Schedule at a Glance
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Jump to: Social Program | Workshops | Poster Sessions | Oral Presentations
Social Program
Golf AM
Location: Deer Valley golf course
Contact: Charles Wehinger
Chemagination 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Location: Red Room
Contact: Louise Lawter
Chocolate Luncheon 12:00 – 1:30 PM
Location: White Room
Contact: Greglynn Gibbs
Plenary Lecture: AI in the Future Workforce 4:00 – 5:00 PM
Location: Red Room
Contact: Abu Asaduzzaman
Opening Reception 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: White Room
Contact: Abu Asaduzzaman, Lorena Tribe
Award Celebration 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Red Room
Contact: Brittany Anderson
ACS 150th Anniversary Reception 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Location: Red Room
Contact: Daniel Abramov, Lorena Tribe
Young Chemists Committee 3K Run 7:00 – 8:00 AM
Location: Around Hershey Medical
Contact: Charles Wehinger
Senior Chemists Breakfast 8:00 – 9:30 AM
Location: Red Room
Contact: Lorena Tribe
Breakfast Workshop: Chemical Education at the Forefront of Change 8:00 – 9:30 AM
Location: Crystal A
Contact: Amalene Cooper-Morgan
Women Chemists Committee Luncheon 12:00 – 1:30 PM |
Location: Red Room
Contact: Lorena Tribe
Plenary Lecture 4:00 – 5:00 PM
Location: Red Room
Contact: Matt Sonntag
Networking Session with Vendors 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: White Room
Contact: Martin Zysmilich, Donald Mencer
Local Section Officers Reception 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Location: Troegs Brewery, 200 Hersheypark Dr, Hershey, PA 17033
Contact: Carl Salter
Women Chemists Committee Reps 8:00 – 9:00 AM
Location: Cocoa Boardroom
Contact: Lorena Tribe
Meet & Greet: ACS Board of Directors 12:00 – 1:30 PM
Location: Crystal A
Contact: Lorena Tribe, Abu Asaduzzaman
Young Chemists Committee Ice Cream Social for Undergraduates 2:00 – 3:00 PM
Location: Crystal A
Contact: Md Khabir Uddin
MARM Board Meeting 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Location: Cocoa Boardroom
Contact: Joseph Houck, Martha Hollomon
Workshops
Finding Your Pathway Monday, May 18 | 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: TBD
Contact: Kim Savage
Acing the Interview Monday, May 18 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: TBD
Contact: Kim Savage
Harnessing AI for Productive Chemistry Tuesday, May 19 | 12:00 – 1:30 PM
Location: TBD
Contact: Jason Sonnenberg
Modern artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming both scientific research and everyday life. This interactive workshop equips participants with the tools and insights to integrate both deterministic and probabilistic AI technologies into chemistry education and research workflows. Attendees will learn to use the Wolfram Notebook Assistant and Chat Notebooks, alongside built-in large language model (LLM) functions in the Wolfram Language, within a unified computational notebook environment. Participants will explore how to engineer effective prompts, create custom AI tools, and incorporate services from multiple LLM providers — while staying grounded in curated chemical knowledge. The workshop will also introduce strategies to reduce AI hallucinations through retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), enabling reliable answers built on trusted chemical datasets.
Computational Chemistry in the Classroom TBD
Location: TBD
Contact: Lorena Tribe, Carl Salter
Implementing computational chemistry in undergraduate and high school classrooms remains challenging and nontrivial for chemical educators at all levels. The goal of this workshop is to remove barriers and empower participants with the tools they need to integrate computational chemistry activities into their classrooms. Through demonstrations and hands-on activities using WebMO, participants will learn how to include computational activities in their curriculum. WebMO is a free/low cost, web-based interface for performing computational chemistry calculations without the need for additional computer hardware or software. Workshop facilitators will provide participants with example activities for use in high school and undergraduate chemistry courses, including exercises for each subfield (organic, physical, inorganic, etc.). Emphasis will be placed on system setup, submitting computations, and interpreting and visualizing results. In addition, practical issues related to working with computation in the classroom will be addressed. A question/answer period with experts will be included. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop or a smartphone.
Poster Sessions
General Topics I — Posters Sunday, May 17 | 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: White Room
General Topics II — Posters Monday, May 18 | 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: White Room
Oral Presentations
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizer: Zhezhen Fu (zwf5065@psu.edu)
Description: Electrochemical energy technologies are at the forefront of the global transition toward a low-carbon future. This symposium aims to bring together researchers, engineers, and industry practitioners to share the latest scientific and technological advances in electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems, including but not limited to batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells. We welcome contributions spanning fundamental materials discovery, advanced characterization techniques, device engineering, and system-level integration.
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 1:30 – 3:00 PM
Location: Empire A
Organizer: Ryan Henry (ryan.henry@wilkes.edu)
Description: Epigenetics, the study of changes caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself, is a rapidly growing and developing field, and has shown amazing potential for disease treatment. This symposium seeks to highlight advances in the field of epigenetics: studies on chemical modification of DNA, post-translational modification of histones, the role of RNA in gene expression, both in our fundamental understanding of these processes and their potential biomedical applications.
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 8:00 – 11:10 AM
Location: Empire A
Organizer: Greg Caputo (caputo@rowan.edu)
Description: According to the US Centers for Disease Control, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is emerging as one of the most pressing global public health threats. This symposium will focus on novel antibiotic development, characterization of the mechanism of action of existing and novel antibiotics, and the development of novel approaches for antibiotic delivery and antibiotic materials.
Time: Monday, May 18 | 8:00 – 10:55 AM
Location: Empire D
Organizer: Michael F. Santillo (michael.santillo@fda.hhs.gov)
Description: This symposium invites cutting-edge research on new approach methods (NAMs) in chemical toxicology that advance the field through improved predictivity, mechanistic understanding, and testing efficiency. We welcome abstracts covering in vitro and in silico methods from all sectors on topics including microphysiological systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and QSAR models, 3D cell culture models, high-throughput screening, omics-based approaches, biomarkers, and integrated testing strategies involving combinatorial NAMs.
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 1:30 – 2:45 PM
Location: Empire C
Organizer: Don Wardius (dwardius@alum.mit.edu)
Description: Plastics based on synthetic polymers are a widely used material. Unfortunately used plastics are not always disposed of properly and may accumulate in the environment. This symposium will be a forum for the latest science on biobased, biodegradable, and/or renewable resource based sustainable plastics to be presented and discussed.
Time: Monday, May 18 | 1:30 – 3:30 PM
Location: Empire A
Organizer: Olivia Wilkins (wilkins@dickinson.edu)
Description: A panel of early-career chemists will share their journeys through chemistry and how their backgrounds prepared them for careers in different facets of society, particularly those that don’t involve a research laboratory. Speakers will also describe how their undergraduate chemistry curriculum gave them skills that could be applied outside of the academic research lab, perhaps in unexpected ways. While anyone is welcome to attend, this symposium is especially intended for students and early-career scientists interested in exploring different avenues of being a chemist.
Time: Monday, May 18 | 1:30 – 3:35 PM
Location: Magnolia D
Organizer: Femi Oloye (oloye@pitt.edu)
Description: This symposium spotlights innovative strategies in catalyst design, material development, and performance evaluation that advance sustainable chemical processes and environmental remediation. Contributions may span a wide range of topics, including synthesis of novel catalysts and MOFs, structural and physicochemical characterization techniques, mechanistic studies of catalytic activity, applications in water treatment and pollutant removal, hydrocarbon processing and conversion technologies, and computational and theoretical insights into catalytic materials.
Time: Session 1: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 – 10:55 AM
Session 2: Tuesday, May 19 | 1:30 – 4:25 PM
Location: Empire C
Organizer: Femi Francis Oloye (oloye@pitt.edu)
Description: We invite undergraduate students to participate in this professional and engaging forum dedicated to showcasing original research across all branches of chemistry. Whether your work involves capstone projects, directed research, or independent investigations, we welcome submissions that highlight creativity, scientific rigor, and real-world relevance. Topics may include organic synthesis, environmental sustainability and monitoring, analytical techniques, computational modeling, and interdisciplinary applications.
Time: Session 1: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 – 11:45 AM
Session 2: Tuesday, May 19 | 1:30 – 5:00 PM
Location: Empire D
Organizer: Scott Crawford (Scott.Crawford@netl.doe.gov)
Description: A combination of increasing demand for metal-intensive technologies and a monopolistic global metal production has made domestic critical mineral production a priority. This symposium will broadly focus on chemistry-based technologies relevant to critical mineral production, including sensors, sorbents, extraction agents, computational modelling, chelators, and other research areas of relevance to critical metals production.
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 1:30 – 3:15 PM
Location: Magnolia C
Organizer: Jessica Heimann (jeheimann@salisbury.edu)
Description: This symposium highlights recent advances in the identification, characterization, and analysis of materials relevant to our cultural heritage, driven by the application of chemical principles and instrumentation to new samples or model systems. Topics range from elucidating the reactivity of mineral surfaces to studying the structure and degradation of lake pigments. This symposium fosters collaboration and embraces an interdisciplinary approach that connects art conservation science, materials science, and many disciplines of chemistry.
Time: Monday, May 18 | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Empire C
Organizer: Samantha McBride (sammcb@seas.upenn.edu)
Description: Emerging contaminants including PFAS, micro/nano-plastics, pesticides, and other currently unregulated and under explored environmental contaminants are known to cause significant damage to both human health and to ecosystems. In this symposium, we will discuss the chemistry of emerging contaminants including their occurrence, fate and transport, detection, and remediation/mitigation methods.
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 8:00 – 11:15 AM
Location: Magnolia C
Time: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 – 11:55 AM
Location: Magnolia B
Organizer: Gregory Parisi (parisig@seas.upenn.edu)
Description: This symposium will highlight the development of stimuli-responsive, adaptive, and bio-inspired surfaces, bridging molecular-scale design with emergent interfacial phenomena. Topics may include molecular and nanoscale design strategies, new methods for tailoring interfacial properties, and advances in understanding the fundamental physical and chemical processes that occur at surfaces. Particular interest will be given to how external stimuli, such as temperature, light, electric fields, or chemical environment, can influence not only the surface chemistry but also the topography and morphology of interfaces.
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 1:30 – 2:50 PM
Location: Magnolia B
Time: Monday, May 18 | 1:30 – 3:10 PM
Location: Magnolia C
Organizer: TBD
Description: TBD
Time: Session 1: Sunday, May 17 | 8:00 – 11:10 AM
Session 2: Sunday, May 17 | 1:30 – 4:20 PM
Location: Empire D
Organizer: Daniel Wooseok Ki (daniel.ki@stockton.edu)
Description: This symposium features research connecting molecular design with structure–property relationships to advance technologies in chemistry, materials science, and related fields. Relevant topics include structure–property relationships in functional materials, supramolecular chemistry and self-assembly, computational and data-driven molecular design, molecular modeling and simulation, nanostructured and responsive systems, and smart materials for sensing, catalysis, energy conversion, and storage.
Time: Session 1: Monday, May 18 | 8:00 AM – 12:20 PM
Session 2: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 3: Tuesday, May 19 | 1:30 – 4:25 PM
Location: Magnolia C
Organizer: Yanxin Liu (yxliu@umd.edu)
Description: This symposium will highlight leading-edge developments and applications across computational chemistry, with a particular focus on molecular dynamics simulations of proteins, biomolecules, and materials; quantum chemistry and electronic structure theory; hybrid quantum/classical approaches for multiscale modeling; artificial intelligence and machine learning for protein structure prediction, reaction discovery, and accelerated molecular design; and synergistic integration of computation and experiment for mechanistic insight and predictive power.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizer: Dr. Figen Suchanek (suchanekf@montclair.edu)
Description: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool for environmental chemists to analyze data, build models, and develop strategies to reduce environmental pollution and protect human health. This symposium will highlight real-life applications where AI, including machine learning approaches, is being integrated into environmental chemistry research for monitoring, measuring, modeling, analyzing, and decision-making. We welcome abstracts from researchers, educators, and professionals applying AI in their work on topics such as monitoring, modeling, and remediation of air, water, and soil pollution; pollution transport and ecosystem impacts; and links between environmental exposures and human health.
Time: Monday, May 18 | 8:00 – 11:45 AM
Location: Magnolia A
Organizer: TBD
Description: A general session consisting of oral presentations across various areas of chemistry
Time: Monday, May 18 | 1:30 – 4:00 PM
Location: Magnolia A
Organizer: TBD
Description: A general session consisting of oral presentations across various areas of chemistry
Time: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Magnolia A
Organizer: TBD
Description: A general session consisting of oral presentations across various areas of chemistry
Time: Tuesday, May 19 | 1:30 – 5:00 PM
Location: Magnolia A
Organizer: TBD
Description: A general session consisting of oral presentations across various areas of chemistry
Time: Sunday, May 17 | 8:00 – 11:35 AM
Location: Magnolia B
Organizers: Jessica Sampson (jrsampso@udel.edu), Andrew Zahrt (zahrt@sas.upenn.edu)
Description: The Mid-Atlantic region is host to a wide range of high throughput experimentation practitioners across both academia and industry. This symposium aims to bring together practitioners at all levels from across the region to develop additional opportunities for collaborations and dialogue, towards the goal of improving HTE practices and increasing participation.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizer: Donald Mencer (donald.mencer@wilkes.edu)
Description: It would be difficult to overstate the significance of the role played by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry (MS) in advancing chemical knowledge to its present state. As these important characterization tools continue to evolve and gain power it is critical to incorporate these modern methods and illustrative real-world applications into the undergraduate curriculum. This session highlights recent developments in curricular and research uses of NMR and MS to identify and quantify components of mixtures as well as to examine structure, bonding, chemical environment, and dynamics.
Time: Session 1: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 2: Tuesday, May 19 | 1:30 – 5:00 PM
Location: Empire A
Organizers: Nairiti Sinha (njs6356@psu.edu), Michael Webb (mawebb@princeton.edu)
Description: Advances in polymer materials have led to new applications in biomedical applications, energy harvesting, telecommunication, textiles, and robotics. The goal of this symposium is to bring researchers across industry, national lab and academia in the mid-Atlantic region to highlight recent innovations in applied polymer chemistry and engineering. Topics of interest include advances in polymerization and functionalization; sustainable materials and bioinspired systems; methods for hierarchical structure control; innovations in characterization; and developments in theory, modeling, and machine learning.
Time: Session 1: Monday, May 18 | 8:00 – 11:35 AM
Session 2: Monday, May 18 | 1:30 – 4:00 PM
Location: Magnolia B
Organizer: Lauren Rossiter (LRossiter727@wcupa.edu)
Description: This symposium invites educators to share creative and effective teaching strategies for chemistry courses beyond the introductory sequence. Submissions may focus on courses such as organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, or other advanced or elective offerings. Topics may include redesigning a traditional course, creating a new elective, or highlighting innovations in content delivery, assessment, course structure, or student engagement in upper-level lecture or laboratory settings.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizers: Gangadhar Andaluri (gangadhar@temple.edu), Md Saiful Islam (mdsaiful.islam@temple.edu)
Description: Emerging contaminants such as microplastics (MPs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 6-PPD-quinone (6-PPD-q), and antibiotics are increasingly co-detected in natural and engineered water systems. This session will feature advances in characterizing the fate and transport of these contaminants, with emphasis on their coexistence, sorption–desorption mechanisms, transformation pathways, and risk implications. It will also highlight novel treatment approaches, including absorption, foam fractionation, advanced oxidation, biological interventions, and combined technologies designed to address contaminant mixtures.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizer: Martín G. Zysmilich (mgz@gwu.edu)
Description: This symposium invites contributions from educators, researchers, and industry professionals who have successfully implemented green chemistry concepts into teaching and learning. We seek presentations highlighting innovative laboratory experiments, curriculum development strategies, course modules, and interdisciplinary approaches that promote sustainability and environmental awareness among undergraduate students. Examples of integrating green chemistry principles into general, organic, analytical, or physical chemistry courses, as well as case studies involving partnerships with industry or community organizations, are particularly encouraged.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizers: Zheng Shi (zheng.shi@rutgers.edu), Benjamin Schuster (benjamin.schuster@rutgers.edu)
Description: By establishing microenvironments of unique material states, biomolecular condensates influence a wide range of cellular and pathological processes. For instance, the viscoelasticity of condensates regulates the rates of biochemical reactions within and can provide an early indicator of aging-related disease transitions. This symposium aims to foster in-depth discussions on quantitative measurements, biochemical regulators, and biological relevance of condensates from the perspective of material properties.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizer: Tongtong Xu (tongtong.xu@usp.org)
Description: Elemental impurities, including toxic heavy metals and trace mineral contaminants, remain a significant focus in safeguarding food safety and meeting evolving regulatory requirements. This symposium will convene experts from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies to explore advances in analytical methodologies, risk assessment approaches, and regulatory frameworks for managing elemental impurities in foods. Sessions will highlight innovations in trace-element detection, case studies of contamination incidents, and initiatives toward harmonized international standards.
Time: Session 1: Tuesday, May 19 | 8:00 – 11:30 AM (Nanomaterials I)
Session 2: Tuesday, May 19 | 1:30 – 5:00 PM (Nanomaterials II)
Location: Empire B
Organizer: Bhanu P. S. Chauhan (chauhanbps@wpunj.edu)
Time: Monday, May 18 | 8:00 – 10:55 AM
Location: Empire B
Organizers: Jeffrey Lipshultz (jeffrey.lipshultz@stonybrook.edu), Daniel Kim (danielkim@temple.edu)
Time: Session 1: Sunday, May 17 | 8:00 – 11:55 AM
Session 2: Sunday, May 17 | 1:30 – 4:00 PM
Location: Magnolia A
Organizer: Dr. Ahmad R. Kirmani (ahmad.kirmani@rit.edu)
Description: Soft chemistries — materials with adaptable, low-modulus lattices and solution-processable synthesis — are emerging as contenders where conventional “hard” materials dominate: space, nuclear, cryogenic electronics, corrosive biochemistries, and high-pressure/temperature operations. This symposium will examine the chemical origins and limits of such “extreme-tolerance,” seeking cross-cutting design rules that connect electronic structure, bonding anisotropy, defect formation energies, ionicity, and dynamic disorder to macroscopic performance under multi-stressor exposure.
Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Organizers: Batool Nulwala (bnulwala@roco.global), Dr. Hunaid Nulwala (nulwala@roco.global)
Description: This session will highlight innovative approaches to polymer design, reclamation, and lifecycle stewardship, with a focus on scalable solutions and regional collaboration. Topics of interest include sustainable polyurethane systems and ionic liquid applications, polymer reclamation via robotics and AI, lifecycle analysis and circular design, surface engineering and degradable architectures, and academic-industry partnerships for sustainable impact.