Pittcon 2010 In Orlando

Pittcon 2010 will be held on Feb. 28 through March 5 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Organized annually by more than 100 volunteers and nine staff members, the conference is sponsored by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh.

The first Pittsburgh Conference, which included an exposition of lab equipment, opened on Feb. 15, 1950, and featured 14 exhibitors, 25 booths, and 56 technical papers; it drew 800 attendees. Pittcon has come a long way. At C&EN’s press time, this year’s conference has 904 exhibitors registered to make presentations in 1,940 booths. Nearly 300 technical sessions and 100 short courses are planned.

All conference information, including registration and housing, is on the Web at www.pittcon.org. Registration for the entire conference costs $190, or $25 for students with a valid ID. One-day registration is $95.

The ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry is again programming at Pittcon. Its symposia are titled “New Approaches To Address Emerging Environmental Pollutants,” “Electrochemistry & Energy,” “New Frontiers in Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Proteins,” “Pushing the Envelope in Capillary Gas Chromatography,” “Microfluidic Systems with Electrochemical Detection for the Investigation of Biological Processes,” “Nanoparticles: There’s Plenty of Room at the Top,” “Innovative Approaches to Analytical Science Education,” “New Investigators in Analytical Chemistry,” “Advances in Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Analysis,” “Bioanalytical Approaches To Study Cellular Communication,” and “New Frontiers in Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage.”

Conferee networking sessions are free to all registered attendees and provide an open forum for people to establish new friendships and alliances in an informal environment. These sessions provide an arena for conferees, exhibitors, sales professionals, and other technical people to discuss topics of mutual interest or solve problems specific to certain instrumentation and anything else of interest.

EXPOSITION. Pittcon has made several changes to enhance the experience of visiting the exposition. Midday “expo only” hours have been created. No technical sessions will be scheduled during these periods, so Pittcon attendees won’t have to choose to skip a technical session to visit the expo. In addition, aisles will be arranged to reduce the amount of walking required, and a product locator will be provided that can be used to find exhibitors of interest to individual attendees.

AWARDS. An important aspect of Pittcon is to recognize and honor scientists who have made outstanding contributions to analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy.

Eleven prestigious awards will be presented at Pittcon.

Craig A. Aspinwall of the University of Arizona will receive the Young Investigator Award from the Subdivision on Chromatography & Separation Chemistry of the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry.

Joshua J. Coon, assistant professor of chemistry and biomolecular chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will accept the Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award for Development & Application of Novel Technologies for Large-Scale Protein Sequence Analysis.

Richard M. Crooks, Robert A. Welch Chair in Materials Chemistry, University of Texas, Austin, will receive the Charles N. Reilley Award.

Catherine Fenselau, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland, will add the Ralph N. Adams Award to her list of honors in analytical chemistry.

The Young Investigator Award will go to Christy L. Haynes, assistant chemistry professor, University of Minnesota.

Robin M. Hochstrasser, Donner Professor of Physical Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, is the 2010 recipient of the Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award for Frontiers of Vibrational Spectroscopy of Biosystems & Energy Conversion.

Walter Jennings, professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, and cofounder of J&W Scientific, will receive the 2010 Pittcon Heritage Award.

The Chromatography Forum of the Delaware Valley will present its Dal Nogare Award to Lane C. Sander, leader of the organic chemical metrology group in the Analytical Chemistry Division of the National Institute of Standards & Technology.

The Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award will be presented to Lloyd M. Smith, the W. L. Hubbell Professor of Chemistry and director of the Genome Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Patrick J. Treado, founder and chief technology officer of ChemImage, will take home the Williams Wright Award.

The Bomem-Michelson Award will be presented to Richard P. Van Duyne, Charles E. & Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry, Northwestern University.

Nominations are also being solicited for three of next year’s Pittcon awards. All nominations should be mailed to Pitt­con Awards, 300 Penn Center Blvd., Suite 332, Pittsburgh, PA 15235-5503. Be sure to indicate the name of the award on the envelope. Nominations for these awards are due on April 16.

Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award. This award is for outstanding contributions in the field of applied spectroscopy. Nominations should include a letter of recommendation listing the candidate’s accomplishments, a letter from another person seconding the nomination, and if convenient, a letter from a third person supporting the nomination. For more information, visit the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh’s website at www.ssp-pgh.org.

Ralph N. Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry. The award, which includes a cash award and travel expenses, recognizes significant contributions to the field of bioanalytical chemistry, broadly defined. The recipient will have introduced a significant technique, theory, instrument, or application important to the life sciences and provided an exceptional environment to educate bioanalytical chemists. Nominations should include a nomination letter, four or five supporting letters, and an abbreviated biographical sketch of the nominee.

Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award. This award is presented annually at Pittcon to recognize individuals for outstanding achievements in the fields of analytical chemistry and/or applied spectroscopy. To be eligible for the 2011 award, nominees must have completed their Ph.D. on or after March 1, 2000. A letter of nomination and at least one seconding letter should be sent.

EMPLOYMENT. Pittcon offers a free Employment Bureau during the meeting. To qualify for this service, a participant must be registered either as a conferee or as an exhibitor for Pittcon 2010 and must also register as either a candidate or an employer. The bureau is an on-site workshop for candidates to review active job openings and for employers to review candidate credentials and résumés. A detailed description of the Employment Bureau process and regulations can be found by visiting the Pittcon website (www.pittcon.org/attendee services).

Online registration for the Employment Bureau will remain open until the end of the conference, but candidates and employers are highly encouraged to register before Feb. 28.

Candidates should bring printed résumés and their mobile e-mail-receiving devices. The Employment Bureau will be located in the Valencia Ballroom AB at the convention center.

SHORT COURSES. The Pittcon 2010 Short Course Program will consist of more than 100 courses in 60 areas including physical, life, and pharmaceutical sciences; computer applications; quality assurance; statistics; environmental sciences; and food safety. Course schedules, brief descriptions, and instructors with affiliations are listed in this catalog and also on the Pittcon website (www.pittcon.org). Fifty new short courses have been added to this year’s program.