11th School of the Argentinean Association of Crystallography

The XV Annual Meeting of the Argentinean Association of Crystallography (AACr) was held from 12 to 15 November 2019 in the Centro Atómico Bariloche, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina. More than 160 crystallographers from different regions of Argentina and from several other Latin American countries participated in the event. Following the Meeting, the XI School of the AACr was held at the same location from 18 to 22 November. The School addressed two topics in parallel:

Course 1: “Structural and magnetic Rietveld refinement of X-ray and neutron diffraction data”, where 35 students had the opportunity to attend lectures by Juan Rodriguez Carvajal (ILL, Grenoble, France), financed by the Maldacena Program (from Instituto Balseiro, Bariloche, Argentina), and Oscar Fabello (ILL), financed by the IUCr Visiting Professorship scheme (replacing María Teresa Fernández Diaz). In addition, many local organizers (Federico Napolitano, Liliana Mogni, Gabirela Aurelio, Martin Saleta, Dina Tobia and Adriana Serquis) participated in the tutorials and special seminars.

Course 2: “Texture and strain in polycrystalline materials”, which was run by Raúl Bolmaro (IFIR Rosario, Argentina), Javier Santisteban (Argentinian Neutron Beams Laboratory) and Florencia Malamud (Centro Atómico Bariloche).

Students attending a Course 2 lecture.

The Local Organizing Committee obtained financial support from the IUCr, Analytical–Bruker, INBOX–Panalytical, Thermo Fisher and the local funding agency, Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología. The event brought together 58 participants (postdocs and PhD, MSc and undergraduate students) of different nationalities: Argentina (46), Colombia (5), Cuba (3), Venezuela (2) and Uruguay (2).

The School program consisted of a 40-hour schedule (20 hours of lectures, 18 hours for experimental and practical tutorial sessions and 2 hours for a final exam). A second practical exam was given to the students, to be completed at home and returned two weeks after the School had finished. This two-step exam was taken by 38 participants who will receive academic credit for their participation in the School.

The students were provided with an anonymous survey to obtain their opinions on different aspects of the School. The large majority of comments were positive, many of them including helpful remarks that will be of valuable help in the organization of future Schools.