CHEMICAL CONSULTANTS NETWORK ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2000
The
Chemical Consultants Network (CCN) is a topical group of the
Philadelphia Section of the ACS that has also been recognized and
supported by the National AIChE. It was organized in December, 1994, and has held monthly meetings since February, 1995. It is run by a Steering
Committee consisting of its elected officers, committee chairmen, and two
members at large. We believe that CCN is the first and only organization for consultants within the American Chemical Society. The name “Chemical Consultants Network” was adopted to reflect the purpose of the group which is to enhance members’ opportunities to use their professional expertise as consultants.
MISSION: To form a volunteer organization to support members in
expanding the meaningful use of their expertise, by:
2000 SUMMARY:
CCN held ten monthly meetings with attendance in the 25 to 35 range. During the year, membership grew from 320 to an estimated 366 at year end. We continue to attract new members at our monthly meetings as well as directly through our website. (In the six years of its existence, CCN has grown from an initial membership of 24 to this total!!!)
The membership is about 60% chemists and 40% chemical engineers. Most members reside in the area between Wilmington, DE, and Princeton, NJ, although there are a few US members from as far as Florida, Oklahoma and the West Coast. In addition, we now have international members residing in Canada, UK, Australia and Japan. Meeting notices are published in the publications of the Philadelphia, Delaware, Princeton and Trenton ACS Sections, and the Philadelphia Section of AIChe monthly newsletter.
The CCN Website ( http://www.chemconsultants.org ) continues to provide member data for all interested in CCN member skills, meeting notices and other information about CCN in an attractive, user-friendly format. An additional purpose of the site is to function as a self-service consultant resource for potential clients. Visits to the site have risen 50% from November 1999 through October 2000, to reach an average of 4000 visits per month.
In addition to the website, a paper directory, that includes key words about each member's specialties, is distributed to all members and currently contains information on over 350 chemists and/or chemical engineers. In late 1999, we offered an electronic version (disk) of the directory for a nominal fee of $4.00. Thirty members requested copies, which were mailed in March.
MEETINGS
Ten meetings were held in the evening, usually the second Wednesday of the month, at the Cynwyd Club in Bala Cynwyd, PA or at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (formerly the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.) They consisted of a social hour, a dinner, a business meeting, and a talk. Five Steering Committee Meetings were held to plan for future meetings and ways to improve the CCN. Two of the regular meetings were held jointly with the Philadelphia ACS, one with the Association of Consulting Chemists and Chemical Engineers (meeting held in Princeton, NJ) and one with the IEEE.
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
| Jan 12 | Intellectual Property Issues Relevant to Consultants | Dr. Janet Read |
| Feb 17 | Global Warming - Fact or Fiction | Donald J. Koestler (Joint with Phila ACS) |
| Mar 10 | Computerized Tools for the Consultant | Mr. Nick Fortune, Dr. Michael McManus |
| Apr 27 | Career Choices, Career Transitions and Retirement Behavior of ACS Mature Chemists: Selected Findings from the ACS Mature Career Chemist Study |
Dr. Janice I. Farkas, (joint with ACCChe) |
| May 10 | Targeting your Market | Dr. Jean S. MacFadyen (joint with IEEE) |
| Jun 14 | Annual Picnic at the Cynwyd Club | |
| Sep 13 | How to find new clients | James Chan |
| Oct 13 | Research & Development for the Chemical Industry - Past, Present & Future | Dr. Donald E. Jost |
| Nov 16 | Combinatorial Chemistry | Dr. Ron Dolle (joint with Phila ACS) |
| Dec 8 | Vendor Night |
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES:
Michael P. Bigwood succeeded Henry F. Clancy to serve a 3-year term as Chair, beginning January 1, 2000. Treasurer and Secretary were William Retallick and Wolf Karo, respectively, serving the first of a two-year term for each office. Robert Haluska, serving the second year of his first term as Member-at-Large was re-elected for a second term in the Fall ballot. Edward Brame was elected to a two year term as chair elect to begin January 1, 2001. He will assume responsibility as Chair, in January 2003.
Committee chairs were Wayne Kargher (Meeting Arrangements), William Reuter (Publicity), Mark DeLuca and Norman Santora (Webmasters), William Golton (Website) and David Vahlsing (Membership). The Steering Committtee also seves as the Nominating and Program Committee. All committee chairs serve on the Steering Committtee.
MEMBERSHIP:
CCN Membership Survey
In April 2000, a dues notice and a survey postcard were mailed to 225 members who had not previously paid the year 2000 CCN membership fee. The postcard return rate was 40% with results including notice of full retirement and no further interest, address changes and forgetfulness regarding dues payment. A follow up series of phone calls clarified additional address errors and membership interests. A few asked that all future notices be sent by E-Mail only. Comments about the regular meeting location, format and subjects were quite favorable. As a result of information received from the survey, names were removed from the hard copy directory and also from the CCN website, resulting in a more accurate membership count.
FINANCES:
In 2000, CCN continued its policy of chargin dues to members who want to have their own webpage on the CCN site - $25 for ACS and/or AIChE members, $35 for non-members. The dues are used to pay for the website and publicity, and to complement the annual ACS grant that supports program and mailing expenses. There are approximately 150 dues paying members in the CCN. In addition to the support from the Philadelphia ACS, the National office of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers also provided funding in 2000 to help with program, publicity, web site expenses, mailing expenses, guest speaker dinners and supplies and equipment.
PLANS FOR 2001:
Ten monthly meetings will again be scheduled. A decision was made by the Steering Committee to discontinue the joint meeting with AIChE and to join only one of the ACS concurrent meetings (November) every year. That decision was motivated by the fact that, for whatever reason (location, cost), the number of CCN members attending those meetings appears to be consistently lower than the numbers typically attending our "stand alone" meetings at the Cynwyd Club.
The membership committee plans to continue to use the data collected through the survey this year to bring our printed directory and mailing list up to date.
We will continue to consider means of improving the CCN and it's sevices. The website will be updated regularly and publicized more effectively. Dues will be collected from CCN members to support website activities and member webpages and we will againapply to the Philadelphia Section of the ACS and National AIChE for finaancial support. We will continue to work with ACS and AIChE officials at the local and National level to improve services for and recognition of consultants.
Respectively Submitted,
Michael P. Bigwood, Chair