Achievements

GOAL 1 — Provide Information Solutions: Deliver indispensable chemistry-related information solutions to address global challenges and other issues facing the world’s scientific community.

Commercial Introduction of the CAS BioFinder™ Discovery Platform
CAS achieved the next significant milestone in its storied history of empowering accelerated research and innovation with the introduction of CAS BioFinder™, a new information solution specifically targeting the needs of life science researchers. The initial solution delivers substantial content additions and unique workflow features that enable drug discovery professionals to quickly and confidently access published and predicted bioactivity data, ligand-protein interactions, biomarkers, and more. CAS will continuously introduce robust new content, data connections, and capabilities to ultimately span the workflow lifecycle for biologics and related research.

CAS SciFinder^® Enhancements
CAS introduced stereoselective labeling in the CAS SciFinder^® retrosynthesis tool — a first-of-its-kind capability in the world of scientific technology solutions. This streamlines retrosynthetic workflows by identifying the connections between predictive chemistry and directly applicable stereoselective evidence. Other enhancements to CAS SciFinder^® include improved natural language search for reactions, simplified drawing of complex structures, enhanced workflow management tools, and elevated personalization with relevance ranking that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to incorporate the user’s recent activities of interest to suggest additional information of relevance.

ACS Publications Launched the New ACS Publishing Center, Powered by ChronosHub
Less than one year following the acquisition of ChronosHub, ACS Publications launched the first-of-its-kind dashboard, making significant progress toward providing an industry-leading publishing experience on a modern technical framework.

ACS Journals Continue to Enable Open Access
Approximately 25% of the total ACS journal content continues to be published open access, with a third of those papers being published in open access journals and the balance in hybrid journals. ACS Publications became the first publisher to successfully implement a “Read & Green” country-wide arrangement with France. The agreement provides full and immediate green-OA publishing rights for authors covered by the consortium. ACS’ Read & Publish programs grew to include 1,550 institutions spanning 40 countries. This included expanding inclusive open access publishing to researchers in Brazil, Columbia, Macau, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Thailand.

ACS Journals Increase in Global Influence
The portfolio of ACS peer-reviewed journals continued to represent the “most trusted, most cited, most read” scientific publications in their respective fields. During 2024, key editorial and quality metrics continued to show strong performance with:

• Growth in journal submissions (up 24% from previous year, across all key regions), demonstrating the appeal of ACS journals to the global research community
• Published more than 74,000 peer-reviewed articles (up 15% from 2023)
• Delivered over 346 million full-text articles (downloads), an increase of 13% over prior year
• Published material resulted in approximately 4.4 million total citations being reported
• Several successful journal launches were progressed through 2024: ACS Electrochemistry; Artificial Photosynthesis launched, in partnership with Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics and Westlake University; and Polymer Science and Technology with Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry.
• A number of memoranda of understanding were signed with leading institutions in China in order to develop deeper collaborations with scholars in this key region.

CAS Deloitte China Collaboration: CAS and Deloitte China established a strategic collaboration focused on providing end-to-end consulting services ranging from scientific innovation to market strategies. The organizations will also jointly deliver a comprehensive report reviewing the landscape of lithium-ion battery recycling called “Lithium-ion battery recycling: Market and innovation trends for a green future” in early 2025.

Measured ACS Publications’ Brand Positioning Against Key Competitors
An inaugural brand survey demonstrated a 91% Publisher favorability rating for ACS, and a Net Promoter Score of 51 (excellent). Respondents reaffirmed ACS Publications’ top traits as: Trustworthy, Global, and Influential; all positive signals supporting product and service positioning.

Enhanced Accessibility to ACS Publications Content and Services
ACS Publications launched its inaugural design system to enhance product user experiences and improve accessibility. The “Fusion Design System” empowers teams with the tools and resources needed to build exceptional, consistent, and accessible user interfaces throughout all ACS Publications products. The new living library includes various visual style patterns, numerous prepared components, and other guidelines intended for use by designers and developers. Since its launch in June, Fusion is already being used in the new ACS Publishing Center, the Engagement Platform, and the Editor Hub with further adoption planned.

Advancing the Practice of Green and Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
ACS hosted the inaugural Sustainability Leader Summit with Change Chemistry for representatives from 22 organizations, the “Putting Chemistry to Work for Clean Water” Sustainability Summit for over 450 participants, and the 28^th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference for over 900 attendees from 57 countries. ACS also convened ACS Green Chemistry Institute industry roundtables, launched the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Natural Polymers Consortium with five founding corporate members, held the workshop “Water Soluble Polymers—Current Material Innovation and Environmental Impact” in collaboration with the Materials Research Society and Procter & Gamble, continued two sustainability grant programs with 10 awards totaling $1.02 million and renewed its agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to co-sponsor the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards.

Supporting New Directions in Fundamental Research
In 2024, 195 ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) grants were awarded for fundamental research in the hydrocarbon field out of 651 proposals reviewed, providing a total of $20.9 million in research funding.

GOAL 2 — Empower Members and Member Communities: Provide access to opportunities, resources, skills training, and networks to empower our global members and diverse member communities to thrive.
 

Building an ACS Global Community
The ACS global community grew to 234,432 (14.4% increase over 2023). An increase in international paid membership to 22,561 (10.2% increase over 2023) was driven by efforts focused on Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. An increase in Community Associates to 131,981 (30.2% increase over 2023) was driven by ACS Webinars, paywall changes for Chemical & Engineering News, and the auto-continuation process. Success was found in upgrading new Community Associates through dynamic campaigns, resulting in 7,466 Community Associates upgrading to paid members.

Convening the Chemical Sciences Community
ACS enabled the sharing of science in virtual, in-person and hybrid formats, engaging over 13,800 registrants from 77 countries at ACS Spring 2024, over 11,500 registrants from 86 countries at ACS Fall 2024, and issuing digital certificates of presentation for sharing via social media and professional networking sites. ACS also supported six Regional Meetings and 25 other events, conferences, and meetings, attracting over 8,000 attendees. In 2024, the virtual ACS Science Talks series featured 35 sessions with 38 speakers representing 11 countries and more than 19,500 registrants from 110 countries.

Enhancing ACS Spring and Fall Meetings
Collaborations across ACS continued to focus on creating a more engaging and elevated meeting experience for all attendees at ACS Spring and Fall Meetings. In preparation for more substantial changes in 2025, key steps taken in 2024 included improving the attendee experience, optimizing meeting footprints, supporting program chairs, providing increased variations in program formats, presenting hot and late-breaking topics, and expanding the digital program to a total of 80 virtual sessions, including Global Virtual Symposia, attended by 3,916 attendees.

ACS Publications Market Outreach and Community Engagement
Expanded outreach and community engagement continued with over 160 in-person, online, and hybrid events, many in partnership with CAS and the Society. Key highlights include 52 tradeshows and 14 outreach events that generated 4,000 registrants, as well as 33 ACS on Campus events hosted worldwide, attracting nearly 4,000 participants. The redesigned ACS Publications blog, Axial, achieved the milestone of 1 million users, a 163% increase over the prior year.

Events Site Launched
A new Events pathway page featuring an events-only search field and filter functionality was created by merging the Meetings & Events and Events Hub sites. This new Events page improves and streamlines the user experience, removes multiple steps for event registration, and creates a centralized location for all events across the Society, ACS Publications, and C&EN. It also helps with search engine optimization and content maintenance.

Launching ACS Chemistry Careers
In December, Get Experience and C&EN Jobs merged into a single revamped job board and career center: ACS Chemistry Careers. Built to support chemical scientists throughout their career journey, the site lists opportunities from internships and undergraduate research positions to competitive academic and industry jobs in the field.

Gathering Global Members
During the first-ever virtual annual member gathering, over 200 members from South-East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America attended five sessions catering to different time zones, connecting with each other and being introduced to ACS activities, member benefits, region-specific programs, and career-related sessions. Over 1,400 ACS global members with more than 25 years of membership were recognized with certificates from the Digital Credentialing platform, which were posted on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Four New Member Orientations were also held in 2024, engaging 137 people from 15 countries.

Welcoming New Global Chapters
In 2024, ACS approved five new professional International Chemical Sciences Chapters: Bangladesh, Egypt, Guangdong Province (China), East and Northeast India, and West India. The International Student Chapter program chartered new chapters from four different countries: Colombia, India, Iraq, and Pakistan.

Holding Global Leadership Summits
In-person events were held in the United Arab Emirates for 21 student and professional chapters in the Middle East and Africa and in Colombia for 26 chapters and local sections from the region, including Puerto Rico. An online leadership upskilling session was held for the ACS member community in Nigeria.

Recognizing ACS Member Achievements
The ACS community recognized and celebrated numerous scientific and service contributions. In 2024, 72 people were recognized with 56 National Awards, 22 ACS Committees presented 49 ChemLuminary Awards, and 37 ACS Fellows were inducted. The first Irving S. Sigal Global Mobility Awards recognized two international postdoctoral scholars. The Heroes of Chemistry Awards were presented to five scientific teams from AbbVie, Amgen & Bristol-Myers Squibb, Corteva Agroscience, DuPont, and Savannah River Mission.

GOAL 3 — Support Excellence in Education: Foster the development of innovative, relevant, and effective chemistry and chemistry-related education.
 

AACT Celebrates its 10^th Anniversary
The American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) celebrated its 10^th anniversary in 2024, ending the year with more than 7,300 members from 80 countries. Since its inception, AACT has focused on three big goals: developing classroom resources, providing professional development, and increasing networking for K-12 teachers of chemistry. Over the last ten years, AACT has published over 1,100 lesson plans, labs, activities, demos, and more, written by teachers of chemistry. It has organized over 220 webinars and dozens more on-site workshops. Since launching, the AACT website has received more than 10 million visits.

Fostering a Skilled Technical Workforce
Collective efforts to develop and support the Chemical Technical Professional (CTP) workforce are advancing the Skilled Technical Workforce initiative. These efforts include the new Discovery Report “Empowering Chemical Technical Professionals,” a major collaborative effort involving C&EN BrandLab, Scientific Advancement, Membership, Education, the American Association of Chemistry Teachers, and the Committee on Chemical Technical Professionals (formerly the Committee on Technician Affairs). The pilot of the PrepareCTP Seed Grant Program continued with the selection of three projects at community colleges in New Jersey, Ohio, and Arizona, and with the first Grant Awardee Summer Convening.

Advancing Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education
The Discovery Report “Reimagining Sustainable Chemistry Education” was published and the Green Chemistry and Engineering Learning Platform was redesigned. Development and dissemination of Green & Sustainable Chemistry Education modules for undergraduate students studying general and organic chemistry continued. The 2024 Green & Sustainable Chemistry Summer School, attended by 71 students from North and South America, was held at the University of Vermont.

Broadening Participation in the Chemical Sciences
ACS took inclusive and holistic approaches to improve the recruitment and retention in the chemical sciences. The second ACS Lasting Encounters between Aspiring and Distinguished Scientists (LEADS) Conference, an in-person, 3-day event focused on preparing high-potential young professionals and students for successful and impactful careers that address global grand challenges, was attended by 50 aspiring and over 20 distinguished scientists. ACS also provided $1.4 million in scholarships to 341 ACS Scholars and supported ACS Project SEED summer in-person and virtual research experiences for 371 high school students.

Preparing Students for Success in Graduate Programs
The ACS Bridge Project, leveraging the Inclusive Graduate Education Network, grew to include 45 chemical sciences departments and more than 150 ACS Bridge Fellows. Highlights of activities in 2024 included partnering with Eli Lilly to offer the Career Kick-Starter Workshop, hosting the fourth annual Graduate School Readiness & Professional Development Boot Camp, organizing the second annual Bridge Rapid Fire Symposium, and awarding travel grants.

Piloting the Virtual Internship Capsule
Designed to enhance job readiness via curated ACS resources, real-world examples, and assignments, the first pilot of the Virtual Internship Capsule focused on carbon capture, utilization, and storage.

Releasing Middle School Chemistry En Español
The Spanish version of the MiddleSchoolChemistry.com site went live in July, expanding access to vital educational resources for Spanish-speaking students and educators. The website includes lesson plans, multimedia, and student activity sheets among other resources. Additionally, the English language website introduced its Storyline Approach section, offering a narrative-driven learning method to deepen understanding of chemistry concepts.

GOAL 4 — Communicate Chemistry’s Value: Communicate — to the public and to policymakers — the vital role of chemical professionals and chemistry in addressing the world’s challenges.
 

Trust in Science 7-Week Email Course
ACS teamed up with ACS Immediate Past President Judy Giordan to create the seven-week email course, “Cracking the Code: How to Navigate Trust in Science Conversations.” The aim of the course was to help participants increase their skill and comfort levels in having difficult conversations about controversial science topics. Since its release, 1,890 individuals have accessed the course.

Congressional Outreach
ACS sponsored a number of events on Capitol Hill to promote the value of chemistry. Among those events were a briefing on growing the sustainable chemistry sector done in partnership with Change Chemistry and the Household & Commercial Products Association; a “Chemistry of Beer” event co-hosted by the American Chemistry Council and the Beer Wholesalers Association; and a congressional briefing related to the CHIPS and Science Act done in partnership with the Materials Research Society and Semiconductor Industry Association.

Support for HR 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act
ACS actively supported and lobbied for the reauthorization of HR 6655, titled A Stronger Workforce for America Act. This critical piece of legislation, which was passed by the House in April, focused on renewing and strengthening key federal job training and workforce development programs. The bill aimed to ensure a more robust and skilled workforce, aligning with ACS’ commitment to advancing education and employment opportunities within the scientific community.

ACS Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Summit
ACS hosted the ACS Chief Technology Officer Summit in September. This event brought together key stakeholders, including industry leaders and ACS members from chemistry-driven corporations. The summit focused on trust in science and served as a platform for collaboration, innovation, and the exchange of ideas critical to advancing the field.

Multimedia Growth
ACS continues to see strong engagement with its multimedia products. The Reactions video series had over 25 million views and 76,000 new channel subscribers in 2024, bringing us to over 500,000 channel subscribers. This was by far the biggest year for Reactions, with our metrics at least doubling from 2023 and four to five times more than in 2022. The Tiny Matters podcast doubled its output to releasing one episode per week resulting in 173,000 downloads for the year along with increased audience engagement. The Headline Science series also had a breakthrough year, with over 6 million views on YouTube in 2024, compared to 255,000 in 2023. In addition, the Headline Science shorts performed very well on the ACS social media accounts.

Multimedia and Design Awards
The multimedia and graphic design work of ACS was recognized with several awards in 2024. The ACS Design Studio won the 2024 Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) Inhouse Design Award Showcase for its work on ACS Demographic Report, INSA-ACS Faculty Leadership Summit Logo, and an Overview of Future of Meetings Infographic. The Reactions video series won a 2024 Webby Awards’ honorable mention for its “EU’s Ban on Tattoo Ink: Breaking Down the Chemistry” episode. Tiny Matters won gold in the science podcast category for the Signal Awards and silver for an individual episode. In addition, Sam Jones received the Science Communicator (Organizational) 2024 Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications by the National Academies for her work on Tiny Matters.

Spanish Translation of ACS Fall 2024 Meeting Releases
ACS Fall 2024 meeting releases were translated into Spanish for the first time. Of the stories published about the content within two weeks of the meeting, 15% were in Spanish. By offering press releases about scientific content in Spanish, specialized journalists who are not English speakers are better able to write about science being presented at an ACS meeting. This broadens awareness of ACS to the Spanish-speaking population.

Organizing ACS Outreach Summits in Brazil and South Africa
Summits focused on improving outreach skills were held for 37 representatives from the professional chapter and future student chapters in South Africa; and 31 representatives from the professional chapter, student chapters, and future student chapters in Brazil. Participants also learned about ACS resources, including ACS Publications and CAS.

Relaunch of ACS Program in a Box
An ACS Program in a Box event was held in October as part of the National Chemistry Week Celebration. Over 210 groups participated in the live broadcast. Among the host sites that registered were more than 200 ACS Student groups. This marked the first Program in a Box event since February 2020 after it was paused during the pandemic.

GOAL 5 — Embrace and Advance Inclusion in Chemistry: Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect; identify and dismantle barriers to success; and create a welcoming and supportive environment so that all ACS members, employees, and volunteers can thrive.
 

Land Acknowledgements for ACS Event Sites
ACS collaborated with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) to compose land acknowledgements for ACS Spring 2024 and ACS Fall 2024 meeting sites.

Increasing Accessibility
The ACS Inclusivity Style Guide’s expansion to the section on accessibility successfully launched in January, followed by a webinar on its use. ACS hosted webinars on designing lab spaces to be more inclusive and support the needs of neurodivergent scientists. In addition, guidance on accessible hybrid meetings and inclusive science communications were released for all to use. ACS staff received trainings on how to incorporate accessibility features into Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF file formats.

ACS Supports Women Leadership in STEM
ACS collaborated with the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) on sponsorships totaling nearly $7,000 for six emerging women scientists with immense potential to be immediate future leaders, in an effort that not only promotes gender diversity but also fosters inclusion in decision-making processes.

2024 ACS Diversity Leaders Summit
In May, ACS hosted the 2024 ACS Diversity Leaders Summit, where 36 attendees represented various sectors, including academia, industry, professional societies/associations, and government research. With a focus on accessibility and equity in the scientific community, the summit allowed participants to network and share practical solutions.

Affinity Groups Support and Activities
ACS continued its support of staff affinity groups. Gatherings occurred throughout the year in support of the various groups. A highlight of the events included the ACS Pride Affinity Group’s participation in the Capital Pride Parade in Washington, D.C., and in the Stonewall Pride March in Columbus; the Black, African American, and Allies Group’s (BAAAG) hosting of Juneteenth celebrations on-site in both Washington, D.C., and Columbus; and the ACS Pride and Working Caregivers Affinity Groups’ joint hosting of a presentation on being an ally. Additionally, in response to staff interest, a new Veterans and Allies Affinity Group is in the exploratory stage. All interested ACS staff are invited and welcome to participate in these groups.

ALL STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS — Support for ACS Governance and Operations 

2024 Fundraising
Funds raised in 2024 totaled $5.5 million, exceeding the goal of $5 million. Major gift commitments for the year include: $866K bequest for Project SEED; $442K endowed and current-use, for Philip J. Wyatt Award in Analytical Chemistry; $425K endowed for Dong Qin Award in Nanochemistry; $425K endowed, for Thomas Parliment Award in Flavor Chemistry; $400K from Bader Philanthropies for Project SEED College Scholarships; $200K from Genentech Foundation for the ACS Bridge Project; and $127K for SEED College Scholarship endowment. The first two gifts for the Skilled Technical Workforce initiative were secured, totaling $100K. The year was also a strong year for Planned Giving, with new commitments conservatively totaling $1.1 million.

Approval of the Emerging Economy Membership Dues Discount
The approved 2025 Schedule of Dues and Benefits will bring equity in pricing to members in developing countries with the Emerging Economy Dues Discount. This extension of the World Bank Discount Market Test will allow those in 66 new countries to become eligible for discounted dues.

Development of Generative Artificial Intelligence Guidance
In collaboration with Society committees and the Board Committee on Public Affairs and Public Relations (PA&PR), a policy guide on generative AI was developed. This comprehensive document was designed to provide a unified framework for future position statements on generative AI-related issues, minimizing the risk of conflicting messages and ensuring a clear and consistent stance on this rapidly evolving topic.

Enhancing IT Capabilities and Security
Among the IT projects completed in 2024 are the launch of the ACS Documentation Application, a unified hub for resources that support key applications and initiatives across ACS, and UKG Pro Workforce Management, a time and attendance system. ACS also reached the milestone for 60% cloud integration by September 2024, surpassing the original timeline by a year. The Single Sign-On (SSO) page was sanitized to more effectively secure customers’ data and privacy.

Launched Ethics & Compliance Function
ACS established its first formal Ethics & Compliance function within the Office of General Counsel to support ACS’ continuing culture of integrity. The function expanded and enhanced the ACS Whistleblower Protection Program, ACS Privacy program, and Ethics program. It also launched the ACS Youth Protection Program and created an ethics resource for staff and partners to contact with questions.

ACS Office in New Delhi Opened
The New Delhi office located at the Qutab institutional area officially opened with a ceremony on Oct. 10, 2024. Teams from publishing and Global Strategy for Society Programs will be based in this office.

Washington, D.C., Building Café Opened
The new employee café, Up & Atom, officially opened in Washington, D.C., in the fall. Designed to enhance workplace convenience and employee satisfaction, the café features an array of hot and cold beverages alongside a selection of grab-and-go items, such as fresh sandwiches, salads, and snacks.

Mental Health and First Aid/CPR/AED Training
Thirty members of the HR team based in Columbus and Washington, D.C., participated in a full-day Mental Health First Aid training session in October. Also, on Oct. 25 volunteer employees and contractors received training to achieve a two-year certification in first aid, CPR, and the proper use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) through a blended session of online learning and in-person training provided by the American Red Cross.