Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry

The Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (I&EC) is a currently active division of the American Chemical Society. It is the ACS’ oldest division. The division’s origins date back to 1907, when ACS President Marston T. Bogert appointed a committee to consider the feasibility of publishing a journal for industrial chemists. In its report, the committee recommended the publication of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (currently named Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research). It also recommended the formation of a division within the ACS for industrial chemists and chemical engineers.

As a result of the committee’s report, a new division named the Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers was founded in 1908, with Arthur D. Little serving as its first chairman. The new division held its first symposium at the ACS’ 38th General Meeting that same year and soon experienced rapid growth. The Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers was renamed the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry in 1919.

From its beginnings, the new division pursued an active policy of sponsoring symposia and papers. This, coupled with its concern with education and training, helped foster professionalism within the ranks of chemical engineers and allowed the division to sponsor the introduction of improved processes in the workplace. Among others, the concepts of unit processes and unit operations emerged from the division’s work.

As the chemical industry grew in size and complexity, a number of informal sections were formed within the division to address special fields of interest. These sections started operating on a formal basis during the 1940s. Around 1950, the division’s by-laws were amended to recognize these sections, which became subdivisions. Several of these subdivisions eventually grew into full status divisions within the ACS, including, but not limited to, the Division of Environmental Chemistry (1915), the Division of Cellulose Chemistry (1922), and the Division of Chemical Marketing and Economics (1954).

The Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry incorporated in 1983. Its current mission is to “responsibly advance the chemistry of science and engineering by providing a multidisciplinary forum to empower its practitioners”. Over the course of its existence, it has sponsored numerous symposia and workshops. The division is also the publisher of the journal Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. It also sponsors the ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry.

Sources

Browne, Charles Albert and Mary Elvira Weeks, A History of the American Chemical Society, Seventy-Five Eventful Years, Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1952.

Flank, William H., “Putting Science to Work: A History of I&EC Leadership and Innovation in Its First Hundred Years” - https://iecdivision.sites.acs.org/iechistoryfirst100years.htm

Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.