World's Largest Scientific Society Meeting in NKY This Week

meetNKY Credits Locals for Role in Bringing the American Chemical Society to Region

The American Chemical Society (ACS), the largest scientific society in the world, is meeting this week at The Northern Kentucky Convention Center for the third time since 2000, thanks to the efforts of a group of local ACS members.

Approximately 900 attendees from the Society's five-state Central Region will be in Covington Wednesday through Saturday for the meeting which will generate approximately 300 room nights for the Marriott RiverCenter and Holiday Inn Riverfront hotels.

Hosted by the ACS Cincinnati Section, the meeting will highlight "Elements & Strategies for a Better Future," which explores advances in analytical chemistry and its intersections with diverse scientific and technological domains.

"ACS serves the scientific community here in the Cincinnati area," said Diane Grob Schmidt, PhD, the ACS 2016 immediate past president who recently retired from Procter & Gamble. "Innovation is a driver of not only our local economy, but our national economy." A regional meeting like this allows ACS to put a spotlight on the universities, the businesses, the entrepreneurs in the area ... that are drivers of our economy, our workforce supply and the research and work being done at local universities and companies."

In addition to viewing exhibits, attending meetings, presenting scientific research papers and interacting with other members, many of those in attendance will take in a Cincinnati Reds game and enjoy BB Riverboats dinner cruise featuring a beer tasting by Cincinnati’s MadTree Brewery.

"This is a wonderful convention center. Everything we need is right here," said Daniel J. McLoughlin, PhD, the former head of the Department of Chemistry at Xavier University and a local co-chairman of the meeting. "We were very happy the last two times, which is the main reason we came back."

McLoughlin continued, “I started with the CVB and (meetNKY Sales Manager) Susan Smith – she was my first contact then she turned it over to (meetNKY Services Manager) Carla. They’ve been wonderful. This has been a wonderful assembly of people. The hotels here and all the staff have been amazingly helpful, amazingly friendly. It’s much more than I could have ever expected honestly.”

Kathy Gibboney, a retired chemist with Procter & Gamble served as the local facilities liaison for the meeting. “The experience here has been great. The Northern Kentucky Convention Center, the audio-visual team, the catering with Masterpiece - everyone has made it very easy for us and been very helpful. It’s been just great working with these folks.”

Julie Kirkpatrick, Vice President Sales & Marketing for meetNKY | Northern Kentucky CVB underscores the importance of local involvement in bringing meetings to the region, “Without fail, the most influential factor in attracting new convention business to NKY is the presence of an enthusiastic local member – or members – who can introduce us to an organization’s decision makers involved in the destination selection process.” Kirkpatrick continued, “People like Dan McLoughlin and his dedicated local committee members are local legends to us. Their enthusiasm for the region gives a tremendous boost to our local economy through visitor expenditures. We can’t laud them enough for their volunteer spirit or thank them enough for partnering with us to bring meetings to the region.”

With 158,000 members globally, the ACS provides educational and career development programs, products and services. As the world's largest scientific society, ACS - which was chartered by Congress in 1937 - is a leading and authoritative source of scientific information.

ACS publishes 49 scientific journals, convenes major research conferences and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. In addition ACS awards more than $22 million annually in grants for basic research in petroleum and related fields.

An attendee himself, Thomas M. Connelly Jr, PhD., executive director and chief executive officer of Washington-based ACS, said the organization's regional meetings are designed to offer "truly scientific programs" to its members.

"These meetings are really about advancing the chemistry enterprise through our work in promoting research," Connelly said. "ACS is a research organization as well as a membership organization. We provide information to chemists around the world."