by Mary M. Kirchhoff and Richard N. Zare

What can a professional society with 160,000 members do that can have a special, transformative effect on education in the United States? That is the question posed by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Board of Directors to the newly created Board-Presidential Task Force on Education. The Task Force has these charges:

1.         review recommendations contained in national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education reports released during the past five years;

2.         identify specific actions that the Society could undertake in response to these recommendations;

3.         create a priority list of actionable items where the Society can have a unique impact on STEM education.

Help Us Find a Solution

Your help is earnestly solicited. You can assist the Task Force in its work by offering your suggestions at educationtaskforce@acs.org. To most influence our deliberations, we need input before the March 22-26, 2009 ACS National Meeting in Salt Lake City. Concise suggestions with plans of implementation would be warmly welcomed. Where do you think the Society can have the greatest impact?

•           K-12, undergraduate, or graduate?

•           Learners or educators?

•           Formal or informal science education?

•           Federal, state, or local level?

Your input can help shape the output of our Task Force.

Education features prominently in the charter of the ACS, and the Task Force on Education reflects the Board of Directors’ commitment to elevating the Society’s role in education. In fulfilling its Congressional Charter, the Society has created a number of long-standing education programs, including the ACS approval process, the Student Affiliates program, and Project SEED (Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged). ACS continually surveys the education landscape to identify new opportunities where the Society and its members can make an impact.

The Task Force will have wide latitude in developing its recommendations in areas ranging from K-16 education through informal science education and continuing professional development. Task Force members (listed below) represent a breadth of experience across the science education spectrum.

Let Us Hear from You

The Task Force is expected to complete its work by August 2009, when it will present its recommendations to the ACS Board of Directors at the ACS National Meeting in Washington, DC. Please help us come up with a few outstanding proposals that the ACS is uniquely qualified to make work. This activity could be one of the most important that the ACS has ever initiated.

More information about the Task Force and its activities will appear on the ACS Web site at http://www.acs.org/edtaskforce. To have input to the Task Force, send your suggestions in an email to educationtaskforce@acs.org or participate in this blog

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Mary M. Kirchhoff is Director, Education Division, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036; m_kirchhoff@acs.org. Richard N. Zare is HHMI professor and chair, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305; zare@stanford.edu.

Task Force Members

Chair: Richard N. Zare, Stanford University

Vice-Chair: Melanie Cooper, Clemson University

Members: Magid Abou-Gharbia, Temple University

Norman R. Augustine, Lockheed Martin Corp. (retired)

Bryan Balazs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Uma Chowdry, DuPont

Arthur B. Ellis, University of California San Diego

Bruce Fuchs, National Institutes of Health

Joseph A. Heppert, University of Kansas

Thomas B. Higgins, Harold Washington College

Steven Long, Rogers High School

Shirley Malcom, AAAS

Saundra McGuire, Louisiana State University

Barbara Sitzman, Granada Hills Charter High School

Deborah VanSumeren, Lindsay Elementary School

Ex officio: Judith L. Benham, Chair, ACS Board of Directors

Bruce E. Bursten, ACS Immediate Past President

Thomas H. Lane, ACS President

Staff: Mary M. Kirchhoff, ACS

American Chemical Society Education