New Orleans once again plays host to this year’s “global technical conference”.

The Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy will host its 53rd annual program on March 17–22 at the Morial Convention Center in New Or leans. This annual event brings together more than 30,000 conferees and exhibitors from more than 120 countries to share the latest scientific information and technology.

Pittcon 2002 will include approximately 3000 presentations in addition to short courses, invited symposia, workshops, and new product forums featuring instrument manufacturers from the life sciences, analytical chemistry, and other scientific fields.

The exposition opens Monday, March 18. For updates, additional information, and the dates and times of all events, visit the Pittsburgh Conference website at www.pittcon.org.

Terrorism
With the world’s focus fixed anxiously on terrorism issues, the detection of chemical and biological weapons has moved to the top of analytical chemistry’s priority list. A two-part Pittcon 2002 symposia session will specifically address the detection of these weapons (Thursday, March 21).

“The analysis of chemical and biological weapons is a crucial step in being able to quickly determine such threats in advance in populated areas,” said David R. Walt of Tufts University (Medford, MA), who is arranging a lineup of experts on the topic.

With the possibility of random terrorist attacks affecting thousands of people in public places and at a moment’s notice, the scientific community must adjust its tactics accordingly, Walt said.

“Chemical weapons are fast-acting and cause panic, while biological weapons act much more slowly and have the potential to affect large numbers of people,” he said. “With the exception of nuclear weapons, these weapons are the major threats remaining in the post–Cold War era.” So far, the types of analyses required to detect chemical and biological weapons are at or below the limit of detection of most of today’s analytical instrumentation, Walt went on to say. “The technical challenges are at the forefront of both analytical and bioanalytical chemistries and will require both the application of the most sensitive methods of analysis available today as well as new innovations.”

The full-day focus on the topic will feature university researchers along with industry and government representatives who are working on the near-term next-generation technologies, he said. In addition to a thorough overview of the topic, the day will encompass a range of current strategies, including integrated systems of detection, discrimination, and identification of biological agents and DNA-based bioagent detection.

Speakers
Pittcon 2002 has attracted speakers with worldwide reputations for their significant contributions to the field. Included among these is Allen J. Bard, the Norman Hackerman–Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. “The Rise and Fall of Analytical Chemistry in the 20th Century—What’s Next?” (Sunday, March 17) will present the field of analytical chemistry in an historical context that will pinpoint its advances and project what lies ahead.

Leroy Hood, eminent geneticist, founder of The Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and a key player in the Human Genome Project, will make a special appearance, sponsored by Sartorius Corp., on Tuesday, March 19.

Hood’s presentation will be “A Personal View of the Development of Molecular Instrumentation and How It Changes Biology.” The discussion will consider several topics of interest for attendees from all levels of expertise and will include a review of “systems biology” and the latest developments in human genome research.

Special Awards
Jointly sponsored by Pittcon and the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the first annual Pittcon Heritage Award will be presented to recognize an individual whose entrepreneurial career shaped the instrumentation community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of the modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted their role in world economies.

The 2002 recipient is David Nelson, who started his career in Hewlett-Packard’s instrumentation division, working on mass spectrometry and chromatography data systems. He launched Nelson Analytical with his partner Harmon Brown in 1980, developing chromatography data system (CDS) software for desktop computers. The company went on to create Turbochrom, the first CDS system for MS Windows. In 1989, Nelson Analytical was acquired by Perkin-Elmer and became the PE-Nelson division.

The Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award goes to Royce W. Murray, Kenan Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Sponsored by the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, the award honors Murray’s contributions in the field of electroanalytical chemistry.

The Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award will be presented to Alan G. Marshall, Kasha Professor of Chemistry at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, in recognition of his co-invention (with Melvin Comisarow) of the Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry technique and other advancements.

Daniel M. Neumark, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, will be presented the Bomem–Michelson Award by the Coblentz Society. Dedicated to the memory of A. E. Michelson, and sponsored by Bomem, Hartman & Braun, the award singles out Neumark’s research interests in fundamental reaction dynamics and transition state spectroscopy, cluster spectroscopy and dynamics, and the effects of solvation on chemical reactions.

The Charles N. Reilley and Young Investigator Award go to Christian Amatore, director of the chemistry department at the École Normale Superieure (Paris), and Andrew C. Hillier, professor in the department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville), respectively. With its award, the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry honors Amatore’s research contributions to the theoretical aspects of electrochemistry and his pioneering development of ultramicroelectrodes. The Society’s award to Hillier honors his innovative research, including the development of electrochemically switchable membrane materials.

Presented by the Chromatography Forum of Delaware, the Dal Nogare Award honors Walter G. Jennings, emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of California, Davis, for his seminal work in elucidating the mechanisms of gas chromatography.

The Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award goes to David E. Clemmer, professor of chemistry at Indiana University (Bloomington), in recognition of his accomplishments in the study of the structure and dynamics of protein ions in the gas phase using ion mobility and computational techniques.

Pierre Dardenne, head of spectroscopy at the Agricultural Research Centre, University of Gembloux, Belgium, will receive the Tomas P. Hirschfeld Award, given by the International Committee for Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Sponsored by Bran+Luebbe, the award honors Dardenne for his work in applications of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for agricultural and agroindustrial products.

In highlighting an outstanding industrial scientist in the field of vibrational spectroscopy, the Williams–Wright Award from the Coblentz Society will honor Isao Noda of the Procter & Gamble Co. Noda is recognized for his contributions in the development and application of dynamic infrared linear dichroism and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy.

Symposia
A perennial highlight, the James L. Waters 13th annual symposium recognizing pioneers in the development of scientific instrumentation features four speakers who will discuss the development, commercialization, application, and technological significance of instrumentation for electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis.

The speakers and their topics presented on March 18 include: Hans Siegbahn of Uppsala University (Sweden), The Development and Application of ESCA for Studies of Free Molecules and Condensed Matter; Michael A. Kelly of Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA), The Development of ESCA Instrumentation— a Personal Perspective; Cedric J. Powell of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD), Improvements in the Reliability of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy for Surface Analysis; and David M. Hercules of Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), Electron Spectroscopy: Applications for Chemical Analysis.

Other topics scheduled for the week of Pittcon are listed in the box, “Invited Symposia”.

Education: Short Courses
The Short Course menu for Pittcon 2002 offers a wealth of opportunity for professional advancement. Continuing education is a mainstay at the conference—and for attendees, who this year have a selection of 87 courses to be held Saturday, March 16 through Friday, March 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

New Products
As a part of its technical program, Pittcon 2002 will again feature the New Product Forums (Sunday, March 17) that were introduced at Pittcon 2001. The forums offer exhibiting companies the opportunity to highlight new products, techniques, and equipment being displayed at Pittcon 2002. The forum also offers conferees the opportunity to obtain advance information on new products of interest that will be featured by exhibitors.