Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No.2, March 1999

1999, Vol. 21
No. 2 (March)
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Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No. 2

March 1999

Reports from Commissions


Commission on High-Temperature Materials and Solid State Chemistry (II.3)

Minutes of Commission Meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 12-13 June 1998
Corish and Rosenblatt reported on the recent events concerning the future role and organization of IUPAC activities. The IUPAC Executive Committee (EC) on 4 April 1998 discussed the report of the Strategy Development and Implementation Committee (SDIC). The ad hoc SDIC was appointed in 1997 to develop a strategic plan for the Union and to suggest the procedure to redirect IUPAC's major scientific activities toward a project-based system, to replace the existing Division/Commission structure. The EC accepted the SDIC report and decided unanimously to recommend that the Bureau approve the SDIC proposals at their meeting in September 1998. These proposals will provide new policy for IUPAC's future development. IUPAC President Jortner sent a letter to commission officers on 21 April 1998 asking for a wide-ranging discussion of the details and ramifications of the SDIC proposals.

The summary of recommendations on the organization and management of scientific activities and the summary of formal actions required were distributed to members of Commission II.3. Under the SDIC proposals, the IUPAC Council will be asked in 1999 to terminate all existing commissions at the end of 2001. Instead of commissions, the division committees are to become the focus of scientific work in the Division, and to have overall responsibility for initiating, developing, and managing the work of the Division. The committees would solicit ideas for projects from National Adhering Organizations (NAO), National Chemical Societies, Regional Federations, IUPAC Fellows, and participants at relevant IUPAC symposia. Future projects would be carried out by Task Groups appointed for the (usually short-term) duration of the project and funded adequately to permit completion of the project in the planned time frame. A committee on Project Evaluation Criteria was recently established to advise the EC and the Bureau on criteria for the evaluation of project proposals, on the mechanism for approval of such proposals and allocation of resources, and on criteria for the assessment of the outcome of the projects. Corish is a member of this committee.

Corish asked for responses to the proposals in the SDIC Report by 31 July. In particular, opinions and proposals were sought relevant to the following items: (i) Division Committee-nomination and election of the Committee and Officers, size and responsibilities of the Committee; (ii) future of the Commissions of Division II-the need for long-term Commissions after 2001; and (iii) Project-Driven System-how will it work within the Division, how should the proposed Task Groups be organized and managed? Members of Commission II.3 were asked to communicate their comments to Chairman Spear.

Project Reports

Potential New Projects
New projects will be affected by future IUPAC policy to support short-term projects, not titular members. The Bureau meeting in September will shed more light on this matter. Commission II.3 may propose important projects, for example, concerning materials. New commission members should be engaged in projects within their area of expertise.

Other Topics
HTMC-X in 2000
Hilpert reported that the conference will be held at Jülich from 10-14 April 2000 (Monday-Thursday). Mail asking for IUPAC sponsorship was sent to Jost, and HTMC-X has been announced in Chemistry International as approved. An international advisory committee has been established. Plenary lectures are foreseen as covering general overviews of alloys, ceramics, thermodynamic modeling, and CVD (coatings). Keynote lectures will be delivered by younger scientists. A visit to Jülich KFA laboratories will be arranged for Friday, 15 April. Hands-on demonstrations of thermodynamic databases will be organized. A proceedings volume may be issued by the Jülich Institute. The first circular will be issued shortly, and the conference will be announced in materials-related journals.

HTMC-XI in 2003
Rosenblatt reported that he will contact prospective organizers within months. The actual deadline for determining the location of HTMC-XI is the HTMC-X meeting in April 2000 (see above).

Commission II.3 Meeting in 1999
The commission meeting will be during the General Assembly in Berlin, 7-14 August.

Report from CTC
Kizilyalli reported. CTC Chairman Bradley summarized the future actions and some dilemmas at the CTC meeting in Geneva. His observations were distributed to Commission II.3 members. CTC launched an international critical review of chemical education, with the important objective of providing the basis for transmitting chemical principles into associated disciplines, such as materials chemistry and chemical biology. The plan is to produce approximately 10 manuscripts on suitable subjects and publish them by June 1999. CTC will work out the details of a formal agreement with UNESCO to secure funding for this project. Comments concerning this action are solicited.

D. Kolar
Secretary of Commission II.3


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