Asian Crystallographic International Conference

The Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA) will hold its second International Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, November 21-24, 1995. The program will consist of plenary lectures, six concurrent microsymposia and a poster session. Plenary lectures will be: Direct methods - New developments outside the traditional field (H.-F. Fan), Strong and weak hydrogen bonds in crystal engineering (G. Desiraju), Synchrotron radiation in crystallography (M. Ando), Charge density studies and characterization of chemical bonds (Y. Wang), and Crystallography-based drug design (T. Matsuzaki). Scheduled microsymposia and organizers are: Diffraction theory and the phase problem (S.-L. Chang), Synchrotron radiation (E. N. Maslen), Electron scattering and microscopy (Z. Zhang), Neutron diffraction (A. S. Sequeira), Powder diffraction (T. Yamanaka), Methods in biological crystallography (G. Jameson), Crystal growth and characterization (T. Ohachi), New instrumentation (H. Hashizume), Mineral and inorganic compounds (K. Ohsumi), Organic and organometallic compounds (Y. Kai), Structural biology (T. Tsukihara), Interface, films and surfaces (O. Nittono), Phase transformation (T. R. Welberry) , Organic crystal engineering (F. Iwasaki), Interactions in biological molecules (T. W. Hambley), New materials (B. H. O'Connor), and Databases and Software (S. R. Hall).

The AsCA is a Regional Associate of the IUCr and one of its prime functions is the promotion of better communication and contacts among Asian crystallographers. The International Organizing Committee for the conference is chaired by W. T. Robinson (New Zealand), the International Program Committee is chaired by Y. Ohashi (Japan), and the Local Organizing Committee is chaired by P. Phavanantha (Thailand). Sponsors include the IUCr, the Crystallographic Society of Japan, the Society of Crystallographers in Australia, the Crystallography Group of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, Chulalongkorn University, and the Thai Crystallographic Association.

Satellites to the meeting include a four day Asian Crystallographic Computing School (November 25-28), organized with the assistance of the IUCr Commission on Computing (D. Viterbo, Chair), and a two day school on Gems and Precious Materials (November 20-21), organized by the IUCr Commission on Teaching (C. Gramaccioli, Chair). The Computing School will cover Patterson, direct, and powder methods, Structure  refinement, databases and their analysis. The School on Gems will discuss symmetry and morphology (T. Matsumoto, Kanazawa U.), physical properties (T. Yamanaka, Osaka U.; N. Kasai, Kobe Women's U.; M. Snow, Biron Corp.; P. Phavanantha, Chulalongkorn U.), textures (K. Ohsumi, Photon Factory at Tsukuba), and advances in Gemological science (K. H. Ho, President Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences).