Credit:
Courtesy of Joseph Houck
I am hesitant to type this next sentence.
I celebrated my 40th birthday at the end of March. (I’ll pause for those “over the hill” jokes and comments about growing up in the 1900s.)
It’s the first milestone birthday I’ve approached with mixed feelings. Maybe it’s because I remember my parents turning 40, and that felt old from a teenager’s perspective. Maybe there is an expectation that I know what I am doing at this age. Or maybe it’s because I will age out of the American Chemical Society Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) at the end of this year.
As I reflect on what it means to be a younger chemist, I immediately think about change. So much change happens in our lives between college and those early-career years. We graduate. We move. We start new jobs, graduate school, or postdoctoral positions. It makes sense that the YCC focuses its programming and events to help chemists navigate those transitions.
But change doesn’t stop at 40. Throughout our careers, we continue to experience change. We might change jobs, move, or become leaders or supervisors for the first time. Each new opportunity comes with its own learning curve, and someone will have more experience than we will. In that sense, being a younger chemist isn’t simply about age; it’s about being new and willing to learn from those around us. At the same time, every stage of our careers gives us an opportunity to be a mentor to someone else, perhaps someone new or younger.
“In that sense, being a younger chemist isn’t simply about age; it’s about being new and willing to learn from those around us.”
You may think of the YCC as a group that organizes networking events and professional development for younger chemists. Over the past several years, I’ve come to appreciate a much broader mission. The YCC helps younger chemists build community, find their voice within ACS, and connect with opportunities that fuel their careers. Just as important, the committee brings the perspectives and concerns of younger chemists to ACS leadership.
The YCC works to make professional engagement more accessible through leadership development, networking opportunities, travel awards, and programming, all of which helps chemists build connections at every stage of their careers. For many younger chemists, attending a regional or national ACS meeting can be a pivotal moment, meeting future collaborators or discovering career paths they hadn’t previously considered. The CIBA/YCC Young Scientist Travel Awards make it easier for younger chemists to attend a national or regional meeting and present their work. We are excited to share that we’ve updated our application deadlines to better align with abstract submission and acceptance notifications.
No matter where you are in your career, you are invited to be a part of the younger-chemist community. Share YCC with a student or early-career colleague, mentor someone who is just getting started, or help others discover the opportunities that ACS has to offer. You’ll find the YCC at all levels of ACS—local, regional, and national. I’ll be attending ACS Fall 2026 in Chicago as my final national meeting as a member of the YCC. If you’ll be there too, I hope you’ll stop by one of our events and introduce yourself. Join us for our popular social, fun run, or line dancing, or attend one of our symposia, including “Careers Beyond the Bench” or our symposium and reception on “The Chemistry of Art and Art Conservation.” Search “YCC” in the meeting program when it is available for all the details!
While I may be aging out of membership on the YCC, none of us are too old to be a younger chemist. Every stage of our careers gives us an opportunity to learn from those who came before us and to mentor those just getting started. I hope you will find a place in the younger-chemist community.
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Views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.
