Professor Kazuko Matsumoto of the Department of Chemistry in the School of Science and Engineering has been chosen to serve as President, starting in 2008, of the international association of chemists known as the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
After Professor Saburo Nagakura, currently President of the Japan Academy, Professor Matsumoto is only the second Japanese to serve as President. She is, however, the first woman to be chosen since the founding of the IUPAC in 1919.
Professor Matsumoto will first serve as Vice President for two years starting in January of 2006 and then assume the position of President for two years starting in January of 2008.
The IUPAC (headquartered in North Carolina in the United States) is comprised of 45 National Adhering Organizations and 20 Associate National Adhering Organizations. It is the body which creates international standards for element and compound names and decides the names and definitions of units. It provides advice and admonishment from a chemist’s perspective on the spread and teaching of chemistry and on such global issues as the Environment, food, resources and energy.
Professor Matsumoto has expressed her resolve to “raise awareness domestically of the IUPAC, in addition to tackling such issues as health, the environment, and the teaching of chemistry in developing countries.”
For more information about Professor Kazuko Matsumoto’s research, please visit this site.
