Credit:
Courtesy of Ann Kimble-Hill
Last year, the American Chemical Society Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs (CCPA) organized its work around the theme “Crystallizing Our Future.” Through anniversary programming, fellowship celebrations, advocacy training, and work with ACS’s Government Affairs team, we helped create a supersaturated environment for member advocacy.
Now we are moving into controlled nucleation: helping that energy form stable, reproducible structures that can grow. The strategies behind ACS Board of Directors’ fly-in visits and California Local Section mobilization pilot are early examples. They test how national advocacy priorities can become local stories, district-specific messages, and repeatable practices members can use.
In June, I joined board members and Government Affairs staff for legislative visits on Capitol Hill. Our first ask focused on sustained, predictable federal science investment because stable funding helps discoveries mature, supports students and early-career scientists, strengthens local innovation ecosystems, and moves ideas into technologies and public benefits. Our second ask focused on reauthorizing Toxic Substances Control Act fee authority because timely, science-based chemical review supports public confidence, regulatory clarity, innovation, and safe technology development.
The visits reinforced that effective advocacy is local, specific, and personal. Congressional offices are now asking us how federal science policy affects the people, institutions, companies, and communities they represent. Repeated contact can turn a single meeting into a working relationship and position the chemistry community to advise Congress on budgets, emerging science, and innovation.
Know your audience
State fact sheets can help members connect national priorities to local jobs, research, students, businesses, and innovation in the communities their elected officials serve.
Tell the story behind the data
Data are necessary, but stories make impact visible. Policymakers need examples showing how research and development funding lead to innovation, jobs, reduced economic burdens, and return on investment. A grant, discovery, material, process, sensor, catalyst, or partnership can become a workforce story, business case, or public benefit.
From Capitol Hill to California
Local Sections are powerful advocacy infrastructure because they know their communities, institutions, industries, and elected officials. They can identify district-specific stories, potential advocates, and examples that make national policy priorities real.
“The visits reinforced that effective advocacy is local, specific, and personal. Congressional offices are now asking us how federal science policy affects the people, institutions, companies, and communities they represent.”
Why Act4Chemistry matters
The June posting of the White House Office of Management and Budget proposed changes to federal agency rules was a reminder that policy changes not only through legislation, but also through proposed rules, notices, requests for information, and comment periods. For chemists, this matters because federal rules can affect how research is funded, reviewed, conducted, communicated, and shared. Sign up for Act4Chemistry alerts on this and other opportunities for contacting elected officials.
Building rapid-response expertise
Some policy windows require chemistry expertise and close quickly. Requests for information and proposed rules often have short response timelines, leaving little time to identify the right experts. CCPA and the Committee on Divisional Activities are building a spider network of volunteer experts who can help ACS respond clearly, credibly, and on time. Let your division leadership know you are willing to volunteer your expertise.
ACS Fall 2026 meeting attendees are invited to continue this conversation at the Presidential Symposium, “Reimagining Engagement, Advisory, and Advocacy,” on Monday, Aug. 24, at McCormick Place. The symposium will offer practical ways to communicate chemistry’s value, build trusted relationships, and serve as effective advisers and advocates. Members are encouraged to read Rigoberto Hernandez’s C&EN Comment, “Reimagining a Scientific Choir for Advisory and Advocacy,” for broader context.
The conversation will continue through the Presidential Task Force on Engagement, Advisory, and Advocacy and a fall virtual town hall that will lead to the gathering of member stories and recommendations for strengthening society advisory and advocacy strategies. As the ACS Board reimagines coordination of policy and advocacy activities, CCPA will support with the lattice structure needed for sustained, credible advocacy.
CCPA invites members to our Sci-Mix Committee Row booth for more practical advocacy resources, government affairs pathways, and opportunities to share stories for future advocacy work.
ACS Government Affairs posts official statements, letters, advocacy updates, and member action opportunities at www.acs.org/policy/washington-science.html. These resources are most powerful when members use them to connect policy priorities to real chemistry stories, local impacts, and timely expertise.
This next stage will not crystallize without more nucleation sites. Join Act4Chemistry, engage with CCPA at Committee Row to craft your advocacy story, let your division leadership know you are willing to volunteer as a rapid-response expert, and come to the fall town hall ready to share experiences that can inform the stories we bring to policymakers.
Views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.
