2000: Past Meetings

Chemical & Engineering News is the official weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Madeleine Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief, will discuss the numerous challenges of producing this magazine: planning and selecting stories, ensuring accuracy, maintaining balance and objectivity, meeting unrelenting deadlines, packaging the information so that it is appealing to read, coordinating the efforts of 44 reporters and editors in seven news bureaus around the world, and being responsive to readers. C&EN also publishes Chemical & Engineering News Online, a fully interactive, value-added web edition. Jacobs will talk about the additional challenges posed by publishing in the electronic world.

Biographical Information
Madeleine Jacobs is the first woman to be appointed editor (and editor-in-chief) of Chemical & Engineering News magazine, the weekly newsmagazine of the chemical world published by the American Chemical Society for its members and other interested professionals. The magazine, with its staff of 44 people in seven news bureaus around the world, celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1998. The current audited circulation is about 148,000.
Jacobs majored in chemistry at George Washington University and graduated With a B.S. in chemistry with honors and distinction (Phi Beta Kappa in her Junior year) in 1968. She carried out graduate work in organic chemistry for a Year at the University of Maryland before joining the staff of C&EN in 1969. There, she was an assistant editor and writer both in the Washington, D.C., office of C&EN and on the West Coast, where she covered 10 western states. She worked at C&EN for three years.

During her government career, Jacobs received more than three dozen awards For outstanding science writing from national organizations. She returned to Chemical & Engineering News in 1993 as managing editor. The magazine had not had a managing editor for 10 years, and she has spent the last seven years rebuilding and reorganizing the staff for greater flexibility and efficiency. She became editor in July 1995. Among other accomplishments as editor-in-chief, Jacobs has overseen the redesign of the magazine, the expansion of the editorial staff into the Pacific Rim, and coordinated marketing and advertising efforts which have led to an increase in advertising revenues (63% since 1993). In 1998, she also conceived of and coordinated C&EN’s 75th anniversary celebration, which included a special issue (January 12, 1998), a symposium on the challenges for chemistry in the new millennium (March 22, 1998), curriculum materials for high school chemistry teachers based on the special issue (introduced August 1998), a public event to honor C&EN’s Top 75 Contributors to the Chemical Enterprise (August 23, 1998), and a gala black tie, invitation-only dinner to honor the Top 75 and C&EN’s Top Corporate Supporters (August 23, 1998). The magazine introduced a fully interactive Web edition–Chemical & Engineering News Online–on August 24, 1998.

Please join us on Tuesday, September 26th. Invite a colleague or friend who may be interested in attending.

Martin Goffman, our second speaker, is a previous member of Council and the owner of Martin Goffman Associates, a privately held research, development, and consulting organization. Marty will introduce his consulting practice, explain how he got started and how he has adapted to change over the years. He will discuss getting his first client, expanding the business, and when to turn away work. Advertising, marketing, the web, and networking as ways to increase the business will be included in his presentation.

Efrem Zaret, the Association Secretary and an experienced consultant in the areas of commercial development and regulatory affairs, will then discuss how to handle the peaks and valleys in our practices. Most of us have faced this problem. Efrem will explain how he has worked through several such situations and expanded his activities as a result.

In addition to the actual presentations, there should be ample time for questions and discussion with the group as a whole. Plan on a lively and informative evening that will have immediate application in your consulting practice.

Gene Slowinski is the Director of Strategic Alliance Research at the Graduate School of Management, Rutgers University and a managing partner in the Alliance Management Group, a consulting firm devoted to the formation and management of strategic alliances. Prior to forming the Alliance Management Group, he held management positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Bellcore, and Novartis Corporation. In addition to a Ph.D. in Management, Gene holds an MBA, and a Masters Degree in the sciences.

Joint meeting with the CHEMICAL CONSULTANTS NETWORK Last spring the American Chemical Society surveyed a representative sample of ACS members aged 50 to 69 to gain a greater understanding of the maturing chemist professional’s needs as he or she approaches retirement. For some, the path has been negatively dictated by the labor market’s downsizing, mergers and/or consolidation over the past decade leaving little time for extensive retirement planning, for others choices include consulting as post-retirement employment and whole new career decisions. Lack of time or lack of information to plan for retirement may potentially leave some older individuals facing with financial concerns or medical coverage needs which might have been met had the proper time element been met. This study asks how are mid and later-career chemical professionals have fared over the past decade and throughout their careers.

Nearly 40% of the ACS population is aged 50 or older. The preliminary results from that data suggest that labor market participation and retirement differs at older ages by educational attainment, sex, and number of employers over the chemist’s career. Women, on average, are working later, have had more employers, take slightly more hiatuses, and are less likely to draw a pension when at ages 50 to 69 than mature men chemists. The presentation will address these differences in men and women chemists’ retirement plans and retirements given their life course trajectories and employment patterns. It will examine the many paths to retirement and one’s satisfaction with their retirement. Additionally, this presentation will discuss the mature chemists’ post-retirement employment behavior. Of particular interest is the choice of consulting as a career, including economic data therein. From this study, we hope to inform maturing chemists of paths to successful retirement. And ultimately how ACS can effectively support chemists through their various career transitions.

Dr. Farkas obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography with a minor in Gerontology from Pennsylvania State University in 1994. She is presently Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State U., Delaware County Campus, where her research interests include caregiving and retirement policies. She also is serving as a consultant for the American Chemical Society to provide statistical and data consulting for the mature chemist retirement project. She has numerous publications and presentations relating to women in the labor market and the status of older women and men in the workplace and in retirement.

Intellectual property is facing a period of major changes. It is essential that consultants learn more about the subject. Our clients will need help in this area and we need to understand it better. We need to know when to call in the experts.

Dr. Miller received his BS in Chemistry from Columbia University. He then received MS and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia as well. After working for a short period as a chemist, he attended NYU and received his J.D. in 1970. While attending Law School, he worked in the Law Department of predecessors of AlliedSignal and Hoechst Celanese Corp. For the past twenty-eight years he has been at Pennie & Edmonds, one of America’s oldest and largest nation-wide, full-service intellectual/industrial property law firms specializing exclusively in patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and legal activities related to these areas of specialization. Dr. Miller has been a partner at Pennie & Edmonds since 1978.

This should be a very informative meeting for all of our members, guests, and visitors. We hope to see you there.