Do you recognize the lyric? It was from one of my favorite songs I did as a duet with Sir Elton John before he decided to replace me on tour with Billy Joel. 'Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia Freedom. Although I am currently in Maryland, I am looking forward to heading to the City of Brotherly Love for the spring ACS meeting. Although Philly in March??? What was ACS thinking?

It's that time of year for submissions for our spring 'Undergraduate Research at the Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry' symposium. Once again we will have posters and oral sessions. The submissions for the oral sessions are listed as invited only, please consider this your official invitation from me to submit a talk (although it is probably better if you list one of my helpers, Stephanie Poland or Chip Nataro on the official form). These talks are generally presented by faculty, but if you have an outstanding undergraduate student, you could consider having them submit. We will have to limit talks to one per research group.

Stephanie and Chip are working hard on planning details like our social hour. I am sure it is going to be great. Perhaps there will be cheesesteaks. Mmmmm, I haven't been to Pat's in forever. To take some of the burden off of them I am looking for folks that would like to be session chairs. It requires showing up and being able to keep speakers on time. I especially have a soft spot in my heart for pre-tenure folks that would like to take advantage of this opportunity. Contact Stephanie or Chip if you are interested.

Where do you go to submit your abstract for these sessions? Right here. When do I need to submit? Well, you have until October 21st. Lots of time I know. But Stephanie and Chip would sure like to get those session chair slots filled. I look forward to seeing lots of friends, old and new, in Philly!