The Section for Chemical Research (SCR) of the NSCS intends to provide a forum for chemists active in research, so as to promote exchange of ideas and collaboration. The SCR organizes or supports symposia, seminars, and scientific meetings, with a special emphasis on the Fall Meeting
 of the NSCS, which is de facto the largest annual forum of Swiss chemistry. Particular attention is paid by the SCR to the promotion of research results obtained by young chemists so as to help them starting their career. At present, the SCR membership stands at 465 members

Weber, Jacques

English

CHIMIA

SECTION FOR CHEMICAL RESEARCH OF THE NSCS 154CHIMIA 52 (1998) Nr. 4 (April)ct on f r C e ical Research of the CChimia 52 (1998) /54-155© Neue Sclnveizer;sche Chelll;sche GesellschaftISSN 0009-4293Presentation of the Sectionfor Chemical Research (SCR)of the New Swiss Chemical Society (NSCS)Jacques Weber*Abstract. The Section for Chemical Research (SCR) of the NSCS intends to provide aforum for chemists active in research, so as to promote exchange of ideas andcollaboration. The SCR organizes or supports symposia, seminars, and scientificmeetings, with a special emphasis on the Fall Meeting of the NSCS, which is defactothe largest annual forum of Swiss chemistry. Particular attention is paid by the SCR tothe promotion of research results obtained by young chemists so as to help them startingtheir career. At present, the SCR membership stands at 465 members.This Committee is in charge for the1997-1998 period, and elections will takeplace at the end of 1998 for the 1999-2000period.Purposes of the SectionHistoryThe Section for Chemical Research ofthe NSCS was founded at the same time asthe NSCS itself, i.e., on April 22, 1992.Indeed, this memorable date has witnessedthe birth of the NSCS as resulting from themerging of the Swiss Chemical Society(SCS) and the Association of Swiss Chem-ists, and it was decided to structure thenewborn NSCS into four sections: Sectionfor Chemical Research (SCR), Section forMedicinal Chemistry, Section for Indus-trial Chemistry, and Section for AnalyticalChemistry. Actually, in contrast with theother three Sections which are focused onspecific categories of chemists, the pro-files of the SCR members cover a broadrange of interest, with chemical researchas a common denominator. Clearly, theSCR was founded with the purpose tomainly gather most of the former SCSmembers. This feature is still valid today:with its 465 members, which makes it thelargest section of the NSCS, the SCR is alink between academic and industrialchemists who are all involved to someextent in chemical research. However,according to the fact that the members ofthe former SCS issued somewhat morefrom academia than from industry, thefirst Committee of the SCR, made of 14members, comprised only two chemistsfrom industry. It was chaired for two yearsby our colleague Prof. B. Giese from theUniversity of Basel, and all Swiss Univer-sities and ETHs were represented. In 1995,the present author succeeded to Prof. B.Giese as chairman of the Section, the Com-mittee being today made of the followingpersons:- Peter Belser, University of Fribourg- Heinz Berke, University of ZUrich- Edwin Constable, University ofBasel- Martin Karpf, Hoffmann-La RocheAG, Basel, treasurer- Samuel Leutwyler, University ofBernAndre Merbach, University ofLausanne- Paul Muller, University of Geneva- Martin Quack, Swiss Federal Insti-tute of Technology, ZUrich- John Robinson, University of ZUrich- Daniel Stahl, Swiss Federal Instituteof Technology, Lausanne- Raphael Tabacchi, University ofNeuchatel- Jacques Weber, University ofGeneva, chairman- Roland Wenger, Wenger Chemtech,Riehen, vice-chairman- Wolf-Dietrich Woggon, University ofBaselAccording to its statutes, the Sectionhas the following purposes:1) to organize a scientific forum forchem-ists active in research, so as to promoteall fields of chemistry and interdisci-plinary collaboration as well,2) to organize scientific sessions of theSpring and Fall Meetings of the NSCS,symposia, seminars, recycling cours-es, etc., possibly in collaboration withthe other sections of the NSCS,3) to establish friendly and fruitful col-laborations between High-Schoolchemical institutes and industriallabo-ratories involved in research,4) to promote publication of research re-sults in journals or meeting proceed-Ings.It is the Committee's opinion that allthese four goals are equally important. It isindeed essential to stress nowadays on theimportance of both inter-laboratories and*Correspondellce: Prof. J. WeberDepartment of Physical ChemistryUniversity of Geneva30, quai Ernest-AnsermetCH-1211 Geneva 4Tel.: +41227026530Fax: +41227026518E-Mail: Jacques.Weber@chiphy.unige.chSECTION FOR CHEMICAL RESEARCH OF THE NSCS 155C)·IIMIA 52(1998) Nr. 4 (Apriliinterdisciplinary collaboration, high-levelscientific education and continuous for-mation, and large-scale publication anddissemination of research results (publishor perish). The SCR is therefore particu-larly careful at the achievement of thesegoals and at the advancement of chemicalresearch in Switzerland, with a specialattention paid to the promotion of youngchemists.A frequently asked question concernsthe structure of the section itself. Chemi-cal research is indeed a broad topic, andone might ask whether subsections deal-ing with the various fields of chemistry(i.e., organic, inorganic, physical, etc.)should not be created, in a similar way asin the American Chemical Society. Thepresent Committee is of the opinion, how-ever, that the SCR members are not nu-merous enough to split them into subsec-tions which would not have the criticalmass. In addition, the present situationleads to fruitful discussions and interac-tions between chemists from various hori-zons.Activities of the SectionSince its creation six years ago, theSCR has been mainly involved in organiz-ing activities related to the purposes de-scribed above. A special emphasis hasbeen placed on the Fall Meetings of theNSCS, which are de facto the largest an-nual forum of Swiss chemistry. Manyimportant organization problems had tobe solved, namely the location and venueof the Meetings, the gradual introductionof poster vs. oral presentations, the prepa-ration of a high-level and attractive scien-tific program, the publication of the ab-stracts, etc. As to the location of the FallMeetings, the venue of Bern (ChemischeInstitute der UniversiUit) definitely be-came too small in the early 90s, due to theincreasing number of participants and sci-entific contributions. In addition, due tothe importance of ILMAC for the NSCSand Swiss chemistry, it was decided tomove the Fall Meetings to Basel and toorganize them in the context of ILMACevery year this event takes place. To en-sure a fair geographical distribution of theFall Meetings, their location is thereforeplanned as follows:- 1998 ZUrich (ETH)- 1999 Basel (ILMAC)- 2000 Lausanne- 2001 Basel (ILMAC becomes bienni-al)The other points concerning the organ-ization of the Fall Meetings have beententatively solved as follows: avoid asmuch as possible parallel sessions of oralcontributions by promoting poster ses-sions, though this is of course not alwayspossible, and publication of all the ab-stracts in CHIMTA prior to the Fall Meet-ings. The SCR is continuously working atpossible improvements of this organiza-tion, and comments from Section mem-bers are welcome.Tn addition to Fall Meetings, the SCRhas to organize every fourth year the Springones. That was the case in 1994 in Neucha-tel on the topic 'Organometallic Chemis-try Including Organic Synthesis and Ca-talysis' and in 1998 in Bern on the topic'Hydrogen Bonds: From Structure andDynamics to Molecular Recognition'.The SCR has also organized ad hoccolloquia, such as those of 1995 (Festkol-loquium zu Ehren von Prof. K. Dressler,ETHZ, and Colloque a J'Occasion du30eme Anni versaire de I'Institut de ChimiePhysique, EPFL), and it was instrumentalin organizing the 36th lUPAC Congress,Geneva, August 17-22, 1997. A mini-symposium on the topic 'Protein Struc-tures as Templates for the Design of NewDrugs' was set up by the SCR in thecontext of ILMAC 1996, and the Sectionhad also contributed to the organization ofthe Ist Swiss COST Chemistry Symposi-um held in Basel at this occasion. Last butnot least, the SCR had organized a Com-petition for Students of Gymnasium (Col-lege) Classes in 1995-1996, which metwith a large success.As to promoting publication of high-quality results obtained by young chem-ists, the SCR has decided to publish eachyear in CHIMIA a collection of short arti-cles corresponding to the most remarkableposters or oral contributions presented atthe Fall Meeting of the NSCS. This actionshould enable the authors of these contri-butions to develop their presentation, so asthe whole readership of CHIMIA has achance to be aware of it.Finally, the SCR had submitted throughthe NSCS a proposal for a theme of the 8thseries of National Research Programs ofthe Swiss National Science Foundation(SNSF) entitled 'Molecular Devices'.According to the latest news received bythe Section, it seems that this proposal hassome chance to be retained in the finalchoice to be made by the SNSF.Future ActivitiesThe SCR is ready to continue workingon the organization of high-level scientif-ic meetings and symposia. In addition, itwill as far as possible sponsor some eventswhich could be of interest for its members.As of today, the following activities areplanned:- sponsorship to the Summer School inComputational Quantum Chemistry,Manno (Tl), July 27-31, 1998 (ho-mepage http://www.cscs.ch/OfficiallSummerSchool),- organization of the Fall Meeting of theNSCS, October 15,1998 in Zurich,- co-organization of a mini-symposiumon 'Principles of Molecular Chiralityand their Significance for all Branchesof Chemistry' to take place at the occa-sion of the 37th IUPAC Congress,Berlin, August 14-19, 1999,- organization of a symposium on 'Su-pramolecular Chemistry and Molecu-lar Recognition' to be held at ILMAC,Basel, October 12-15, 1999.In addition, every proposal submittedby SCR members as to other future activ-ities will be discussed by the Committee.How to Become a Member of the SCRIn case you wish to become a memberof our Section, you need first to be amember of the NSCS. To this end, youshould access the homepage of the NSCS(http://sgichl.unifr.ch/nscs)andthenclickon 'Become a member' by selecting ourSection in the interactive www form. Ifyou are already a member of NSCS, thenyou may join the Section by contacting theauthor of this presentation.

Presentation of the Section for Chemical Research (SCR) of the New Swiss Chemical Society (NSCS)

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Presentation of the Section for Chemical Research (SCR) of the New Swiss Chemical Society (NSCS)

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