ACA Materials Special Interest Group 2008 Annual report June 3, 2008

At the 2007 Materials SIG business meeting in Salt Lake City, we discussed candidates for SIG Chair-Elect for the Fall 2007 election process. Candidates were nominated and Pamela Whitfield was subsequently elected. Our 2008 Executive Committee of three elected officers consists of:

Past Chair (2006) -- Claudia Rawn (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Current Chair (2007) -- Branton Campbell (Brigham Young University)

Chair Elect (2008) -- Pamela Whitfield (National Research Council of Canada)

At the 2007 Salt Lake City meeting, the Materials SIG sponsored or co-sponsored five half-day sessions, in addition to the full-day Transactions Symposium.

TR.01 Diffuse Scattering -- Monday AM/PM (with Powder/Neutron/Fiber/Service/Small-Angle)

5.01 Non-Ambient Crystallography -- Sunday AM

5.02 Mineralogy and Crystallography: Real Crystals, Extreme Conditions -- Thursday PM

13.04 Time and Field-Dependent Responses -- Tuesday PM (with Powder/Small-Angle)

13.06 Energy Storage and Conversion -- Tuesday AM (with Powder/Neutron)

13.07 Nanostructures -- Monday PM (with Small-Angle)

At the planning meeting in Salt Lake City, Claudia Rawn and Branton Campbell represented the Materials SIG in preparing for the 2008 Knoxville meeting. Ten half-day sessions and a full-day workshop were scheduled that were co-sponsored by Materials. The increased effort to co-sponsor sessions resulted in a larger number of session topics that appeal to our SIG members.

13.01 Incommensurate and Modulated Structures (with Small-Angle) -- Sunday AM

13.02 Solid State Transformations (with Powder/Service/Small-Mol) -- Sunday PM

13.04 Diffraction Studies of Correlated Electron Systems (with Neutron) -- Monday AM

13.06 Molecular Magnets (with Neutron) -- Monday PM

13.08 Catalysis Studies using SAXS and High-Energy Scattering (with SAS) -- Tuesday AM

13.10 Supramolecular Chemistry: from Assembly to Function (with Small-Mol) -- Tues AM/PM, Wed PM

13.13 Materials for Energy Applications (with Neutron/Powder) -- Thursday AM

13.15 Diffuse Scattering Studies of Local Structure in the Solid State (with Powder) -- Thursday PM

WK.01 Magnetic Structure Analysis by Neutron Diffraction (with Neutron/Powder) -- Saturday AM/PM

We wish to thank the cooperating SIGs who co-sponsored sessions with Materials, the individuals who organized and chaired these sessions, and sponsors who supported these them, including the ACA, the IUCr, and the Petroleum Research Fund of the Americal Chemical Society.

It has been noted in recent years that the attendees of the Materials, Powder, and Neutron Scattering SIG meetings are often the same, and we continue to support the proposition that these three SIGs meet together. This makes it much easier to develop synergistic ideas for session and symposia topics and chairs.

Branton J. Campbell
Materials SIG Chair, 2008
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Brigham Young University
branton_campbell@byu.edu