Organizing committee and Rigaku representatives of the Rigaku OpenLab Colombia. From left to right: Tomikatsu Kubo (Rigaku Corporation), Eric Reinheimer (Rigaku-USA), Graciela Diaz de Delgado and Miguel Delgado (ULA, Venezuela), José Antonio Henao (UIS, Colombia) and Akihiko Iwata (Rigaku-Latin America).

Students and instructors participating in the Rigaku OpenLab at UIS, Colombia.

Rigaku OpenLab Colombia, October 27–31, 2014

The Rigaku OpenLab Colombia, dedicated to single-crystal diffraction, took place at the Guatiguará Campus of Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) in Bucaramanga, Colombia, on October 27-31, 2014. The Laboratorio de Rayos X of UIS hosted this course, which made use of the superb facilities of the laboratory, including the new dual-source Rigaku Single Crystal Diffractometer. The event was sponsored by the IUCr, Rigaku and the Vice-rectoría de Investigación y Extensión of UIS. Additional support was provided by Anditecnica and ICDD. Thirty four students and young scientists from Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Costa Rica attended the lectures and practical sessions. The meeting was organized by Prof. José Antonio Henao (UIS, Colombia), Miguel Delgado and Graciela Díaz de Delgado (ULA, Venezuela) and Akihiko Iwata (Rigaku-Latin America). Eric Reinheimer (Rigaku-USA), Alexander Briceño (IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela) and Belkis Ramírez (ULA, Mérida, Venezuela), along with José Antonio Henao, Miguel Delgado and Graciela Díaz de Delgado, delivered lectures related to symmetry, diffraction, data collection and reduction, structure determination and refinement, graphical representation and validation, among other topics. They were joined by Rodolfo Moreno Fuquen (Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia), Teresa González de Briceño (IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela), and Reinaldo Atencio and Julia Bruno-Colmenárez (IVIC-Zulia, Venezuela) for practical sessions. The OpenLab provided an excellent setting to strengthen the collaboration between Colombian and Venezuelan crystallographers and coincided with the celebration of Chemists' Day in Colombia on October 31. An event dedicated to powder diffraction is planned for 2015. The venue, Venezuela or Colombia, will be decided soon.

	Pakistan 30 Apr–8 May 2014 Argentina 5–10 May 2014 Morocco 26 May–20 Jun 2014 Ghana 9–12 Jun 2014 Cambodia 7–11 Jul 2014 Uruguay 23–31 Jul 2014 Indonesia 18–22 Aug 2014 Turkey 1–5 Sep 2014 OpenFactory 10–19 Sep 2014 Colombia 27–31 Oct 2014 Mexico 18–21 Nov 2014 Hong Kong 3–7 Dec 2014 Vietnam 8–12 Dec 2014 Turkey 2 19–22 Jan 2015 Algeria 9–14 May 2015 Tunisia 14–23 May 2015
This map shows the locations of the OpenLabs and OpenFactory that were organized by the IUCr and UNESCO in partnership with crystallographic instrumentation manufacturers during 2014 and early in 2015. These events provide the opportunity for local students and young professors in parts of the world where crystallography is as yet a poorly developed science to collect and interpret single-crystal or powder X-ray diffraction data in a university laboratory under expert guidance. More details and reports can be found in the IUCr Newsletter and at www.iycr2014.org/openlabs. The IUCr is keen to continue the OpenLab project and, with the help of the crystallographic community, transform it into a long-term sustainable initiative to promote capacity building, international cooperation and curriculum development.