Brandon Zhang :)

ACS (American Chemical Society) is not just a organization where scientist gather around and discuss chemistry, but it also has publishes over 90 peer-reviewed journals and advocates for science policy and education for the benefit of Earth and all its people.

ACS started in 1876 as a nonprofit organization founded by a group of 35 chemists in New York with John W. Draper as there first president.

Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, ACS began growing by establishing programs and publishing articles. They founded JACS (Journal of American Chemical Society) to inform the public more about them in 1879. Then in 1907 they sought to become more global by establishing Chemical Abstracts (which would later become C.A.S aka Chemical Abstract Service) that cataloged global scientific literature. Since 1941, ACS has successfully moved their headquarters from New York to Washington D.C where they still reside today.

ACS is not only for experts. As stated before, ACS aims for more young students to become interesting with chemistry and other sciences. It offers various programs such as USNCO, ChemMatters (a student based chemistry magazine), various ACS affiliated clubs and more!

This year though, I have the pleasure of attending ACS Fall 2026 as it is in Chicago (which is close to my hometown)! It is encouraged for any young chemists that are interested in Chemistry to attend this event as it will provide further insight into what they would like to achieve with chemistry or any other sciences they do in the future. In addition they will also have experts speakers giving lectures that make offer more insight.

Hope to see you there soon!