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Minutes of 127th Meeting of Executive Committee
24-25 March 2000, San Franscisco, California, USA
9. PROGRESS REPORT FROM EDUCATION STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Prof. Jortner reviewed the background leading to the formation
of the ad hoc Committee, noting especially Dr. Hayes' VPCA.
He then reviewed the Charge to the Committee and its membership.
IUPAC is fortunate that Prof. Peter Atkins has accepted the
task of Chairman of the Committee. He also expressed his appreciation
of the excellent work done by Dr. Meyers in coordinating the
work of the Committee and organizing the London meeting.
It is expected that the committee will emphasize relevance,
international dimension, capacity building, and public understanding
of chemistry. The committee has taken a zero based planning
approach to its work. If there were no education activities
in the Union, what would one create? Prof. Jortner then reviewed
the meeting summary. One proposal discussed was to replace the
current Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry with a Committee
on Education in the Chemical Sciences. Prof. Sydnes reviewed
the work of the committee, noting that it had conducted a thorough
examination of the activities of CTC. The work of the committee
has been divided into three subgroups:
-
- Public appreciation of the chemical sciences
-
Each subgroup will write a draft report that will be circulated
in turn to each of the other subgroups for comment. Final drafts
are due to Prof. Atkins by 31 May. The committee plans to meet
in July to prepare its final report. The committee has decided
to publicize its work widely by inviting comments on IUPAC's
educational activities from inside and outside IUPAC. A letter
has been drafted that will be sent to members of CTC, NAOs,
chemical societies, and chemical magazines. It is expected that
many of the chemical magazines will print the letter or a summary.
Prof. Ohtaki noted that a conference on the Public Understanding
of Science in Asia (PUSAT 2000) will be held in Malaysia in
April. Dr. Hayes suggested that the draft final report could
be circulated to the major chemical societies for comment. Prof.
Sydnes suggested that this could be done between completion
of the draft at the end of May and the meeting in July.
10. REPORT FROM NOMENCLATURE ROUNDTABLE
Dr. Becker described the background of the meeting and its participants.
The focus of the meeting was on what nomenclature activities
the Union should undertake, rather than on organizational issues
and the work of the current Commissions. He then briefly reviewed
the meeting summary that was handed out. Dr. Becker noted that
the meeting had exceeded his expectations. Participation had
been high and the discussion had been fruitful, leading to a
number of suggestions and recommendations, as noted in the summary
report. The EC was asked to act on three proposals:
-
Establish, effective immediately, an ad hoc
Committee on Chemical Identity and Nomenclature Systems. Dr.
Alan D. McNaught was proposed as the Chairman of this committee.
- Approve the feasibility study of the Chemical Identifier project
[Recommendation 7 in the summary report], to be managed by the CCINS.
Drs. Stephen Heller and Stephen Stein to lead the feasibility study.
-
Authorize the appointment of an official IUPAC
representative to OASIS, the coordinating group for development
of XML [extended markup language] when and if such a representative
is deemed appropriate by the Secretary General and the Chairman
of CCINS.
The Executive Committee approved all three recommendations.
Prof. Steyn commented that it will be important to keep the
Chemical Abstracts Service involved in IUPAC's nomenclature
work. The commercial implications of this work should be kept
in mind.
10.1 IDCNS-REPORT FROM PROF. MILLS
There was a general discussion of Prof. Mills' report. It was
felt that the issue raised of the workload of the Chairman and
Secretary of IDCNS was a serious one. It was suggested that
this could be addressed by greater involvement of the other
members of the committee in the review work now conducted solely
by the Chairman and Secretary.
11. PROGRESS REPORT FROM AD HOC COMMITTEE
ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF IUPAC AND THE GLOBAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Dr. Hayes reviewed the first meeting of the ad hoc Committee.
He noted that the minutes of the meeting had been circulated
to the Executive Committee. The organization and the work of
the International Council of Chemical Associations were described,
with special reference to the Long-Range Research Initiative.
The US Chemical Manufacturers Association is now the Secretariat
for the ICCA, replacing CEFIC. The LRI is focused on evaluation
of older bulk chemicals for unforeseen adverse effects. The
work of the LRI has been divided between the major trade associations,
CEFIC, CMA, and JCIA (Japan Chemical Industry Association).
One possible area of cooperation between IUPAC and the ICCA
is in the review and dissemination of the results of the research
programs of the LRI. This could be done by Workshops sponsored
and organized by IUPAC. Dr. Hayes noted he was corresponding
with ICCA regarding the possibility of a presentation to the
third quarter meeting of the ICCA on possible areas of IUPAC-ICCA
cooperation.
There was a general discussion of the need to make senior chemistry
industry executives, many of whom are not chemists, aware of
the contributions of IUPAC in areas of industrial value. It
was noted that in many cases the National Adhering Organizations
are not in communication with other national organizations,
especially industry trade associations. The suggestion was made
that IUPAC should establish communication with chemical engineering
societies, such as the National Academy of Engineering in the
US.
12. INTERNATIONAL CHEMISTRY COUNCIL-DISCUSSION
Dr. Hayes discussed the origins and work of the International
Chemistry Council. He noted that the ICC had been formed at
the request of the UNESCO Directorate of Physical Sciences,
based on the success of a similar group in Physics. The special
funds available from UNESCO for cooperative projects were described.
It was noted that COCI had recently entered into an agreement
with UNESCO based on this mechanism. The Executive Director
was asked to obtain a report from COCI on the operation of this
agreement.
A discussion of the value of the ICC followed. It was concluded
that this is the time to undertake a review of the ICC in conjunction
with UNESCO. The President was asked to arrange a meeting with
the new Director General of UNESCO to discuss the future of
the ICC. The Executive Committee approved a change in the Terms
of Reference of the ICC to have the Chairman be the current
President of IUPAC. Dr. Hayes will take up this subject in his
meeting with UNESCO.
Page last modified 6 June 2000.
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