Over 30,000 conference attendees and exhibitors from more than 120 countries will gather at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La., March 17-21, 2002, to attend Pittcon 2002, the premier laboratory science and instrumentation conference in the industry.

Sessions in the technical program will focus on a number of analytical topics. New Product Forums will showcase the latest products, techniques and instrumentation, and a number of opportunities will be available for attendees to interact with conference exhibitors. Following is a brief overview of what you can expect to find at this year’s show.

Technical Program

The technical program will open on Sunday, March 17, at 4:30 p.m. with the Pittcon 2002 plenary lecture, “The Fall and Rise of Analytical Chemistry in the 20th Century—What ’s Next?” presented by Dr. Allen J. Bard, the Norman Hackerman-Welch Regents chair in chemistry at the University of Austin. The poster session, held from 2-7:30 p.m. on Sunday, will feature a variety of posters on informational topics, such as “Simultaneous Measurement of Transformation Energetics and Mass Changes on Polymeric Materials,” by Bob Fidler, Juergen Blumm and Sonya Lemarchand, Netzsch Thermal Analysis.

The remaining technical program on Monday through Thursday will include 49 symposia, as well as numerous contributed papers. Some of the topics that will be covered include: “The Importance of Nothing in Nanostructured Materials,” by Debra R. Rolison, Jeremy J. Pietron, Jean Marie Wallace and Jeffrey W. Long, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory; “Reorientation Behavior of Ferroelectric Discotics in an Electric Field: A Study by Time-Resolved Step-Scan FTIR Spectroscopy,” by Sergey V. Shilov, Mario Muller and Gerd Heppke, Bruker Optics, Inc.; and “Application of Radio Frequency Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy for Trace Element Analysis of Ceramic Materials,” Wandee Luesaiwong and R. Kenneth Marcus, Clemson University.

In addition to papers, the technical program will also include six workshops designed to provide in-depth information about key topics important to the scientific and analytical community.

New Product Forums

This year’s conference will also feature more than 90 New Product Forums, designed to highlight the latest products, techniques and instrumentation. These technical sessions, held on Sunday afternoon, will give attendees an advance look at new products before the conference exposition opens.

Networking Opportunities

The exposition will be open Monday through Thursday and will showcase the newest equipment, supplies and services from over 1300 companies. For the first time, exhibiting companies can schedule on-the-floor Lunch and Learn Sessions with conferees to discuss products and services, as well as specific technical questions.

For More Information

For more information about Pittcon 2002, call (412) 825-3220, fax (412) 825-3224, e-mail pittconinfo@pittcon.org, or visit http://www.pittcon.org.