interactive periodic table; among our many IYPT-themed activities in the community, we have fun and informative educational resources, new funding and grant opportunities, and special collections we have been putting together from within and across our journals. Just as the Alberta Nano symposium encourages collaboration and diversity, we too have promoted further collaborative efforts across our journals. Many of our various IYPT-themed collections, like the Elements for Next Generation Batteries collection, feature international collaborations and cover rich and diverse aspects of the elements from multiple journals. This particular collection highlights the elements lithium, sodium, zinc, among other elements contained in new battery materials. Thanks to the teamwork and guest editing by Zhiqun Lin, Journal of Materials Chemistry A Associate Editor, from Georgia Institute of Technology, and Xiaodong Chen, Nanoscale Associate Editor from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, it features papers from across the Materials and Nano journal portfolios, including Materials Horizons, Nanoscale Horizons, Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Nanoscale. We hope that you enjoy this and our other special collections as part of the International Year of the Periodic Table!

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All a Board! Meet Our North American Editors, Board Members, and Chairs in 2019

02 Jul 2019

A selection of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s North American Editorial Board Members that will be participating in events in 2019. Pictured from left to right, top row: Michael Krische, Andrei Yudin, Natalie Stingelin, Douglas Stephan. Middle row: Elena Shevchenko, Ryan Bailey, Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Sara Skrabalak. Bottom Row: Huw Davies, Emily Pentzer, Jim McCusker, Jonathan Sessler.

Do you want to know who is making the decisions behind the papers that we publish? We want you to get to know them too! While what happens behind-the-scenes after submitting a paper may seem mysterious sometimes, it’s no secret here at the Royal Society of Chemistry – our Editorial Boards are made up of international teams of globally-acclaimed researchers. As Editorial Board members, these folks work to stay up-to-date with the most exciting research and shape the field in which they have made significant contributions of their own. They are the world’s leading experts and they believe in the RSC’s mission.

To help our community get to know them, we have been bringing our Editors to events and institutions around the world, giving researchers a chance to learn not only about their science but also about the publishing process and what it’s like to handle manuscripts and be the deciding factor in a publication. Oftentimes, we include additional sessions and activities to help our communities grow stronger, stay connected to the bigger picture, and be in-the-know about the scholarly communication landscape and how it is affecting their research. We are very excited to showcase so many of our Editorial team members around the US and Canada this year. We hope you can join us in one of the cities we will be visiting this year!

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Our first Meet the Editor event will be held in beautiful Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, the home institution of Professor Ryan Bailey. Prof Bailey is an Associate Editor for Analyst, and the Bailey Lab focuses on biomolecular signatures of disease in individuals – single patients, in a clinical setting – and the development of tools for multiparameter biological analysis. Prof Bailey will be joined by Jenny Lee, PhD, from our Washington, DC office, and Professor James (Jim) McCusker from Michigan State University. Prof McCusker is an Associate Editor for Chemical Science, and is one of the most prominent researchers working in photochemistry. The McCusker Research Group focuses both on ultrafast spectroscopy of transition metal complexes, and on chemical dynamics related to electron exchange. Prof. McCusker will give a research presentation on “Deconstructing Reaction Coordinates for Ultrafast Excited-state Dynamics: Using Coherence to Inform Synthetic Design.” Afterwards, Jenny will join our two Associate Editors to give an interactive presentation on publishing in high-quality journals like Analyst and Chemical Science, and will cover components of a submission, the peer review process, and more. Attendees can ask the Editors and Jenny for specific advice or insights, and also share their own experiences. Lunch will be provided, while Jenny gives an informal talk on Careers in Publishing, and afterwards she will give an informative presentation on Open Access Publishing – an important topic for publishers that can otherwise be alien to researchers. The events are all free to attend, and you can register now at rsc.li/michigan!

For updates from the University of Michigan Department of Chemistry, you can follow @MichiganChem and for updates from Michigan State University Department of Chemistry, you can follow @msuchemistry

Toronto, Ontario

In September, Marika Wieliczko from our Washington, DC office will travel to Canada, where you can find many of our wonderful Board Members. Toronto is known as one of the most multicultural metropolitan areas in the world, with residents from all nations adding to the diversity of the city. Joining Marika in the provincial capital will be Professor Sara Skrabalak from Indiana University for a day of activities at the University of Toronto. Prof. Skrabalak is an Associate Editor for Nanoscale and our newly-launched Open Access journal, Nanoscale Advances. Her research is focused on developing synthetic methods for solid materials with defined shapes and architectures, and studying their properties for applications in energy, chemical sensing, and secure electronics. For updates from Prof. Skrabalak, you can follow her on Twitter @SaraSkrabalak and for news from the Department of Chemistry, you can follow @chemuoft.

In the Department of Chemistry, Prof. Skrabalak and Marika will join Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik and Professor Andrei Yudin, both Associate Editors for Chemical Science, as well as Professor Douglas Stephan, Chair of the Editorial Board of ChemSocRev. Prof. Aspuru-Guzik’s research group is renowned as a leader in quantum computing and machine learning. Prof. Aspuru-Guzik is very active on Twitter and posts lots of updates from his group and much more – follow him @A_Aspuru_Guzik. The Stephan Research Group spans a wide range of inorganic main group chemistry and organometallic chemistry. They explore fundamental research on new reactivity and chemical transformations, with the aim of developing new catalysts, materials and processes. Prof. Andrei Yudin is a pioneer in the development of tools for chemical synthesis. The Yudin Group has developed entirely new synthetic process that have reached the commercial market, and they continue to explore intermediates that many would consider impossible to prepare. You can get more updates on their exciting work through Twitter by following @andrei_yudin.

Together with Marika and Prof. Skrabalak, Prof. Aspuru-Guzik, Prof. Yudin, and Prof. Stephan will help attendees learn about and understand the publishing and peer review process, and learn from the Editors first-hand how to craft their submissions to maximize their efficiency and improve their experience with publishing. If you can’t make it to the event, you can still ask your questions through Twitter! Send your questions to @ChemMarika with the hashtag #AskTheEditor and Marika will include your questions for Sara and the other Editors during the event and share their responses and advice with everyone!

Atlanta, Georgia

Also in September, Jen Griffiths, PhD, will travel to Atlanta from our Washington, DC office. The city, whose emblem of a phoenix rising from the ashes, representing its transformation into a major center of the civil rights movement after its decimation in the civil war, has been flourishing with many diverse institutions of higher learning. While visiting Atlanta, Jen will host events at both Georgia Tech University and Emory University. At Georgia Tech, she will be joined by Elena Shevchenko, Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and an Associate Editor for Nanoscale and our newly-launched Open Access journal, Nanoscale Advances.

Next, Jen will bring Professor Natalie Stingelin from Georgia Tech over to neighboring Emory University to introduce the Department of Chemistry to Prof. Stingelin, as a researcher and as an Associate Editor for Journal of Materials Chemistry C. The Stingelin Lab is interested in organic functional materials, including inorganic/organic hybrids, advanced optical systems, and bioelectronics. You can follow Prof. Stingelin @StingelinN and get updates from her lab through @StingelinGroup on Twitter.

Prof. Stingelin and Jen will be joined by Professor Huw Davies, Associate Editor for ChemSocRev. The Davies Group is renkowned for its work on dirhodium catalyts for C-H activation, and leads the nation-wide NSF Center for Selective C-H Functionalization. They will give insights into publishing, and Jen will participate in a career panel to introduce attendees to careers outside of academia.

Austin, Texas

The city of Austin is unlike the rest of Texas and is known for its lively music and arts scene. Towards the end of the year, Jen Griffiths will visit the great state of Texas, bringing Professor Emily Pentzer, who is moving to Texas A&M University over the summer of 2019, to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Prof. Pentzer is an Associate Editor for Polymer Chemistry, and she will present on her research, which focuses on synthetic organic and materials chemistry, and she will be part of an interactive presentation on publishing along with Jen. They will be joined by two of our Associate Editors for ChemComm from UT Austin, Professor Michael Krische, and Professor Jonathan Sessler. The Krische Research Group focuses on catalytic reaction development for natural product synthesis. You can get updates from the group by following @KrischeLab on Twitter. The Sessler Group explores various aspects of supramolecular chemistry and is highly interdisciplinary, combining inorganic and synthetic organic chemistry with biochemistry and spectroscopy. For updates from the Sessler Group, follow their Twitter account @JLsessler.

We are excited to highlight our high-quality journals, and we know that it’s the people behind them that make them so valuable and integral to the communities they serve. We hope that you have a chance to get to know our Board Members in person at one of our upcoming events, and that what you learn from them helps you in publishing your own research.

Do you want to host an event at your institution, or have suggestions for how we could better connect with your community? While we can’t accommodate all requests, we would love to hear from you and take your ideas into consideration! Email us at Americas-Editorial@rsc.org and we look forward to continuing to serve our community.

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Publishing, Presenting, and Peer Review: Helping Showcase Brazilian Chemistry through the RSC Science Connect Program

03 Apr 2019

Work hard and you will succeed. Getting the research ball rolling to publish frequently is a matter of working hard, and also knowing better what publishers expect. Research is a global “business” and we will only progress scientifically in every corner of the world if we connect. As a scientist, there are many components to the game of your career. You have to teach, get students, make reports, sustain your lab, progress in the career, get involved with global problems, solve bureaucratic issues and make yourself knowledgeable. How to do all of that? We can improve various aspects when you publish and make the world recognize what you are doing. Then you will connect globally, you will have greater ideas and see the world that is full of opportunities, where openness is key.

The Royal Society of Chemistry wants to help every researcher in the world get a better understanding of our publishing process. Having this in mind, we have collaborated with the British Council in Brazil since 2015 to add inside information from a publisher point-of-view into their Researcher Connect program, sponsored by Newton Fund Brazil. We wanted to unlock the door to publishing for Brazilian researchers: the strategy involves me, Dr. Beth Magalhães, Manager of Publishing in Brazil based in São Paulo, and Dr. Jen Griffiths, the Editorial Development Manager for the Americas from the RSC’s Washington, DC office, traveling together around this big country and getting to know the different cultures and facilities that carry on the nation’s high-quality research. This year especially, we included our tour in the Brazil-UK Year of Science and Innovation agenda. “Science is GREAT“ is a motto for the year, and this aligns with the idea behind what we proposed: spending a whole day giving a series of four totally hands-on workshops for up-and-coming researchers to improve their publishing, presenting, and reviewing skills as scientists. We named it Science Connect, because more than just publishing numbers and volume, we want people to engage across their community and internationally.

On February 7th, we headed to Alfenas, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and to the Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL). UNIFAL received us with a full house of chemists and pharmacists. We had professors, post-docs, MSc and PhD students all present. Minas has a unique and vibrant atmosphere, being well known for the good food and especially, the coffee and pão de queijo, a popular signature dish of bite-sized cheese-balls. We had the support of Prof. Dr. Vanessa Boralli and we were happy that the audience was really involved and talkative throughout.

Group photo at UNIFAL with RSC trainers.

Then we flew to Teresina, and what a surprise: we were received by Prof. Francisco Guedes, the President of Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Piauí (FAPEPI), which is the Piauí State Funding Agency that highlighted our program in their newsletter. Prof. Beatriz Rodrigues, head of the international office of Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI) gave us a warm welcome to the campus, where on February 11th, we held an exciting workshop; together with a varied group of attendees, people were able to talk with us in a relaxed and casual setting. Teresina is located in the far Northeast, and having someone from abroad garnered attention from the locals, who are warm and highly curious about anything. The Serra da Capivara National Park nearby is quite famous for its prehistoric rock paintings which have inspired the local art craft. The weather is hot and humid, and we could feel how proud the locals are of their home, histories and of course the lunch break. By lunchtime it was making total sense why most people stop anything they are doing between 12 and 2 pm, in order to get away from the heat.

Group photo at UFPI with RSC trainers.

Finally, on February 14th, we went from Teresina to Curitiba, heading then to Ponta Grossa. This region is full of soya farms, making the region very attractive for work opportunities. The Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa organized a nice event inside their Astronomy building. Prof. Dr. Jarem Garcia from the Chemistry department put together a nice mix of students and professors to mingle with us and one another. We were surrounded by the beautiful nature of Vila Velha Park and couldn’t resist sampling the local churrasco, giving us the opportunity to experience the renowned barbecue meat that fills the region.

Group photo at UEPG with RSC trainers.

The workshop was filled with opportunities for attendees to talk about their work and gain presenting experience to improve their oral communication skills. They also trained, in a hands-on mode, in identifying a good abstract and title and to improve and optimize their own, and how important is to formulate a cover letter to call attention to your work. Towards the end of the day, posters were discussed in a more informal way, especially to explore how keeping it simple is typically better; attendees also had the opportunity to self-critique and constructively critique peers .

Communicating science through writing, talking, and displaying while increasing personal impact have to be straightforward and thoughtful. Preparation is essential, training is important and persisting is even more crucial. With these keys, we are sure to be rewarded for our hard work; even if the voyage to be taken will be very long, we are willing to pay the price as we did, covering more than 6,700 km, not only for science but also the joys of cheese balls, geology signs and churrasco that come with the journey!

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Have You Ever Been to Bahia? BMOS Went and So Should You!

04 Mar 2019

Brazil is a country made up of states that are sometime more like individual countries. Bahia state, Salvador city, has a different atmosphere, and being away from the usual southwest area gives the science community different opportunities for interaction. The Brazilian soul was there in Salvador, as well our historical beginning as a country, as the most prestigious Organic Synthesis Meeting in Brazil, 17^th BMOS, supported by the Federal University of Bahia-UFBA was held there this year. The RSC Organic Division had a long lasting engagement with the organic synthesis community, organizing the Young Investigator Award in the past. Because the RSC has a close relationship with the Science and Innovation Network in Brazil (SIN Brazil), we included the 17^th BMOS in the 2018-2019 UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation, which we have embraced with them from the beginning. It was a big opportunity for us to keep the award alive. After a rebranding, the award was renamed BMOS-RSC Young Investigator Distinction, and captured the support of the GREAT campaign associated with the Year.

Opening ceremony for the Young Investigator Distinctions, featuring Rui Lopes (Sin Deputy Director), Elizabeth Magalhaes (RSC Manager in Brazil) and Maurício Victor (17th BMOS Chair).

With this encouragement, we were able to offer four prizes, two each for young UK and Brazilian researchers, following early career request selection criteria. The BMOS organization made a huge celebration for that, and we had a whole slot in the event to talk about the importance of UK collaborations, the importance of internationalization and exposition of early career researchers.

One of the criteria for the selection was a collaboration statement between UK and Brazil researchers. We were able to show the Year launching video celebrating UK-Brazil collaboration efforts through the years. The video clearly highlights that collaborations truly make better science. The selected awardees received a certificate from Prof Jonathan Clayden beforehand, and had a slot to talk about their current research work.

Andrew L. Lawrance (The University of Edinburgh, UK), Mauricio Victor, Stephen P Thomas (The University of Edinburgh, UK), Giovanni W. Amarante (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil), Jonathan Clayden and Diogo S. Ludtke (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) presenting their certificates the BMOS-RSC Young Investigator Distinction ceremony.

Prof Jonathan Clayden (University of Bristol, UK) was our star at the meeting. He came to give a closing talk after the awardees presentations, and he was available during the entire meeting to sign his famous, prestigious and landmark book, “Organic Chemistry”.

Prof. Jonathan Clayden gives the closing talk at BMOS 2019.

Finally, at the closing ceremony two PhD students, Edson Emilio Garambel Vilca and Renoto Zarzotto de Marais, were awarded RSC poster prizes from ChemComm and Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry by for their presentations.

Edson Emilio Garambel Vilca (and Antonio Carlos Bender Burtoloso), Elizabeth Magalhaes, Mauricio Victor and Renato Zorzatto de Morais (and William Kerr, Tell Tuttle) for the titles Studies in the Total Synthesis of (+)-Lysergic Acid and (+)-Lysergol: A Direct Approach for the Construction of the Tetracyclic core of Ergot Alkaloids and Novel Iridium(I) Complexes Bearing Chelating NHC-Phosphine Ligands as Catalysts for C—H Functionalisation Processes, respectively at the poster prize ceremony receiving ChemComm and OrgBiomolecularChem book vouchers and certificates.

This year, the 17^th BMOS in Bahia was another great opportunity for the RSC to engage with the Brazilian community and collaborate with the Brazilian Chemical Society and the British Council for the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation. We look forward to more opportunities to bring together researchers from diverse, international backgrounds and highlight the high quality research in Latin America to the world!

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Happy 10th Anniversary to Energy & Environmental Science

10 Dec 2018

We were delighted to organize the EES: New Directions in Energy Research symposium to mark the 10^th anniversary of Energy & Environmental Science as a leading journal for the community. Hosted by founding Editorial Board Chair Professor Nathan Lewis at Caltech, it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community, celebrate Prof. Lewis’ inspirational leadership, and consider grand challenges in the field.

Prof. Lewis opened the day with a forward-looking talk, highlighting potential opportunities and challenges he hopes the community can address in the next decade and beyond to build on the immense progress of the field. Interdisciplinary developments from materials in extreme environments to economic considerations for energy storage to alternative fuels could mean progress towards long-term sustainability.

Nathan Lewis, EES: New Directions in Energy Research, EES Symposium, Royal Society of Chemistry, RSC

Professor Nathan Lewis gives a talk to a packed audience in Hameetman Auditorium at Caltech.

Current and founding Editorial Board members shared their significant advances throughout the years relating to artificial photosynthesis, PV and solar fuels, water oxidation and hydrogen production, and catalyst synthesis.

EES Symposium, panel discussion, Nathan Lewis, Robert Socolow, Joseph Hupp, Arthur Nozil, Michael Wasielewski, Wolfgang Lubitz, Kyung Byung Yoon

Opportunities to connect with the community throughout the symposium | Panel discussion with former and current Editorial Board members Profs. Nathan Lewis, Robert Socolow, Joseph Hupp, Arthur Nozik, Michael Wasielewski, Wolfgang Lubitz, Kyung Byung Yoon (left to right).

The closing panel brought together all former and current Board members to integrate the topics throughout the day and answer questions from attendees. Speakers advised authors interested in publishing articles in EES to approach important problems for the community in a novel and impactful way and to compellingly express their findings to a broad audience. They identified additional opportunities for the field, including robustness and survivability of systems, fundamentally understanding processes to enable new breakthroughs, and considering issues that might arise at the systems level.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us as we loved meeting everyone! As speakers continue their research along their interdisciplinary topics, many contributions will appear EES in the form of articles, Perspectives, and an Editorial. Also keep an eye out for an updated scope on the EES journal website to incorporate major topics from the Editorial Board meeting and symposium.

We hope that you continue advancing new directions in your area of interest and that you submit your high-quality work to EES online.

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Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

The RSC US and Brazilian offices want to give a big welcome to our North and South American board members appointed in the past year!

Michelle Arkin, University of California San Francisco (USA)

Curtis Berlinguette, University of British Columbia (Canada)

Lin Chen, Northwestern University (USA)

Zhongwei (John) Chen, University of Waterloo (Canada)

Jianjun Cheng, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (USA)

Wendell Coltro, Universidade Federal de Goiás (Brazil)

Neil Donahue, Carnegie Mellon University (USA)

Norm Dovichi, University of Notre Dame (USA)

Leanne Gilbertson, University of Pittsburgh (USA)

Jen Heemstra, Emory University (USA)

Corey Hopkins, University of Nebraska Medical Center (USA)

CJ Li, McGill University (Canada)

Jennifer Love, University of Calgary (Canada)

Gabriel Merino, Cinvestav Mérida (Mexico)

Shirley Nagagaki, Universidade Federal do Paraná (Brazil)

Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska, University of Michigan (USA)

Dong Qin, Georgia Tech (USA)

Joel Thornton, University of Washington (USA)

Doug Stephan, University of Toronto (Canada)

Stacey Wetmore, University of Lethbridge (Canada)

Hua-Zhong (Hogan) Yu, Simon Fraser University (Canada)

Vassilia Zorba, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA)

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Brazilian Connections

The Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction

NaNoTeCH: Elements of the Periodic Table in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Alberta Nano Poster Prize Winners

Highlighting Elements in Nano and Materials Research

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Toronto, Ontario

Atlanta, Georgia

Austin, Texas

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