I&EC History

Putting Science to Work: A History of I&EC Leadership and Innovation in Its First Hundred Years

By William H. Flank, Pace University (Retired)

The first Division established by the American Chemical Society has a long and distinguished history. A number of sources were used to assemble a comprehensive picture of the genesis, growth and innovative leadership of the I&EC Division over the past century. Befitting its role as the first applied Division of the Society, diversification into emerging areas has been the hallmark of I&EC, and the Division is credited with many “firsts.” In parallel with this aggressive approach, numerous publications have been launched as an outgrowth of I&EC activities, and these are examined in detail as well.

This work was originally published in 2009 in Symposium Series 1000, the volume commemorating the Division’s centennial in 2008. Minor updates have since been added.

Contents

Introduction

Several histories of the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Division have been compiled over the last century, including the one written in 1951 by Division Chairman William A. Pardee, which was published in Vol. 43, No. 2 of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (1951).  Additional information was found in A History of the American Chemical Society:  Seventy-Five Eventful Years, by Charles Albert Browne (Historian of the American Chemical Society) and Mary Elvira Weeks, published by the Society in 1952.  An update was included in A Century of Chemistry:  The Role of Chemists and the American Chemical Society, edited by Kenneth M. Reese and H. Skolnik, and published by the Society in 1976.  I&EC historian David E. Gushee published a Division Page article in June, 1994 in CHEMTECH titled I&EC Division:  An institution in periodic transition.  Reese also edited The American Chemical Society at 125:  A Recent History, 1976-2001, published by the Society in 2002.  It contained a section on I&EC contributed by former Chairs David E. Gushee and Steven J. Cooke, which became the basis for membership promotion material put together by the latter.  The present history comprises a synthesis, enlargement and enhancement of those earlier efforts, upon which it has drawn heavily, and includes some details helpfully dug out of Society records by several ACS staff members.

It is clear from the available records that I&EC, initially known as the Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers, was the first Division organized in the Society and followed close on the heels of the founding of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers as a separate professional organization.  Other Divisions organized shortly thereafter include Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Fertilizer and Soil Chemistry (now defunct), Organic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry (originally Physical and Inorganic Chemistry Division, with the Inorganic Division splitting off in 1957).

There is also a parallel history of I&EC-related publications, beginning with the gestation and publication of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry starting in 1909, which will be discussed in more detail below.

According to the Division’s Bylaws, and in addition to those of the Society, “further Objects of the Division shall be the advancement of industrial and engineering chemistry, and in specific furtherance thereof:

  • To encourage the highest standards of excellence in developing and applying knowledge of chemistry and chemical engineering to the products and processes of industry.
  • To promote the development of chemical science and technology in both academic institutions and in industry.
  • To improve the qualifications and usefulness of chemists and chemical engineers through high standards of professional ethics, education and attainment.
  • To increase the diffusion of chemical knowledge through its meetings, professional contacts, reports, papers, discussions and publications, thereby fostering public welfare and education.
  • To promote the mutual recognition of need and interest for the complete spectrum of chemical interests, from fundamental research to pragmatic technology.

Division Formation and Early History

Prior to the formation of this first formal Division in the Society, an Industrial Section had been established at least as early as 1904, with the following chairmen:

1904     Edward Hart

1905     S. W. Parr

1906     J. D. Pennock

1907     Arthur D. Little and W. H. Ellis

1908     William D. Richardson

The 1907 President of ACS, Marston T. Bogert, had appointed a committee to consider the advisability of undertaking the publication of a journal of industrial and engineering chemistry and the formation of an industrial division.  At the Christmas 1907 national ACS meeting in Chicago, the committee recommended, and the Council approved, the publication of the journal and the formation of the Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers.  Industrial chemists were at that time, and still remain, the largest membership group in the Society, and this move was an attempt to avoid further fragmentation into specialized groups like the then-recently organized American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The organizational meeting of this first ACS Division was held at Yale University on June 30, 1908, at the 38th general meeting of the Society.  The meeting was presided over by William L. Richardson, the soon-to-be-elected editor-in-chief of the new Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.  The first officers of the new Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers were Arthur D. Little, chairman; A. H. Low, vice chairman; B. T. Babbit Hyde, secretary; and an executive committee of six members.  Initially, several of the elected Chairs served for two consecutive years, but this has not been the practice since the end of World War II.  Since that time, only Bill Flank has been elected to serve a second term, and that occurred 19 years after his initial term.  The complete listing of Division Chairs to date is found in Table 1.

In the early days of the Division there were standing committees on:

  • Definition of Industrial Terms
  • Trade Customs
  • Standard Specifications and Methods of Analysis (a function later carried on by ASTM)
  • Research Problems
  • Descriptive Bibliographies
  • Publicity

In December, 1909 a special committee was appointed to confer with manufacturers for the purpose of determining at what prices various elements and compounds could be obtained if a large enough market was developed for them.  In July, 1911 a committee was appointed to study the need for a professional code of ethics among chemists.  These early committees, however, did not meet with much success.  The requests of the committees on definitions and specifications were initially ignored when they asked for product data from the manufacturers.  Information on such important materials of the time as bronze, inorganic chemicals grades, heavy chemicals, pharmaceutical products, Portland cement, petroleum products, iron and steel was not obtainable for some time.  Subcommittees working on formulating specifications for soda ash, caustic soda, alum, mineral acids, solder and turpentine met with opposition from manufacturers.

It was only in later years that specifications were set for ACS Grade Analytical Reagents, when the need for information finally overcame the perceived need for trade secrecy.  The task of setting standards for analytical methods and testing eventually fell to the American Society for Testing and Materials, later to become know as ASTM International.  This group’s activities, many of which involve industrial chemicals and chemistry, are predicated upon consensus procedures and a careful balancing of producer interests, user interests, and public or general interests.

The Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers encouraged and sponsored numerous symposia and general papers covering subjects which then became the fields of specialization of new Divisions within ACS.  Among these were Cellulose, Chemical Marketing and Economics, Fluorine, Fuel, Nuclear, Petroleum, and at least six others over the years.  The first symposium was held in Boston in December, 1909 on the subject of paint.  In September, 1918 a Symposium on the Chemistry of Dyestuffs was held under the chairmanship of R. N. Shreve, and interest in this program led to the formation of the Dye Section and later the Dye Division.  Two symposia on cellulose, held in April and September of 1920 under the chairmanship of J. E. Crane and G. J. Esselen, respectively, played an important role in the formation of the Division of Cellulose Chemistry.  A symposium on the chemistry of gases and fuels in 1921 under the chairmanship of C. H. Stone prompted the formation of a section and later a Division on Fuels.

Some of the other early symposia included Smelter Smoke (1910), Mineral Wastes (1911), Wood Wastes and Conservation (1915), Occupational Diseases (1916), Nitrogen Industry (1916), Metallurgy (1917), Potash (1918), and Refractories (1919).  In addition, several less technically oriented symposia were held on Contributions of the Chemist to American Industries (1915), Industrial Chemists in Wartime (1917), Library Service in Industrial Laboratories (1919), Future of Certain American-Made Chemicals (1919), and Annual Patent Renewal Fees (1919).

The many symposia and papers relating to education and training of chemists and chemical engineers, fertilizers, petroleum, gases and fuels, sugar and rubber are indicative of the active interest of the I&EC Division in promoting chemistry and chemical engineering in these areas, eventually leading to the incorporation of such Divisions within ACS.

Division Maturation and Growth

In 1919 the ACS Council acted on a motion to change the name of the Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers to Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.  It subsequently became informally known as the I&EC Division, but the abbreviation used in the National Meeting programs listed in Chemical and Engineering News was INDE.  This persisted until 1985 when, at the request of Division Chair Bill Flank, the Meetings and Expositions Department agreed to change it to I&EC.

Many papers on unit operations and unit processes appeared in the early programs of the Industrial Section and then later in the Division.  The first formal Symposium on Unit Operations appeared in the April 1921 program, on the subjects of drying and filtration.  Following that, unit operations subjects were covered every year, until in 1934 a series of special symposia was inaugurated and held either separately from, or part of, National Meetings until the present time, and evolved into special topics of current interest having a chemical engineering focus.  The first symposium on unit processes was presented in September, 1937 and became a regular feature after that.

While informal sections within the Divisional structure addressed special fields of interest, it was not until the 1940’s that they operated on a formal basis.  Around 1950, the Division’s bylaws were amended to recognize these sections, which eventually became subdivisions.  Among these earlier groups were sections on Chemical Marketing and on Fluorine Chemistry, later to become full-status Divisions.

In the mid- to late 1970’s, energetic new leadership spearheaded by Jim McEvoy led to a number of initiatives and programs that attracted much attention and boosted membership.  Interdisciplinary programming was emphasized, including a heavy emphasis on catalysis topics, and liaisons were established with other groups such as Corporation Associates, the Younger Chemists Committee and the Women Chemists Committee.  McEvoy recruited Bill Flank to replicate the social programs he had developed in other professional societies, which strongly promoted interdisciplinary interaction, drew support from numerous chemical companies and drew overflow crowds.  In recognition of the aging demographics of I&EC, successful efforts focused on attracting and encouraging students to become involved in poster sessions, professional interaction and networking, and other activities leading to involvement in the life of the Division.

An attractive newsletter edited by Jim McEvoy began to be published as well, and continues to be a prime source of information and communication with our membership, most of whom cannot regularly attend National Meetings.  The Division has been fortunate to have had a string of dedicated and talented editors for its newsletter, which is currently edited by Dustin James.  A further innovation involved the establishment of a Public Affairs committee, which recognized the need for presenting the face of the chemical enterprise to the outside world.

The activities of the Division continued to drift away from an exclusive focus on traditional topics of industrial chemistry and chemical engineering, and embraced emerging areas of special interest.  In the 1990’s, Dan W. (Bill) Tedder organized a series of very successful free-standing symposia titled Emerging Technologies:  Hazardous Waste Management; the publications from these symposia earned significant revenues for the Division.  This was also true for the on-going series of symposia organized by Robin Rogers on Ionic Liquids in the first decade of the 21st century.  The broad programming of special symposia that were held outside of ACS National Meetings to accommodate those interests was gradually brought back into the National Meeting format through the development of new subdivisions and the incorporation of new topics into the Division’s programming cycle.

The Division experienced dramatic growth in the decade from 1975 to 1985, and increased its membership by over 50%, becoming the third-largest Division in the ACS.  Some of the subdivisions grew large enough to become full Divisions in their own right, and over the years the I&EC Division has been the starting point for at least 11 other Divisions, including Cellulose (now Cellulose and Renewable Materials), Chemical Marketing and Economics (now Business Development and Management), Dye (now defunct), Environmental, Fluorine, Fuel, Nuclear, and Petroleum.  Table 3 lists these, as best as can be reconstructed from the information extant.

Incorporation and Diversification of Activities

The Division was incorporated in 1983 due largely to the efforts of Kathleen Taylor, the first female Chair of the Division.  Although female Chairs were unusual up to that time, there were some precedents in other Divisions, most notably in the History of Chemistry Division.  As listed in the Articles of Incorporation, the incorporating I&EC Board of Directors comprised Lawrence A. Casper, Geoffrey K. Smith, Billy L. Crynes, Kathleen C. Taylor, William H. Flank, James D. Idol, Jr., James E. McEvoy and Norbert Platzer.  The Division continues as an incorporated non-profit scientific organization, as defined in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

In 1985, Division Chair Bill Flank appointed a liaison to AIChE and initiated a series of program co-sponsorships on topics of overlapping interest that were being presented at meetings of both societies and at free-standing conferences.  This cooperative programming continues, and has more recently been spearheaded by Spiro Alexandratos and also Martin Abraham, who are members of both organizations.  At the New Orleans National Meeting in 2008, which was held together with the AIChE meeting, several jointly organized symposia were presented which were attended by members of both organizations.  Numerous benefits have resulted over the years from this close relationship, especially in the area of technical programming, and many chemical engineers hold membership in both organizations.

I&EC now has five sub-divisions, comprising a large and very active group in Separation Science and Technology, as well as Green Chemistry and Engineering, Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Industrial Bio-based Technology, and Novel Chemistry with Industrial Applications.  Many of the officers and Executive Committee members of the Division are drawn from the subdivision ranks.  In addition, the Division has participated in the programming and planning activities of the Catalysis and the Biotechnology Secretariats.  Efforts are now being made to establish a Catalysis Division, and I&EC is supportive of this and has offered its assistance.

[2010 Update:  The Catalysis Division has now been established.  The I&EC Division currently has four sub-divisions:  Separation Science and Technology (SS&T), Green Chemistry and Engineering (GC&E), Novel Chemistry with Industrial Applications (NCIA), and most recently, the Applied Chemical Technology Subdivision (ACTS).

In the past several decades, I&EC has developed and presented several popular Short Courses, including a series on chromatography by Harold M. McNair and the long-running course on “Chemical Engineering for Chemists” by Richard G. Griskey.  Many of the timely symposia on special topics such as molecular sieves, separations and “green” chemistry have resulted in published volumes which accelerated the growth in interest in these areas.  Much of the early impetus in this period for book publication was due to the efforts of Jim McEvoy, who served the Division in a number of capacities over the years (as did several other former Chairs, including Dave Gushee, Bob Stowe, Bill Flank and Melanie Cravey Lesko).

The I&EC Division has been an innovator in a number of ways, but none more pertinent to publishing than the leadership shown in producing the first ACS Symposium Series volume in advance of the symposium sessions themselves.  Symposium Series 135 appeared in the early 1980s, and a similar effort, Symposium Series 368, was published in the late 1980s, both edited by Bill Flank.  Numerous other symposium series volumes have been derived from the presentations sponsored by the I&EC Division, including Symposium Series 1000, which commemorated the Division’s centennial in 2008.  The book’s title was “Innovations in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry:  A Century of Achievements and Prospects for the New Millennium,” and it was edited by William H. Flank, Martin A. Abraham and Michael A. Matthews.

In the 1990’s, increased emphasis on student poster sessions by the Division, which boosted student participation, especially by local students, combined with the Division’s innovative social activities, attracted attention and led to the initiation of the Society’s popular SciMix sessions.  Other innovative efforts, as a supporter and forum for the Vision 2020 program for developing practical solutions for the future, and collaboration with EPA in initiating green chemistry symposia, have led to broader attention and efforts directed at solving our nation’s practical technological problems.

A more recent initiative has involved participation and financial support for programming at Regional Meetings, and the Division has budgeted funds and invited organizers to submit funding requests.  A number of such grants have been made in the past several years.  In another initiative, in 2007 the first two I&EC Division Fellow Awards were presented.  This recognition for outstanding research effort by a chemist and by a chemical engineer was established through the efforts of Spiro Alexandratos.

In recognition of advances in technology, the Division has supported an informational website for a number of years, and publishes its semi-annual newsletter online.  Robin Rogers was our first webmaster, and Dustin James is currently webmaster and newsletter editor.  Close contact and follow-up regarding Divisional affairs are facilitated by the extensive use of an e-mail listserv and conference calls among Executive Committee members.  With nine officers and Councilors, and thirteen additional Executive Committee members and committee chairs listed in the current Division bylaws plus several ad hoc committees, semi-annual meetings at the ACS National Meetings are simply insufficient to conduct the multiple activities of the Division.

Publication History and Activities

The Industrial and Engineering Chemistry journal was established in 1909, and in 1923 the News Edition of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry was started.  An Analytical Edition was established in 1929, and in 1940 the News Edition was made an independent publication.  The latter was renamed Chemical and Engineering News in 1942 and became a weekly in 1947.  The Analytical Edition was made an independent publication in 1948 and renamed Analytical Chemistry.  Table 2 shows the publications associated with the I&EC Division over the years.

In 1970, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry was temporarily interred – the Society euphemism was “publication suspension” – and editor Dave Gushee took the occasion to recite some history in marking the demise:

“I&EC and the Division whose name it shares were born in 1908 under rather hasty circumstances.

“Its mission was originally ‘to serve the interest of the American technical chemist (industrially employed chemist) and chemical engineer engaged in manufacturing pursuits, more especially those having to do with processes and problems of a chemical character.’  Over the years this mission has evolved as the needs of its audience have changed in character.  As parts of the original audience developed into disciplines of their own, daughter publications were spun off.  Today [1970] there are eight of these.  The mother now passes to her reward.

“The father of this lusty brood ‑ the technical chemist and chemical engineer ‑ sired another such organization (AIChE) and publications family at the same time.  Both families ‑ AIChE and I&EC ‑ have flourished for considerably more than half a century.  Technology has demanded, in essence, disciplinary bigamy ‑ the father, two mothers (only one of which is being dealt with here), many sons (new disciplines and their practitioners), and many daughters (eight publications from the ACS lineage alone).

“The era immediately following World War II (the one with which we are personally familiar) was fertile with opportunity and demand.  The process industries flourished so greatly that Fortune magazine suggested in the early fifties that this would be called ‘the chemical century.’  From 1946 – 1953, I&EC reflected the bonanza years with an explosive proliferation of contributed papers, staff-prepared or staff-assisted features, and journals, launched on material previously handled in I&EC (just as I&EC was grubstaked in 1908 with material previously carried in JACS).  In 1942, the ‘News Edition’ became C&EN.  In 1948, Analytical Chemistry became an entity.  In 1953, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry spun off.  In 1958, the Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data was founded, primarily from I&EC’s data content.  In 1962 came the three [I&EC] quarterlies.  And finally, in 1967, ES&T was born.”

Gushee’s final thought about his farewell editorial:  “It is a reminder that every institution is a product of its time, and that as times change, so must institutions.”

In other activities, the “State of the Art” Summer Symposium, held separately from the ACS national Meetings, was started about 1960 with one of its purposes being the generating of review articles for Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, the journal edited by David E. Gushee.  That journal was phased out in 1970, as noted above, but the symposium series was continued from 1971 until 1980 under the leadership of Robert Shane.

The Society then launched a new journal, Chemical Technology (known more often as CHEMTECH), in 1971 under the editorship of Benjamin J. Luberoff, who presided over most of its 29-year history.  An innovative feature was an advisory board comprised of initially 12 (and later as many as 22) Divisional representatives from the so-called applied Divisions of the Society.  The I&EC liaison representative for many years was Bill Flank.  The board was initially chaired by Leo Friend of I&EC.  This group met regularly to provide feedback and monitoring, and to assist in securing relevant articles for the journal.  After Friend’s untimely death in an auto accident, the Leo Friend Award for the most significant article each year in CHEMTECH was established and funded by the I&EC Division.

In 2000, CHEMTECH metamorphosed into Chemical Innovation under the continued recent editorship of Michael J. Block, and continued (or started) publication as Volume 30.  The farewell issue of CHEMTECH in December, 1999 included an extensive history by founding editor Ben Luberoff of the birth of the publication and much of its history and creative publishing innovations, of which there were many outstanding ones.

Recently, Donald R. Paul, Editor of today’s Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, published an expressive anniversary editorial titled “100 years of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry” which he has given permission to present here:

“This journal has a long and rich history of providing quality technical content in the areas of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.  The journal is approaching 100 years old, and this deserves a celebration.

“Here is a quick summary of the history of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (abbreviated hereafter as I&EC Research).  The first issue of The Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry was published in January 1909 under the editorship of W. D. Richardson.  It was the second journal started by the American Chemical Society; the first was the Journal of the American Chemical Society (or JACS), which was started in 1879.  In 1923, the title was shortened to Industrial & Engineering Chemistry.  In that same year, the I&EC News edition was started and then spun off in 1943 to form the current publication Chemical & Engineering News.  In 1929, the analytical edition was started, and it also was spun off in 1949 to create the current journal Analytical Chemistry.  In 1956, the Chemistry & Engineering Data series was initiated; and, in 1959, the current Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data was launched as a stand-alone publication.  In 1962, the journal was split into the three I&EC quarterlies:  Fundamentals (its first and only Editor was Robert L. Pigford), Process Design and Development (its first and only Editor was Hugh M. Hulburt), and Product Research and Development (its first Editor was Byron M. Vanderbilt, its second Editor was Howard L. Gerhart, and its third Editor was Jerome A. Seiner).  In 1987, the three quarterlies were collapsed into a single monthly publication under the title Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (or I&EC Research).  Its leadership comprised Editor Donald R. Paul; Senior Editor J. A. Seiner; and Associate Editors J. L. Anderson and J. D. Seader.

“In the early years of I&EC Research and its predecessors, manuscripts were sent to a Manuscript Office at ACS Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where staff handled the mechanics of manuscript processing, as was the case for other so-called ‘applied’ journals, including Environmental Science and Technology, Journal of Chemical Engineering Data, and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.  This office was gradually phased out and eventually closed at the end of 1995, and its staff functions were transferred to the offices of the various editors.  This increased the speed of publication and gave authors and reviewers more direct contact with the editors.  In 2001, I&EC Research went to biweekly publication, because of tremendous growth in the number of manuscripts being published:  In 1987, the total number of pages published in I&EC Research was 2579, whereas in 2006, that number was 10,072.  This growth made it necessary to expand the number of Associate Editors; that list now includes Spiro Alexandratos, David Allen, John Anderson, Larry Biegler, Mike Dudukivic, Benny Freeman, Massimo Morbidelli (the first outside the United States), and Tunde Ogunnaike.  In 1997, the web edition of this journal was initiated, whereas in 2003, online submission of manuscripts was made possible; all of these milestones greatly shortened the time to publication.  The American Chemical Society (ACS) scanned all the journal pages published prior to the online electronic version and made the ACS Journal Archives available in 2002.  In 1996, we introduced a new category for papers on ‘Applied Chemistry,’ which has attracted many papers that previously would not have been submitted to I&EC Research.

“For many years, I&EC Research has had the practice of publishing collections of invited papers in a designated area, from selected symposia or to pay tribute to important people in the field on some significant occasion.  A listing of these ‘special issues’ dating back to the year 2000 can be found at http://pubs.acs.org/journals/iecred/promo/special_issues/.  We are taking several steps to celebrate and document this history and the development of the current version of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry over the past 100 years.  We have launched a website that will be the focal point of the 100-year anniversary; the content of this website (http://pubs.acs.org/journals/iecred/promo/100th) will be preserved for posterity in some way.  Among other things, we will highlight several papers published over the last 100 years that have had special impact on our field and there will be a link to these papers, so that all visitors to this website can have access to them.  Second, this website will feature short essays by friends of the journal, reflecting on the past or looking forward to the future.  This will be analogous to what was done at year 50; see Ind. Eng. Chem. 1958, 50 (1), pp 2-4, to read some interesting commentaries and predictions (available at the website:  http://pubs.acs.org/about.html, if your library has a subscription).  Finally, in the lead-up to and during 2009, we will publish, in the journal, several special scholarly papers ‑ generally, review papers ‑ to commemorate our 100-year anniversary.

“It is significant to mention that, within the same time frame, the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (see http://membership.acs.org/I/IEC/) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers will also celebrate their 100-year anniversaries.  We offer our congratulations to these organizations and hope to find ways to celebrate together this important time for chemical engineering and applied chemistry.”

Conclusion

According to the 2002 historical update by Dave Gushee and Steve Cooke, “a stated objective of the I&EC Division, as defined in the Bylaws, is ‘to support programs that promote the science, techniques, and technology of chemical process and product development.’  Member surveys have shown that I&EC has been successful in doing this over the years, and has continued to ‘act as an information resource, arrange meetings and symposia, provide information on new technologies, and provide newsletters and abstracts.’”  As the Division enters its second century, it continues to evaluate its programs and strategically plan to meet the emerging needs of its varied membership.  The recent development of a Division “Value Proposition,” and the scheduling of a follow-up Strategic Planning Conference, are visible elements of that effort.

A lasting legacy for the parent American Chemical Society, deriving from the establishment of the Divisional structure whose centennial we now celebrate, is the format of the National Meetings held semi-annually in various cities around the country.  Programming at these meetings is organized and presented by Divisions, and the strength of that programming is a tribute to the health and the value of the Divisional structure within the Society.  As we mark 100 years of Division activity and I&EC’s leadership role, we can note with pride that the success of National Meetings owes much to Divisions and their efforts.

Table I. Chairs of the Division

1908-1910 Arthur D. Little

1911 George C. Stone

1912-1913 George D. Rosengarten

1914-1915 George P. Adamson

1916-1917 Harrison E. Howe

1918 William H. Walker

1919 Harlan S. Miner

1920-1921 Harry D. Batchelor

1922 Warren K. Lewis

1923-1924 D. R. Sperry

1925-1926 W. A. Peters, Jr.

1927 William H. McAdams

1928-1929 Robert J. McKay

1930-1931 Robert E. Wilson

1932-1933 Donald B. Keyes

1934-1936 Walter G. Whitman

1937 Thomas A. Boyd, Jr.

1938-1939 Walter L. Badger

1940-1941 Barnett F. Dodge

1942 Lawrence W. Bass

1943-1944 R. Norris Shreve

1945-1946 Thomas H. Chilton

1947 Francis J. Curtis

1948 Henry F. Johnstone

1949 Joseph C. Elgin

1950 Lincoln T. Work

1951 William A. Pardee

1952 Melvin C. Molstad

1953 J. Henry Rushton

1954 Charles J. Krister

1955 Edward W. Comings

1956 Charles M. Cooper

1957 Edmond L. d’Ouville

1958 DeWitt O. Myatt

1959 James M. Church

1960 Otto H. York

1961 Joseph E. Stewart

1962 G. R. Seavy

1963 Brage Golding

1964 Arthur R. Rescoria

1965 Arthur Rose

1966 Robert B. Beckmann

1967 Robert Landis

1968 Merrell R. Fenske

1969 Leo Friend

1970 Robert N. Maddox

1971 James D. Idol

1972 William E. Hanford

1973 Vernon A. Fauver

1974 James R. Couper

1975 Peter K. Lashmet

1976 David E. Gushee

1977 John Ehrenfeld

1978 James E. McEvoy

1979 Robert Squires

1980 Norman N. Li

1981 Charles M. Bartish

1982 Robert A. Stowe

1983 Kathleen C. Taylor

1984 Billy L. Crynes

1985 William H. Flank

1986 John M. Storton

1987 John L. Massingill

1988 Wallace W. Schulz

1989 Kathleen M. (Stelting) Schulz

1990 Madan M. Bhasin

1991 Melanie J. (Cravey) Lesko

1992 David J. Pruett

1993 D. William Tedder

1994 Spiro D. Alexandratos

1995 Lawrence A. Casper

1996 Ralph C. Gatrone

1997 Dale L. Perry

1998 Nancy B. Jackson

1999 Robin D. Rogers

2000 Steven J. Cooke

2001 Dale Ensor

2002 Amy L. Manheim

2003 Martin A. Abraham

2004 William H. Flank

2005 Dennis L. Hjeresen

2006 Richard Sachleben

2007 Michael Matthews

2008 Gregg Lumetta

2009 Joseph Zoeller

2010 Michael Gonzalez

2011 Phil Savage

2012 John Engelman

2013 Connie Murphy

2014 Jim Ritter

2015 Leigh Martin

2016 Frankie Wood-Black

2017 David Hobbs

2018 George Stanley

2019 Glenn Fugate

2020 Sam Morton

2021 Carter Abney

Table II. Divisions Initially Associated with I&EC

1915 Environmental Chemistry

1920’s Dye Chemistry (now defunct)

1920’s Organic Coatings and Plastics Chemistry
(now Polymeric Materials: Science & Technology)

1921 Carbohydrate Chemistry

1922 Cellulose, Paper and Textile Chemistry
(now Cellulose and Renewable Materials)

1922 Petroleum Chemistry

1925 Fuel Chemistry

1938 Analytical Chemistry

1954 Chemical Marketing and Economics
(now Business Development and Management)

1950-60’s Chemical Management

1965 Nuclear Chemistry
(now Nuclear Chemistry and Technology)

1965 Fluorine Chemistry

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