ACS SCHOLARS PROGRAM: Scholarship program for minorities is helping to put a new face on chemistry

What is the face of chemistry? Although 25% of the U.S. population is composed of blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians, only 8% of all graduating chemists are from one of these ethnic groups. American Chemical Society efforts to increase the representation of minorities in chemistry were expanded in 1991, with ACS President S. Allen Heininger, and were later continued by ACS Immediate Past-President Paul H. L. Walter. In June 1994, Walter—then ACS Board chaircalled a board retreat with scientists who were members of minority groups. They were charged with identifying what ACS could do to increase minority involvement in the chemical sciences. Scholarship support was identified as the best way to achieve this goal. Today, the ACS Scholars Program provides financial support to academically qualified, financially needy students who are pursuing an undergraduate degree in the chemical sciences. Also, each recipient is assigned to a volunteer scientist-mentor. Yvonne D. Curry, head of the ACS Office ...