Eastern Analytical Symposium
Technical Sessions

Difficult Problems, Novel Solutions, Advanced Technology: The World of Analysis

Message from the 2007 Program Chair, Cecil Dybowski

Welcome to the 2007 Eastern Analytical Symposium and Exhibition. This year’s technical program, as has historically been the case, represents the breadth of experimental techniques, the unique uses of instrumental technologies, and the diverse applications to questions that are “The World of Analysis.” We continue to emphasize the recent developments in fields like chromatography, vibrational spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, forensics, and pharmaceutical analysis. But, this year we open up the world of analysis by adding such new topics as laboratory management, surface analysis, and a special emphasis on mass spectrometry.

Whatever your interest, there is something for you at EAS, from innovations in instrumentation development and analysis in unusual applications, to industrial hygiene and laboratory management. You may find among the many sessions your own thematic subprogram. To help you plan your time at EAS, we provide a list of Conferences-in-Miniature, where sessions, short courses, and workshops are grouped by area. There you can find sessions, short courses, and workshops that form cohesive units on areas like mass spectrometry, chromatography, spectroscopy, micro-scopy, pharmaceutical analysis, forensic science, catalysis, and process analytical chemistry.

Sessions cut across the boundaries of analysis. For example, sessions on applications of mass spectrometry to forensic science or archaeology are interwoven with sessions having the more traditional focus on applications of mass spectrometry, such as in pharmaceutical analysis. On the other hand, if your interest is in forensics, you may pair a session on mass spectrometry in forensic science with a session on forensic microscopy; they are there in the program. So, exploration of the program may provide a series of sessions that are almost unique for you. And don’t forget that there are complementary short courses, workshops, and seminars, as well.

One aspect of EAS is an emphasis on unusual or unique applications. This year, for example, there are sessions on the use of NMR spectroscopy in process analysis to complement other sessions on process analysis. If you are interested in imaging, there are general sessions on microscopy, but there are also sessions on spectroscopic imaging. You will also find sessions on such special fields as analysis of biofuels, analysis of surfaces, cleaning validation, analysis of polymorphic structures, and many more in the program. The world of analysis is indeed wide open.

This year, the Eastern Analytical Symposium introduces the first EAS Award for Outstanding Achievements in Mass Spectrometry. It continues the tradition of awards that highlight outstanding work in each of the various fields of analysis. To celebrate this new award, you will find that the program is filled with sessions that emphasize gamut of uses of mass spectrometry.

Another new feature of the 2007 EAS program is sessions on analysis of surfaces, from hetero-geneous catalysts to biological surfaces. Surfaces are important to chemical processes because they promote reaction, allow transfer between phases, and provide the boundaries that define all chemical systems. Analysis of surfaces can be complex and involve intricate analytical instrumentation.

The breadth of the world of analysis is reflected by sessions organized in conjunction with the New York Conservation Foundation on analysis in cultural heritage and on aspects of laboratory management organized in conjunction with the Analytical Laboratory Managers Association. Again, in the cultural heritage sessions, the emphasis on mass spectrometry is featured in two sessions. In other sessions, one sees the complexity of analytical projects funded by the National Parks Service. Laboratory management should be of interest to a wide variety of attendees, regardless of the type of analytical laboratory in which a person works.

So, welcome to the wide-open World of Analysis. The 2007 Eastern Analytical Symposium is your gateway to this world. We hope you enjoy the diversity and breadth of this world represented in the Eastern Analytical Symposium technical program.

University of Delaware friends and alumni:

Please come to a Reception on Wednesday, November 14, 6:30 to 7:30 pm in Parlors 164 and 166 of the Doubletree Somerset Hotel, to honor this year's recipient of the EAS Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry, Prof. M. S. Burnaby Munson.

Please RSVP to Murray Johnston at mvj@udel.edu by November 9.