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Minutes of 127th Meeting of Executive Committee
24-25 March 2000, San Franscisco, California, USA


9. PROGRESS REPORT FROM EDUCATION STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Prof. Jortner reviewed the background leading to the formation of the ad hoc Committee, noting especially Dr. Hayes' VPCA. He then reviewed the Charge to the Committee and its membership. IUPAC is fortunate that Prof. Peter Atkins has accepted the task of Chairman of the Committee. He also expressed his appreciation of the excellent work done by Dr. Meyers in coordinating the work of the Committee and organizing the London meeting.
It is expected that the committee will emphasize relevance, international dimension, capacity building, and public understanding of chemistry. The committee has taken a zero based planning approach to its work. If there were no education activities in the Union, what would one create? Prof. Jortner then reviewed the meeting summary. One proposal discussed was to replace the current Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry with a Committee on Education in the Chemical Sciences. Prof. Sydnes reviewed the work of the committee, noting that it had conducted a thorough examination of the activities of CTC. The work of the committee has been divided into three subgroups:

    1. Current activities
    2. Public appreciation of the chemical sciences
    3. Organizational changes

Each subgroup will write a draft report that will be circulated in turn to each of the other subgroups for comment. Final drafts are due to Prof. Atkins by 31 May. The committee plans to meet in July to prepare its final report. The committee has decided to publicize its work widely by inviting comments on IUPAC's educational activities from inside and outside IUPAC. A letter has been drafted that will be sent to members of CTC, NAOs, chemical societies, and chemical magazines. It is expected that many of the chemical magazines will print the letter or a summary.

Prof. Ohtaki noted that a conference on the Public Understanding of Science in Asia (PUSAT 2000) will be held in Malaysia in April. Dr. Hayes suggested that the draft final report could be circulated to the major chemical societies for comment. Prof. Sydnes suggested that this could be done between completion of the draft at the end of May and the meeting in July.

10. REPORT FROM NOMENCLATURE ROUNDTABLE
Dr. Becker described the background of the meeting and its participants. The focus of the meeting was on what nomenclature activities the Union should undertake, rather than on organizational issues and the work of the current Commissions. He then briefly reviewed the meeting summary that was handed out. Dr. Becker noted that the meeting had exceeded his expectations. Participation had been high and the discussion had been fruitful, leading to a number of suggestions and recommendations, as noted in the summary report. The EC was asked to act on three proposals:

    1. Establish, effective immediately, an ad hoc Committee on Chemical Identity and Nomenclature Systems. Dr. Alan D. McNaught was proposed as the Chairman of this committee.
    2. Approve the feasibility study of the Chemical Identifier project [Recommendation 7 in the summary report], to be managed by the CCINS. Drs. Stephen Heller and Stephen Stein to lead the feasibility study.
    3. Authorize the appointment of an official IUPAC representative to OASIS, the coordinating group for development of XML [extended markup language] when and if such a representative is deemed appropriate by the Secretary General and the Chairman of CCINS.

The Executive Committee approved all three recommendations. Prof. Steyn commented that it will be important to keep the Chemical Abstracts Service involved in IUPAC's nomenclature work. The commercial implications of this work should be kept in mind.

10.1 IDCNS-REPORT FROM PROF. MILLS
There was a general discussion of Prof. Mills' report. It was felt that the issue raised of the workload of the Chairman and Secretary of IDCNS was a serious one. It was suggested that this could be addressed by greater involvement of the other members of the committee in the review work now conducted solely by the Chairman and Secretary.

11. PROGRESS REPORT FROM AD HOC COMMITTEE ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF IUPAC AND THE GLOBAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Dr. Hayes reviewed the first meeting of the ad hoc Committee. He noted that the minutes of the meeting had been circulated to the Executive Committee. The organization and the work of the International Council of Chemical Associations were described, with special reference to the Long-Range Research Initiative. The US Chemical Manufacturers Association is now the Secretariat for the ICCA, replacing CEFIC. The LRI is focused on evaluation of older bulk chemicals for unforeseen adverse effects. The work of the LRI has been divided between the major trade associations, CEFIC, CMA, and JCIA (Japan Chemical Industry Association). One possible area of cooperation between IUPAC and the ICCA is in the review and dissemination of the results of the research programs of the LRI. This could be done by Workshops sponsored and organized by IUPAC. Dr. Hayes noted he was corresponding with ICCA regarding the possibility of a presentation to the third quarter meeting of the ICCA on possible areas of IUPAC-ICCA cooperation.

There was a general discussion of the need to make senior chemistry industry executives, many of whom are not chemists, aware of the contributions of IUPAC in areas of industrial value. It was noted that in many cases the National Adhering Organizations are not in communication with other national organizations, especially industry trade associations. The suggestion was made that IUPAC should establish communication with chemical engineering societies, such as the National Academy of Engineering in the US.

12. INTERNATIONAL CHEMISTRY COUNCIL-DISCUSSION
Dr. Hayes discussed the origins and work of the International Chemistry Council. He noted that the ICC had been formed at the request of the UNESCO Directorate of Physical Sciences, based on the success of a similar group in Physics. The special funds available from UNESCO for cooperative projects were described. It was noted that COCI had recently entered into an agreement with UNESCO based on this mechanism. The Executive Director was asked to obtain a report from COCI on the operation of this agreement.
A discussion of the value of the ICC followed. It was concluded that this is the time to undertake a review of the ICC in conjunction with UNESCO. The President was asked to arrange a meeting with the new Director General of UNESCO to discuss the future of the ICC. The Executive Committee approved a change in the Terms of Reference of the ICC to have the Chairman be the current President of IUPAC. Dr. Hayes will take up this subject in his meeting with UNESCO.


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