GEOC Newsletter: Fall 2023
Message from the Chair
Dear colleagues and GEOC Division members,
The Division of Geochemistry (GEOC) has had a great first half
of 2023. We have made tremendous progress toward expanding
the impact of our meeting programing, increasing our
collaboration with other ACS divisions, and building a more
inclusive culture for geoscience. The Spring and Fall 2023
geochemistry program hybrid sessions were well attended. The
highlight of the Spring 2023 meeting was the sessions held in
honor of 2023 ACS Geochemistry Division Medal winner Dr. Vicki Grassian, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California San Diego. Additionally, we provided support for numerous Student and Early Career Scientist Travel Awards. We have continued our collaboration with the journal ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, which recently released a virtual special issue in honor of our 2021 ACS Geochemistry Division Medal winner Dr. Michael F. Hochella, Jr. for his enormous contributions to the geochemistry community.
Meeting Programming
The division is currently ramping up its activities in preparation for the Spring 2024 meeting in New Orleans, LA. The Spring meeting will be hybrid with both in-person and virtual attendance options. Check out the Call for Symposia.
Travel Awards
The division is continuing our support of students and early career scientist by providing travel awards. Take a moment to review the Call for Award nominations.
Division Chair
Eric Pierce
ACS Fall 2023
Meeting Recap
Thanks to all of you who chaired symposium, presented papers, attended sessions and participated in our Social and Business meeting! We filled all of our available sessions with five outstanding symposium including:
Reactivity at the Mineral-Water Interface: Validation through Modeling and Experiments at the Pore Scale
Organizers: Si Chen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, chens1@ornl.gov Sergi Molins, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, smolins@lbl.gov
Vitalii Starchenko, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Starchenko@ornl.gov Advancements in the Characterization and Modeling of Interfacial Phenomena
Driving Environmental Processes
Organizers: Matthew Landsman, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, mrlandsman@lbl.gov Gregory Su, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, gsu@lbl.gov
Promoting Diversity in Geochemistry: Bridging People and Science to Communities
Organizer: Stetson Rowles, Georgia Southern University, lrowles@georgiasouthern.edu Lynn Katz, The University of Texas, lynnkatz@mail.utexas.edu
Emerging Topics: Permafrost Geochemistry, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Geochemistry
Organizer: Emily Bristol, The University of Texas, bristol@utexas.edu Jacob Harvey, Sandia National Laboratories, jharve@sandia.gov
General Geochemistry
Organizer: Lynn Katz, The University of Texas, lynnkatz@mail.utexas.edu
ACS Spring 2024
GEOC Programming
The spring 2024 ACS National Meeting, “Many Flavors of Chemistry”, will be held from March 17-21 in New Orleans, LA. The meeting will include hybrid and virtual sessions.
General meeting information can be found at https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/acs-meetings.html .
Abstract submissions closed on October 2, 2023. Session descriptions are available here: https://callforabstracts.acs.org/acsspring2024 . Please come out and support the following GEOC symposia:
Please come out and support the following GEOC symposia:
Fundamental and Applied Geochemistry of Critical Minerals ; Organizers: Sebastien Kerisit and Yuanzhi Tang
Geochemical, Environmental and Sociotechnical Implications of Mining Organizers: Scott Fendorf and Lynn Katz
Geochemistry for CO2 Capture, Conversion, and Long-Term Storage Organizers: Laura Dalton, Erika Plante, Juliane Weber and Ke Yuan
Intermediate And Disordered Phases in Natural Systems Organizers: Jeffrey Catalano, Sebastian Mergelsberg, and Hsiu Wen Wang
Microbially-Driven Geochemical Reactions: Kinetics and Communities Organizers: William Burgos, Clara Chan, William Leavitt and Jennifer Macalady
Fundamental Understanding of the Structure and Reactivity at Mineral-Water Interfaces Organizers: Sang Soo Lee, Shawn Reichers, and Jacquelyn Bracco
Some Like it Hot: A Symposium in Honor of Michael L. Machesky Organizers: Nadine Kabengi, James Kubicki and Moira Ridley
Recognizing Diversity in Geochemistry: Bridging People and Science to Communities Organizers: Stetson Rowles and Lynn Katz
Undergraduate Research in Geochemistry Organizer: Jacquelyn Bracco
General Geochemistry Organizer: Lynn Katz
We are also co-sponsoring several symposia including:
Aquatic Photochemistry (with ENVR)
Biogeochemistry of Organic Matter in Marine Environments (with ENVR)
Environmental Behavior of Atmospherically Transported Chemicals (with ENVR)
Rare Earth Element: Occurrences, Extraction Method Development, and Application (with ENVR)
Liquid And Electrolyte Anomalies in Nano-Confinement: Structure, Dynamics, and Reactivity (with PHYS)
F-Element Reactivity at Interfaces (with NUCL)
Aquatic Redox Chemistry (with ENVR, co-sponsorship pending ACS approval)
Organizers: Christopher Gorski, Paul Tratnyek, Kevin Rosso, and Jasquelin Pena
For detailed session descriptions and organizer contact information see the call for abstracts:
https://communities.acs.org/t5/Geochemistry-Division/Abstract-Submission-open-for-2021-Fall-ACS-Meeting-ACS/ba-p/85779?attachment-id=20299
Travel Award Application
Application Procedures
Submitting your regular abstract to the ACS Meeting Abstract Programming System (MAPS http://maps.acs.org) before the abstract due date (October 2, 2023). Submit a separate, extended abstract to the GEOC Program Chair, Lynn Katz, at: lynnkatz@mail.utexas.edu . Extended abstracts should not exceed one page (use at least 11-pt font, single-line spacing, and 1-inch margins) and may contain tables and figures (counted toward the page limit). Be sure to include:
your name, affiliation, abstract title, and abstract number
indicate whether you are an undergraduate/graduate student (for the Student Travel Award) or your PhD degree date/year (for the Early Career Scientist Travel Award).
Extended abstracts must be received by October 9, 2023.
Evaluation
Abstracts will be judged based on the impact on the field of geochemistry, technical approach, quality and clarity of writing, relevance of the abstract to the symposia and national meeting themes, and balance among different symposia. Award winners will be announced by the end of January, 2024.
Questions?
General information about the conference can be found at: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/national-meeting.html
Questions about the awards should be directed to lynnkatz@mail.utexas.edu .
Election Information
ACS Geochemistry Division is currently seeking nominations for two officer positions, Program-Chair Elect and Secretary, who will assume their roles in January 2024. A brief description of each role is provided below.
The polls will open Nov. 1 and will close Nov. 15th at midnight (Pacific time). Please access the ballot via this link: https://eballot.vote/ACSGEOC/login.cfm
Your username is your ACS ID # (no preceding zeros—must be a current division member). Your password (case sensitive) is: vote2021
The system will ask you to enter your Username and Password (listed above). Online voting should take you less than 10 minutes. Note the online ballot can be accessed from any smartphone or device that has full browser capabilities. Please contact Jacky Bracco (jacquelyn.bracco@qc.cuny.edu) if you require any assistance
Program Chair Elect Candidates
Program-Chair Elect (4-year term)
This officer will serve as Program-Chair Elect in the first year, shadow the Program Chair, and assist the Division Chair with the direction and management of the Division. In the second year, the candidate will serve as Program Chair and organize the symposium at the fall and spring national meetings. In the third year, the candidate will serve as Division Chair, and finally as Immediate Past Division Chair in the fourth year.
Secretary (3-year term)
This officer is responsible for supporting a broad range of Division’s activities. These duties include to keep a record of the minutes of the meetings of the Division and of the Executive Committee, to maintain a list of members and affiliates, to send to members and affiliates such notices as the business of the Division may require, to submit a report to the Division at its annual meeting, and to carry out the duties required by the Constitution and Bylaws of the SOCIETY and elsewhere in these bylaws.
Note:
Self-nominations and consensual nominations of colleagues are encouraged! Per GEOC Bylaws, all nominations must be accompanied by at least 10 signatures of support from current ACS GEOC Members (including current Division Committee members).
All nominees must have been a Member of the Division for at least one year at the time of nomination. Nomination and the signatures of support must be submitted by October 20. Please submit the nomination or any questions to:
Jacquelyn Bracco
ACS Geochemistry Division Secretary
jbracco@qc.cuny.edu