The ACS Fall 2025 Meeting in Washington, DC (www.ACS.org) was attended by 15,000 of the world’s top Chemists, Chemical Engineers, Physicists, Biochemists, Nanotechnologists and related professionals and students. One of the symposia was the fascinating POLY 006: CME NASA Symposium “Elevating Polymer Chemistry to New Heights-Polymers for Future Space Missions.” It is the result of the collaboration of CME with NASA, the ACS Polymer Chemistry Division (POLY) as the sponsor and the ACS Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering (PMSE) as a co-sponsor. This ACS President recommended event (PRES) is packed with cutting-edge talks and panel discussions:
8/18 Day 1 AM – NASA and Academia. Venue: Sheraton Denver Downtown Plaza Ballroom F.
8/18 Day 1 PM – 2025 CME PMSE Students & Mentor Awards. There will be talks by the winning teams from Stanford University and TU Eindhoven. Venue: Sheraton Denver Downtown Plaza Ballroom F.
8/19 Day 2 AM – Law, Life Sciences and CME Lectures . Text.
8/19 Day 2 PM – Earth & Space Sustainability: Industry, Government, Academia featuring speakers from Northwestern University, ISS National Laboratory, NASA, Deloitte, Celanese, Northrop Grumman and NREL. Venue: Sheraton Denver Downtown Plaza Ballroom F.
The purpose of this symposium is to bring together industry, academia, and government to enlarge the global STEM talent pool. Sessions will focus on sustainable cutting-edge innovation in the chemical sciences to advance human space travel to the solar system and beyond. Event talks translate research results into new knowledge to improve the lives of people worldwide.
This symposium has attracted numerous brilliant new members to the ACS community for its focus on inspirational research, industry, and new career paths. Over 4,300 STEM professionals and students have attended past events. Since 2017, this symposium has been endorsed by all ACS Presidents and the leaders of up to 32 ACS technical divisions.
To help determine the room size and to keep up with schedule changes, speakers, venues and social activities, please register using the button above.
Gallery
CME Lectures, Day 3 of the 2024 CME NASA Symposium, Sheraton Denver Downtown, Plaza Ballroom F
Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold and CME STEM Leadership Honorees NREL Director Martin Keller and Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi
CME PMSE Student & Mentor Awards in Polymer Chemistry Science & Engineering. Fr Left: Mentor Andrew Spakowictz and Student Pamela Cai, Student Laura Rijns and Mentor Patricia Dankers.
NASA Sustainability Panel. Fr left: NASA JSC Deputy Chief Scientist Kristen Fabre, Northwestern Prof. Chad Mirkin, NASA HQ Deputy Director Diana Ly and ISS US National Lab CSO Michael Roberts
Industry Sustainability Panel. Fr left: S&P Global Sustainability Deb Ryan, BOTTLE CTO Katrina Knauer, Deloitte Chemicals Bob Kumpf, Northrop Grumman Chief Mission Architect Jon Arenberg and Celanese Director Kevin Fogash
CME STEM Leadership Awards Presentation, fr left: Ksenia Takhistova, Honoree Martin Keller, Honoree Carolyn Bertozzi, George Rodriguez and Shah Karim
CME Lectures. In focus: ACS 2024 President Mary Carroll
CME Lectures. In front row: Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi asks a question to Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold
CME STEM Leadership Award to Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi for Advancing Diverse Talent
CME STEM Leadership Award to NREL Director Martin Keller for Excellence in Sustainability
CME Symposium Organizers: Shah Karim, George Rodriguez, Ksenia Takhistova and Cristi Stiers
Sheraton Denver Lobby Fireplace. From left: Northrop Grumman Mission Architect Jon Arenberg, CME Co-Chair Shah karim and CME NASA Symposium Founder George Rodriguez.
CME PMSE Student & Mentor Awards in Polymer Chemistry Science & Engineering. Fr left: Stanford team Andrew Spakowictz and Pamela Cai, and TU Eindhoven team Laura Rijns and Patricia Dankers.
CME PMSE Student & Mentor Awards. Fr Left: George Rodriguez, LaShanda Korley, Honorees Andrew. Spakowictz, Pamela Cai, Laura Rijns, Patricia Dankers; Ksenia Takhistova and Mike Hore.
Opening Remarks
Shah Karim
CME Co-Chair
SafeRock CEO
Honorees
Moungi Bawendi
MIT
Nobel Laureate Professor
Paul Kearns
Argonne National Laboratory
Director
On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, 11:50 am – 12:00 pm, the CME STEM Leadership Award.
