I am writing to alert you to a new program that the ACS Portland local section is planning, and to invite you to get in on the ground floor of what we hope will be an annual event.

As you know, the best graduate students are the ones who have done research as undergraduates.   We are planning a meeting for next fall that will feature research posters by the undergraduates from Portland area colleges and universities who did research over the summer.  We believe there are some 50 to 100 students who are in this category, and we hope to attract at least half of them to this poster session.  To attract them, we plan to offer several things that you can help with.

First, we want to give them the opportunity to meet you, that is, we hope that nearby universities will have tables in the room where you can meet these star students and recruit them for your graduate school.  We also want to offer the students prizes for best poster in each of several subfields of chemistry, and hope that you would be willing to supply some people to help judge the posters.  We also need sponsors for these prizes.  (We are also inviting area companies to participate in this activity.)

We anticipate that this event will take place sometime in October, probably on a weekend, time and place yet to be determined.  I am writing now to determine your interest in participating in this event.  Please fill out the attached form and return it to me.  I do not need any contributions at this point, but will be contacting you later if you indicate a willingness to contribute to this effort.

Thank you for your interest!