Chemistry International
Vol. 22, No. 1
January 2000
Reports
from IUPAC-Sponsored Symposia
1st
IUPAC Workshop on Advanced Material: Nanostructured Systems (WAM-1)
14-18 July 1999
Hong Kong, China
This meeting represents the first of IUPAC's efforts to become involved
in the identification and characterization of novel research directions
by the organization of workshops on new directions in chemistry. Hong
Kong University for Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Georgia Institute
of Technology, Athens, GA, USA were IUPAC's cosponsors for WAM-1, which
focused on the theory, synthesis, and properties of nanoparticles; quantum
dots and quantum wells; nanotubes; nanowires and nanorods, self-assembly;
bio-inspired structures; and nanotechnology.
WAM-1 grew out of the belief that new research fields, where the activity
is truly international, are expected to contribute to high-quality,
significant scientific development and to constitute the cutting edge
for new technologies. The idea of holding the meeting in Hong Kong was
to get scientists active in advanced materials research from the West
to interact strongly with those from the Orient. Indeed, this first
workshop has fulfilled the twin goals of international representation
and high technical quality, with participation of 59 scientists from
14 countries (7 from the Far East: China (both mainland and Hong Kong),
Japan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan; and 7 from the West:
Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the
United States) in a program of scientific presentations of extremely
high technical merit.
In an act of serendipity that made the timing of WAM-1 as exciting
as its content, on the last day of the meeting the New York Times
published an article entitled "Computers Poised for a Great Leap", which
emphasized the role of nanostructures in new molecular computer technology.
The publicity reverberated worldwide and further reinforced IUPACís
wisdom in beginning to sponsor workshops in frontier areas of chemical
research.
Manuscripts from WAM-1 will be published in a special
issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Professor
Mostafa El-Sayed
Chairman
WAM-1 Organizing Committee
Professor
Joshua Jortner
President of IUPAC