EDITORS' COLUMN
The Pittsburgh Conference Strides into
ATLANTA A
gainst the backdrop of Atlanta's preparations for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the Pittsburgh Conference—the world's largest gathering of analytical chemists, spectroscopists, and laboratory professionals—arrived a t the s t a r t i n g line on March 7. Beginning with the world's first 50 Trillion Angstrom Run, Pittcon '93 brought nearly 29,000 c o n f e r e e s t o t h e G e o r g i a World Congress Center. According to Victor Zadnik, 1993 president of the Pittsburgh Conference, "This week is the culmination of over two years of p l a n n i n g a n d effort to m a k e t h i s 44th Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on A n a l y t i c a l C h e m i s t r y and Applied Spectroscopy the largest and the most comprehensive event to date." As usual, the size of the exposition was d a u n t i n g , filling two e x h i b i t halls w i t h more t h a n 3100 booths. For complete coverage of this incredible show, see the March 22 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, which includes a survey of trends and developments affecting the instrumental analysis community. This year's technical program featured more than 1800 presentations in the form of symposia, mini-meetings, poster sessions, a n d short courses. As is the custom a t Pittcon, n u m e r o u s s y m p o s i a w e r e held t o
honor the achievements of outstanding individuals. Catherine Fenselau of the University of Maryland Baltimore County received the Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award, Edward Yeung of Iowa State University received the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award, Jacques Rijks of Eindhoven University of Technology was honored w i t h t h e Dal Nogare Award, Curtis Marcott of Procter & Gamble was the recipient of the W i l l i a m s Wright Industrial Spectroscopist Award, Dennis Evans of the University of Delaware received the Charles N. Reilley Award, J a c k Koenig of Case W e s t e r n Reserve U n i v e r s i t y was honored with the Bomem-Michelson Award, Egil Jellum of the I n stitute of Clinical Biochemistry, Rikshospitalet (Norway) was given the Keene P. Dimick Award, Brian Osborne of the Flour, Milling, Baking, Research Association (U.K.) was the recipient of t h e Tomas Hirschfeld Award, and R. S. Houk of Iowa State University received the Maurice F . Hasler Award. Leonidas Bâchas of t h e U n i v e r s i t y of K e n t u c k y a n d W e r n e r K u h r of t h e U n i v e r s i t y of California a t Riverside were the recipients of the Young Investigator Awards. The 4th J a m e s L. Waters Annual Symposium Recognizing Pioneers in the Development of Analytical In-
strumentation highlighted discoveries and advances in the field of NMR spectroscopy. J a m e s Shoolery, Varian Associates; John Waugh, MIT; Ray Freeman, Cambridge University; and Paul Lauterbur, University of Illinois were honored at this year's symposium. B u i l d i n g on t h e success of l a s t year's PC&E I n t e r a c t i o n sessions, conference o r g a n i z e r s s c h e d u l e d three informal lunchtime exchanges. C o l l e a g u e s w e r e i n v i t e d to m a k e five-minute presentations of work in progress or to pose problems needing solutions. H i g h l i g h t s of t h e technical prog r a m i n c l u d e d m i n i - m e e t i n g s on quality, process analysis, and the environment. The quality mini-meeting offered attendees the opportunity to hear from speakers representing a wide spectrum of U.S. and European o r g a n i z a t i o n s . S e s s i o n topics i n cluded Comparability and Traceability: An Aid to International Trade; Quality in the United States; Quality in the Analytical Laboratory; Managing the Analytical Laboratory in the 90s: Industry and the University; and Quality in the Analytical Instrument Business. The process analysis mini-meeting featured three sessions: Spectroscopy in Process A n a l y t i c a l C h e m i s t r y , P r o c e s s A n a l y t i c a l C h e m i s t r y (a
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 65, NO. 10, MAY 15, 1993 · 477 A
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EDITORS'
COLUMN
panel discussion), and Spectroscopy O n - L i n e a n d A t - L i n e Monitoring. The e n v i r o n m e n t a l m i n i - m e e t i n g featured s e s s i o n s on A t m o s p h e r i c Chemistry, Environmental Monitoring with F T - I R Spectroscopy, and the Condition of Planet Earth. Several other symposia attracted great interest among conferees, including state-of-the-art applications of step-scan FT-IR spectroscopy, a variety of techniques for the analysis of extremely complex microenvironments found within cellular subsections, new approaches to selectivity in biosensors, a chemist's perspective on industrial hygiene, immunochemistry in environmental analysis and food safety, future trends in laboratory automation and information management, and promising analytical techniques on the horizon (dedicated to the memory of L. B. "Buck" Rogers). The m e e t i n g also celebrated the 10th a n n i v e r s a r y of ICPMS with a s y m p o s i u m i n t r o d u c e d by Velmer F a s s e l , one of the p i o n e e r s of the technique and professor emeritus at Iowa State University. Five internationally known spectroscopists (Don Douglas of Sciex, Joseph Caruso of the University of Cincinnati, Gary Hieftje of Indiana University, J. W. McLaren of the N a t i o n a l Research Council of Canada, and Sam Houk of Iowa S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y ) described current research and speculated about the role ICPMS will play in the next decade. A symposium was also held to celebrate the 40th a n n i v e r s a r y of the Coblentz Society. Founded in 1953, the nonprofit organization was established to advance the discipline of molecular spectroscopy, particularly the subdiscipline of vibrational spectroscopy. Participants included Robert H a n n a h of Perkin Elmer, Peter Griffiths of the University of Idaho, Giuseppi Zerbi of Giulio N a t t a Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Curt Marcott of Procter & Gamble, and Bruce Chase of Du Pont. Looking to the future, 50 delegates from 30 countries and organizations participated in a workshop on "Analytical Chemistry in the 21st Century." The goals were to begin developing an international infrastructure that promotes and facilitates reliable measurements and to improve mechanisms for communication, cooperation, and harmonization of standards and collaboration. After contemplating future directions of analytical techniques, conferees could "boldly go where no one has gone before" by participating in
478 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 65, NO. 10, MAY 15, 1993
"Star Trek: Federation Science," a national traveling exhibit. This extremely popular show was the highlight of the annual social mixer arranged by the Pittsburgh Conference Committee at the Science and Technology Museum of Atlanta. The a n n u a l breakfast hosted by Centcom, Ltd., the advertising sales management company for American Chemical Society publications, featured a panel discussion on "Challenges of the Economic Recovery . . . An Agenda for C h a n g e . " S p e a k e r s included Riccardo Pigliucci, president of Perkin Elmer's i n s t r u m e n t group; William Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Analytical Technology, Inc.; and Edward White, senior vice p r e s i d e n t of the L e h m a n B r o t h e r s brokerage firm. All three s p e a k e r s observed t h a t the i n s t r u m e n t business is rapidly becoming a global industry and t h a t instrument companies m u s t try new methods if they wish to prosper in the coming years. In addition, White pointed out that t h e m a r k e t for a n a l y t i c a l i n s t r u ments is about $12 billion worldwide. The top n i n e c o m p a n i e s — P e r k i n Elmer, Hewlett Packard, Shimadzu Scientific, Thermo Instrument Systems, Waters, Hitachi, Fisons, V a r i a n , a n d J E O L — a c c o u n t for about 31% of the business, and 69% is held by 313 other companies. This fragmentation, along with the fact t h a t t h e cost of doing b u s i n e s s is high compared with that of other industries, would tend to make the analytical i n s t r u m e n t business u n a t t r a c t i v e to Wall S t r e e t . However, says White, a Lehman index of analytical i n s t r u m e n t stocks h a s risen from a b o u t 110 in e a r l y 1991 to about 170 in early 1993—an indication t h a t instrument companies are doing something right in their efforts to recover from the recent recession. Conferees also flocked to a kick-off mixer at the Georgia World Congress Center in anticipation of Pittcon '94, which will be held a t McCormick Place in Chicago. According to Richa r d Howe, 1994 p r e s i d e n t of t h e P i t t s b u r g h Conference, "The 45th Conference will be an opportunity to look back and examine where we are today in relation to how the industry and the Pittsburgh Conference started. We will have a museum in which we will showcase instruments exhibited at the first P i t t s b u r g h Conference along with key i n s t r u m e n t s developed since t h a t t i m e . " See you in C h i c a g o F e b r u a r y 29 through March 4, 1994! Grace Lee, Louise Voress, and Mary Warner
