Symposium on
Emerging Computational Technologies
August 2000, Washington D.C.

The first ever Emerging Technology Symposium was held at the American Chemical Society National Meeting, Washington, DC, August 22, 2000. The symposium was organized under the auspices of the ACS Division of Computers in Chemistry by Prof. Donald B. Boyd (Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis). The symposium's objective was to stimulate, reward, and publicize methodological advances in computational chemistry.

The winning speaker was Prof. Amiram Goldblum (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) for his work with his former student Meir Glick, who has moved on to become a postdoctorate fellow at Oxford, England. Their paper was entitled "A novel stochastic algorithm for structure predictions in proteins and for biomolecular interactions." Prof. Goldblum, was presented with a check for $1000, generously sponsored by Schrödinger, Inc.

The other six speakers were awarded a complimentary volume of "Reviews in Computational Chemistry" by Dr. Boyd, editor of the Wiley book series.

Dr. Melissa L. Plount Price, who was completing her studies with Prof. William L. Jorgensen at Yale University.

Mr. Matthew Randolph Lee, a student of Prof. Peter A. Kollman at the University of California, San Francisco.

Prof. Randy J. Zauhar, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, in collaboration with Prof. William J. Welsh.

Mr. Shiang-Tai Lin, a student of Prof. Stanley I. Sandler at the University of Delaware.

Dr. Thomas F. Hendrickson, Agouron Pharmaceuticals, a Pfizer company.

Dr. Joao M. Aires-de-Sousa, New University of Lisbon, Portugal, in collaboration with Prof. Johann Gasteiger.

Speakers at the 2000 Emerging Technologies Symposium. Front row (from left): Joao M. Aires-de-Sousa, Shiang-Tai Lin, Matthew R. Lee, and Melissa L. Plount Price. Back row (from left): Thomas F. Hendrickson, Randy J. Zauhar, Amiram Goldblum, and Donald B. Boyd (organizer). [For photography, we acknowledge Ms. Elizabeth K. Wilson, Associate Editor, West Coast, Chemical and Engineering News.]

The contributed talks were evaluated based on the expected impact of the research on the future of computational chemistry. The talks were judged by a Panel of Experts consisting of:

Prof. Curt Breneman, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Treasurer of COMP

Dr. George R. Famini, U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground and a past Chair of COMP

Dr. Charles H. Reynolds, R. W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute and a past Chair of COMP

Dr. Peter S. Shenkin, Schrödinger, Inc.

Dr. David C. Spellmeyer, DuPont Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratories and 2001 Chair of COMP

Dr. Terry R. Stouch, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute.

Panel of Experts at the 2000 Emerging Technologies Symposium. Front row (from left): Terry R. Stouch, Amiram Goldblum (winning speaker), Donald B. Boyd (organizer), and David C. Spellmeyer. Back row (from left): Charles H. Reynolds, George R. Famini, Curt Breneman, and Peter S. Shenkin.

Prof. Goldblum commented on the experience of winning the award, "The exposure at the ACS meeting, due to the prize, has already helped us in making many scientific contacts that are necessary for such a continuation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers of the Emerging Technologies Symposium and the COMP Division of the ACS for an extremely interesting meeting, in which I learned a lot and had the opportunity of interacting and exchanging ideas with so many excellent researchers, as well as listening to very interesting presentations."