Congreso Latino Americano de Química
-
Javier Garcia Martinez
Javier García Martinez <
j.garcia@ua.es > is an IUPAC Executive Committee Member and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alicante, Spain.
CLAQ (Congreso Latino Americano de Química) is the main chemistry meeting in Latin America. It is held every two years, in combination with the General Assembly of the Federation of the American Chemistry Societies. The most recent one was held in La Habana, Cuba, 8-12 October 2018. Over 1 000 people attended this major meeting in the Palacio de Congresos de La Habana. There was a significant participation of young people from the region, especially Cuba, and the scientific program was very good with outstanding plenary speakers, including Jean-Pierre Sauvage (Nobel Laurate, University of Strasbourg, France), Benjamin G. Davis (University of Oxford, UK), Wolfram Sander (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany) and Alessandro Gandini (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil).
IUPAC was present in the Opening Ceremony and was given the opportunity to address all the participants. I had the honor, as its representative to Latin America, to present IUPAC mission, structure, and activities, focusing on what we are organizing for the IUPAC centenary and the 2019 International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT). I also announced the next four winners of the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists (see box below). This activity is giving IUPAC a lot of visibility as it is recognizing young chemists in some of the major chemistry events. I used this opportunity to encourage nominations from nearby regions. The impact of this activity is clear as evidenced by how social media is responding to our posts, and by the number of nominations received for each element. Other activities like the Global Breakfast, IUPAC Stories, and the Periodic Table Challenge also got a lot of attention and I had several questions from representatives from universities and chemical societies about these activities.
Javier Garcia Martinez announces four new additions to The Periodic Table of Younger Chemists during his address to the conference participants at the Congreso Latino Americano de Química.
One important meeting I attended was with the Presidents of the Latin American Chemical Societies. After the CLAQ General Assembly was concluded, the representatives from the ACS, RSC and IUPAC were invited to address the Assembly, and a good discussion continued after our presentations. I encouraged the different chemical societies represented there to organize their own activities at local, national, and regional levels and to keep us informed. Brazil is organizing a major educational activity regarding the periodic table through their Ministry of Education for high school students. This meeting was an excellent opportunity to respond to any questions and concerns and to invite the different chemical societies from the region to engage in our activities and organize their own.
During these four days, I had the opportunity to meet numerous people and coordinate actions to increase their participation in IUPAC, to extend our membership, and to find potential sponsors. I also had several informal meetings with Bonnie Charpentier (President Elect of ACS) and Alejandra Palermo (representative from RSC). I thanked them for everything their organizations are doing to promote and complement what IUPAC is doing regarding IUPAC100 and IYPT. They asked me how they can further help and I indicated that by spreading the word about the activities we are organizing, and letting us know what they are doing, we can better use our resources and communication tools to support each other.
I believe that attending these regional meetings is critical to engage with our stakeholders, promote IUPAC activities and potentially increase our membership. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I would like to use this opportunity, on behalf of IUPAC, to thank the organizers of the CLAQ, the Cuban Society of Chemistry, for their kind invitation and for organizing such a nice conference, which will, no doubt, contribute to the development of chemistry in the region.
#PTChemists
• Zr, Dr. Claudia Bonfio, Italy
Bonfio is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology focusing on identification of key molecular pathways in prebiotic chemistry.
• U, Dr. Shuao Wang, China
Wang is a Professor at Soochow University focusing on rapid, efficient, and selective removal & detection of soluble radioisotope ions.
• Ti, Dr. Sammy Verbruggen, Belgium
Verbruggen is a Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the University of Antwerpen focusing on sustainable chemical technology developed to utilize solar light as a clean source of energy.
• Y, Mr. Gabriel dos Passos Gomes, Brazil
Gomes is a PhD Candidate at Florida State University focusing on solving problems in organic chemistry with the use of computational tools.
About the author
Javier García Martinez <j.garcia@ua.es> is an IUPAC Executive Committee Member and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alicante, Spain.
©2019 IUPAC & De Gruyter. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead - Full issue pdf
- Introduction
- The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
- Features
- IUPAC and the Periodic Table
- Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
- Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
- Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the Service of Chemistry
- Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: IUPAC Commission II.1 Today
- Isotopes Matter
- The New SI: The International System of Units is getting a Makeover
- IUPAC Wire
- Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members—Call for Nominations
- Juris Meija Made the Top 40 Under 40
- C. Oliver Kappe is Awarded the 2018 IUPAC-ThalesNano Prize for Flow Chemistry
- OPCW to Further Enhance Contributions to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
- 1001 Inventions: Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry
- Stamps International
- Olympic Gold
- Project Place
- Critical Evaluation of Homogeneous Equilibrium and Solubility Constants of Gadolinium in Environmental and Biological-Relevant Conditions
- 23rd UNESCO/IUPAC Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science
- Guidance for the Compilation, Critical Evaluation and Dissemination of Chemical Data
- Making an imPACt
- IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI) for the Education Community (IUPAC Technical Report)
- On the Discovery of New Elements (IUPAC/IUPAP Provisional Report)
- Bookworm
- Chemistry: Our Past, Present, and Future
- Conference Call
- Solution Chemistry
- Organometallic Chemistry and Challenges in CO2 Activation and Utilization
- Congreso Latino Americano de Química
- Energetic Materials
- Where 2B & Y
- Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements
- FAIR Publishing Guidelines for Spectral Data and Chemical Structures
- Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers and 4th Vladimir Prelog Symposium
- IUPAC For Africa—Postgraduate Summer School on Green Chemistry
- In Honor of IUPAC’s 100th Anniversary
- Mark Your Calendar
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead - Full issue pdf
- Introduction
- The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
- Features
- IUPAC and the Periodic Table
- Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
- Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
- Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the Service of Chemistry
- Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: IUPAC Commission II.1 Today
- Isotopes Matter
- The New SI: The International System of Units is getting a Makeover
- IUPAC Wire
- Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members—Call for Nominations
- Juris Meija Made the Top 40 Under 40
- C. Oliver Kappe is Awarded the 2018 IUPAC-ThalesNano Prize for Flow Chemistry
- OPCW to Further Enhance Contributions to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
- 1001 Inventions: Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry
- Stamps International
- Olympic Gold
- Project Place
- Critical Evaluation of Homogeneous Equilibrium and Solubility Constants of Gadolinium in Environmental and Biological-Relevant Conditions
- 23rd UNESCO/IUPAC Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science
- Guidance for the Compilation, Critical Evaluation and Dissemination of Chemical Data
- Making an imPACt
- IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements and Isotopes (IPTEI) for the Education Community (IUPAC Technical Report)
- On the Discovery of New Elements (IUPAC/IUPAP Provisional Report)
- Bookworm
- Chemistry: Our Past, Present, and Future
- Conference Call
- Solution Chemistry
- Organometallic Chemistry and Challenges in CO2 Activation and Utilization
- Congreso Latino Americano de Química
- Energetic Materials
- Where 2B & Y
- Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements
- FAIR Publishing Guidelines for Spectral Data and Chemical Structures
- Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers and 4th Vladimir Prelog Symposium
- IUPAC For Africa—Postgraduate Summer School on Green Chemistry
- In Honor of IUPAC’s 100th Anniversary
- Mark Your Calendar
