About Us

Inspiring bio-based solutions
for a sustainable future.

CELLulose and Renewable Materials Division

As technical division of American Chemical Society (ACS), we are a volunteer organization that offers numerous networking and collaboration opportunities which will beneficially impact your research in cellulose and renewable materials.

Vision

Inspiring bio-based solutions for a sustainable future.

Mission

Leading and supporting innovation in cellulose & renewable materials by providing a forum for our members to excel in the chemical sciences and technology.

What does the CELL Division do?

Organize and sponsor CELL programming at ACS National Meetings and Exposition, including special symposia, award symposia, and poster sessions. On occasion, we participate in joint symposia with other divisions, including recent and popular joint symposia with CARB, POLY, PMSE. Please continue to submit abstracts for ACS CELL programming!
Organize and sponsor symposia at international meetings dedicated to cellulose and renewable materials, such as the International Cellulose Conference (ICC) in Japan, International Carbohydrate Symposia, EPNOE (European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence), etc.;
Produce the biannual ACS CELL Newsletter (Fibril Angle) that is distributed to members a month before the ACS National Meeting;
Support other ACS symposia relevant to cellulose chemistry and glycosciences, including the ACS Division of Professional Relations, ACS Undergraduate Chemistry Students, ACS Regional Meetings, etc.;
Provide opportunities for early career researchers, and undergraduate chemists, for example, travel awards and poster awards;
Organize and support award programs, including the Anselme Payen Award, the KINGFA award, the Division Fellow Award, Graduate Student Award, Poster Awards, Student Travel Award. With the ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering journal we jointly award lectureships at our Spring Meeting.

Bylaws of CELL

Strategic Plan

History of the CELL Division

Fall 1920

Action was formalized in the Fall of 1920 with the ACS President appointing Harold Hibbert as Chairman and G. J. Esselen, Jr. as Secretary for the Cellulose Chemistry Section.

1922

Cellulose Chemistry petitioned and were granted the right to become a Division. At that time, Cellulose was one of 16 groups organizing technical sessions at the national ACS meetings. Their 29 papers represented 4.5% of all the papers given at Rochester.

October 1922

The Division By-Laws were first printed in October 1922 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The charter was granted at the Fall 1922 meeting in Pittsburgh by the ACS Council. At that time, the Chairman was G. J. Esselen.

1961

The Division kept the name Cellulose Chemistry until 1961 despite the fact that many papers on wood structure and composition, lignin, extractives, bark and derivatives appeared regularly from 1923 onward. The anomaly in the name of the Division was removed in 1961 when it became the Division of Cellulose, Wood and Fiber Chemistry.

1962

With financial donations from industry, the Division established the Anselme Payen Award. This annual award consists of a scroll, a plaque, and an honorarium and can be given to any scientist worldwide for outstanding research in the Division’s fields of interest (before 1975, only residents of North America were eligible for the award.)

1983

The Division established the Division Fellow Award to recognize its members whose dedication, leadership and enthusiastic service have kept the Cellulose, Paper and Textile Division moving forward.

1998

The Graduate Student Award was instituted in partnership with the Eastman Chemical Company. The award is open to students studying the chemical nature of cellulose, paper and textiles at graduate research programs in North America.