PACIFICHEM 2010

The 2010 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies (Pacifichem), will take place Wednesday, Dec. 15, through Monday, Dec. 20, in Honolulu. The conference is sponsored jointly by the American Chemical Society, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, the Chemical Society of Japan, the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Korean Chemical Society and the Chinese Chemical Society. The Canadian Society for Chemistry is the host society for the 2010 Congress. In addition to the seven sponsoring chemical societies, more than 45 chemical societies with headquarters in Pacific Basin countries are official participating societies.

Pacifichem 2010 will be the sixth in the series of very successful cosponsored scientific conferences of Pacific Basin Chemical Societies. Founded in 1984, these conferences have been held in Honolulu approximately every five years. The theme of Pacifichem 2010 is chemistry, technology, and our global society. The conference will promote collaborations among Pacific Basin chemical scientists that improve the quality of life throughout the world and will feature a program highlighting recent contributions.

The Congress will run Wednesday through Monday and will feature 237 symposia focusing on 13 specific scientific areas. A technical program grid showing these areas along with the accompanying symposia is located on page 50. There will be an official opening on Wednesday evening featuring a traditional Hawaiian chant followed by welcoming remarks from the Congress Organizing Committee Chair Howard Alper. The governor of Hawaii and mayor of Honolulu also have been invited to speak. Later that same evening the Congress will feature the Pacifichem Lecture, which will be given by Paul Corkum, head of the University of Ottawa’s new laboratory for “attosecond” research.

More than 13,000 research papers will be presented in oral and poster format. Oral technical sessions will take place from Wednesday through Monday and will be held in the Hawaii Convention Center, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Sheraton Waikiki, and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Oral technical sessions will take place as half-day sessions in the morning (7:30–11:30 AM) and afternoon (12:30–4:30 PM). There will also be evening sessions (7–9 PM). All poster sessions will be held at the Hawaii Convention Center.

The social program includes an opening ceremony and opening reception and a variety of day tours on the island of Oahu.

The schedule of technical sessions and other meeting events will be published in C&EN’s Oct. 4 issue and will be on the Pacifichem website (www.pacifichem.org) on July 16.