Asian Crystallographic Association News

Until now the news and views featured in the IUCr Newsletter have been dominated by contributions and reports from Europe and the Americas. At the XVII IUCr Congress and General Assembly in Seattle, it was decided to contribute sn AsCA News Section to the IUCr Newsletter. Material for inclusion should be sent to Jim Simpson of University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand who has agreed to edit the section. (e-mail: jsimpson@alkali.otago.ac.nz).

We congratulate Ted Baker (Massey University, New Zealand) on his appointment as IUCr President and wish him well.

Council Members and Observers at the AsCA Council Meeting in Seattle: Front R. Gunawardene; Second row: P. Phavanantha, K. Lal, Y. J. Park, Z. Zhang, W. Robinson, J. White, T. Uragami, Y. Wang; Back row: Y. Ohashi, J. Harada, H. Toraya, S.-L. Chang, M. Vijayan, T. Mak, J. Simpson, D. Creagh, N. Van Tri.

The new AsCA Council appointed in Seattle are President: Ze Zhang (China), Vice President: Christopher Howard (Australia), Secretary/Treasurer: Krishan Lal (India).

In his valedictory report the retiring President, Ward Robinson, highlighted the success of the AsCA'95 meeting which attracted nearly 300 participants and a total of 242 scientific presentations. He stressed the importance of continuing the program by which X-ray intensity data is collected for colleagues who do not have access to suitable equipment. The continuation of schools such as those run in conjunction with AsCA'95 to keep crystallographers of the region up to date with modern developments was also seen as highly desirable.

The Council decided that formal boundaries for AsCA should not be limited to specific countries. Any request from a suitably authorized National body would be considered for membership. AsCA membership policy will be inclusive rather than exclusive. A constitutional amendment reflecting this view will be promulgated before the next Council meeting.

CRYSTALXX: The Twentieth Meeting of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia is to be held in Queenstown, New Zealand from April 2-5, 1997. Visit the Conference home page at: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/chem/crystal.htm.

AsCA'98: The Council endorsed the proposal that the next AsCA Conference should be held in Malaysia in 1998. (H. Othman, Malaysia, Local Chair, and S.-L. Chang, Taipei, International Organizing Committee, Chair). For further details watch this space.

The new President, Ze Zhang, would like to express the gratitude of the Association to the Secretariat and organizers of AsCA'95 and to Ward Robinson for their fine work. He also wishes to thank the IUCr and Marresearch for sponsorship of young scientists and conference participants from less affluent countries, as well as Siemens, Enraf-Nonius, and Rigaku for support of conference functions.