Welcome

Great Lakes Region of the American Chemical Society is an incorporated group of 20 ACS Local Sections the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Sections work together to sponsor technical meetings, present awards and recognitions, and organize activities of interest to benefit the members and the general public.

Great Lakes Region has a rich history deeply intertwined with the development of chemistry and the scientific community in the United States. The ACS was founded in 1876 and currently has more than 155,000 members at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields and is one of the world's largest scientific societies by membership. The ACS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and it has a large concentration of staff in Columbus, Ohio.

Great Lakes Region is a hub for collaboration, networking, and knowledge exchange among chemists, educators, and industry professionals. Local Sections within the Region facilitate at the grassroots level, organizing meetings, seminars, and symposiums to promote scientific discourse and innovation.

ACS Regional Meetings – their historical development and importance

In the mid-1940s, when travel was a bit more cumbersome than it seems to be today, and The War (WWII) interrupted a National Meeting, chemists within the American Chemical Society decided to join informally with others in proximal geographical areas to host meetings featuring presenters from academia and industry within that area so that those who might not be able to attend a National meeting could have a way of presenting their work in a professional environment at lesser expense than at a National Meeting. In this way ten (10) ACS Regions* were formed in the “Lower 48”– that is how our Region, the Great Lakes Region (GLR), was formed (see map). Meetings were held on University campuses to keep participants’ costs to a minimum. With the increasing desire for comfort, air-conditioned hotels became an increasingly-used venue; as corporate donations waxed and waned, to help fund the meetings a larger exposition was also incorporated, and hotels included available space which took into account the needs of exhibitors for more visibility and easier access to participants in a frequently-traveled location.

Such meetings were more accessible to graduate and undergraduate students, younger faculty members and to those in industry who had modest travel support; they also provided valuable networking possibilities to the participants. Over the years the importance and prestige of presenting at regional meetings in our Region has paralleled the content of the program selected by each Program Committee. Regional Meetings provide a more intimate venue of networking and professional development meetings, and has grown as we seek to reach our younger constituents and the general public.

Currently, ACS National Office offers the services of staff members to help in several aspects of the organization of a Regional Meeting but primarily in the registration and the abstract-gathering processes.

The first Great Lakes Regional meeting (GLRM) was held in Chicago in 1966.

The Great Lakes Region was incorporated in 2009 at the GLR Meeting in Chicago. The Board of Directors is composed of one representative from each of the 20 Local Sections in the Region.

*Northwestern, Rocky Mountain, Great Lakes, Central, Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern, Midwestern, Southwestern, Western.