What are ACS Technical Divisions?

There are 34 ACS Technical Divisions, each focusing on a specific field of the chemical endeavor. Division membership is a unique vehicle for making the ACS your Society and for tailoring programs and activities to meet your particular professional concerns.

Each division is an autonomous unit of the Society, electing its own officers in accordance with its own bylaws. Division members also elect representatives to the ACS Council, the Society's deliberative governing body. As a division member, you will have direct impact on your discipline through your vote, your suggestions, and your active participation in division activities.

Meetings and Technical Programming

Most ACS divisions meet in conjunction with the Society's semiannual national meetings. It is the divisions that provide the technical programming and scientific content of the national meetings including symposia and general sessions as well as workshops, tutorials, and demonstrations. As a division member, you can work with program chairs to suggest symposia topics and contribute papers. Divisions with overlapping interests will cosponsor symposia.

National Meetings

Prior to each national meeting, many divisions send their members abstracts or preprints of papers to be presented during their portion of the meeting program. This gives you an extra professional edge in identifying the technical sessions and symposia that are most important to your work. Certain divisions provide you with reprints - copies of divisional papers - after the meeting.

Beyond National Meetings

Divisions may also meet apart from the national meetings - either independently or with other national and international groups in their field. The resulting divisional meetings, national conferences, and international congresses provide additional forums for in-depth exploration of the current issues in your area of specialization. Some divisions also organize topical symposia at ACS regional meetings.