• Congratulations, Dr. Blakely Tresca!
• Act4Chemistry Reminder
• Registration Now Open for GLRM!
• Highlights from the Spring ACS Meeting
• KACS Calendar

Congratulations, Dr. Blakely Tresca!

Maxwell Rhames, Kalamazoo College senior Chemistry major and active student chapter leader, saw me, Lydia Hines, at the Spring ACS meeting in San Diego and came over for a pleasant chat; part of the conversation included letting me know that Dr. Blakely Tresca, KACS member and K College faculty member who has been actively involved with a variety of our KACS student- and teacher-related outreach activities had been awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Chemistry. This milestone also signifies the College’s confidence in the contributions he will make throughout his career; I am happy to share the public tribute below, and to extend our Kalamazoo section’s CONGRATULATIONS to Blakely!

Tresca has had five published articles and recently received a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF funds will help his students develop a lab partnership with some of their counterparts at the University of Toronto while performing research with peptoid nanomaterials.

At K, Tresca has served on the Educational Policies Committee (EPC), where he participated in revising SIP guidelines and last year’s teacher’s assistant policy. Beyond EPC, he has been an advisor to K’s student chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) while working with the local ACS professional chapter. He’s also been the Michigan representative to the Midwest Association of Chemistry Teachers at Liberal Arts Colleges (MACTLAC) Board.

Tresca holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University, along with a master’s degree and a doctorate from the University of Oregon.

Act4Chemistry Reminder

By Doug Williams

In our March newsletter, we reminded you of important guidelines to separate our personal political activities and viewpoints from our affiliation with ACS. We are not authorized to voice our own political opinions as those of ACS. However, it is also relevant to remind you that your society is NOT silent on government issues. ACS advocates vigorously for the importance of chemistry and science in developing sound policies for the welfare of all.

If you are motivated to engage in advocacy work with the support of ACS, please check the ACS’ Act4Chemistry Legislative Action Network. As explained on the ACS website, Act4Chemistry allows members to become involved in advocacy at the federal level. It provides support to individual members, local sections, state committees, and other groups. Individual members can become involved at different levels of commitment and increase their strengths as advocates by joining advocacy groups. Currently, Act4Chemistry gives over 10,000 ACS members an easy, effective way to voice opinions to legislators. It is one of the most effective groups in the ACS. Act4Chemistry focuses primarily on federal science education and R&D policy, but also addresses environment, workplace, and technological competitiveness.

Editor’s Note: In addition to the Act4 Chemistry Legislative ActionNetwork described above, as editor I would like to encourage readers to go to the “Explore ACS” line at acs.org and consider the multitude of opportunities and resources available at ACS for its members’ growth in their professional lives.

Registration Now Open for GLRM!

Registration is now open for the Great Lakes Regional Meeting 2025, which will be held from June 4-6 in Appleton, Wisconsin! Early-bird rate runs until May 4.

Highlights from the Spring ACS Meeting

Councilor’s report (Highlights) from the Spring ACS Meeting in San Diego, where the weather was a bit cool and not as consistently sunny as anticipated…

The full report may be found on our website at https://kalamazooacs.org/archives/.

Below are a few highlights:

· The two individuals selected by the Councilors to be the candidates for President-elect are Dawn Mason and Christina Bodurow; this was the year to select “non-academics” for the Fall election. Members are urged to read the candidates’ platforms when they appear in C&EN and VOTE come October-November!

· The updating of our KACS Bylaws merited mention in the oral report from the Chair of the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B); it was one of the 21 Local Section bylaws certified during 2025.

· The Committee on Committees (ConC) is making committee participation on all but the three council-elected committees available to all members, whether or not they are councilors; forms are available online at www.cmte.acs.org through July 3.

· Registration at the Spring 2025 meeting was 15,332 (14,251 in-person and 1,081 online).

· The ACS Fall 2025 meeting will be held in Washington, DC, from August 17-21, 2025.

· As of December 31, 2024, ACS membership stood at approximately 100,000.