Awards Banquet

     

2016 Midland Section ACS Spring Awards Banquet
Diana K. Deese, Awards Committee Chair, Midland Section ACS

On April 27th, many people were on the edge of their seats, at home, anxiously waiting to see if Buzzy would correctly answer the final Jeopardy question, “A stimulus to the courageous, the $25,000 Orteig Prize offer of 1919 resulted in his success 8 years later.” Seemingly unbeknownst to them, 230 of their community members were in attendance at the American Chemical Society – Midland Section’s 25th Annual Spring Awards Banquet where over 65 deserving people were being recognized for their courageous endeavors in the chemical sciences and related fields.

After the delicious plated chicken dinner, Midland High School’s very own chemistry teacher extraordinaire, Mr. Jeff Yoder, gave an inspiring opening talk highlighting the importance of interactions between industry professionals, volunteers, educators, and students. “Everyone wins when we all come together to support each other,” he stated. “Consider volunteering your time to support a student or teacher and find out how truly rewarding it can be. Trust me.”

New to our awards line-up this year, was the Corporate Leadership Award. It was an honor to present Mr. Andrew Liveris as the inaugural recipient of the award (presented by Jaime Curtis-Fisk), in recognition of his vision, business acumen, and epic collaborations as CEO of The Dow Chemical Company. Mr. Liveris talked to the audience about the importance of the chemical related sciences and looked forward to their continued contributions to our industry. The Midland Section would like to thank Mr. Liveris for making the time to personally attend as we know how busy he was the evening before quarterly earnings were announced.

After Mr. Liveris took a few “selfies” with the audience, local recipients of national and regional ACS awards were acknowledged:

  • Thomas Lane – Stanley C. Israel Award
  • Dave Stickles – National ACS Volunteer of the Year
  • Gina Malczewski – Helen M. Free Award for Public Outreach
  • Thomas Lane – Div. of Professional Relations Henry Hill Award
  • Michelle Cummings – I&EC Applied Chemical Tech. Fellow Award