Polymer analysis symposium held. (Meetings).

The 15th International Symposium on Polymer analysis and Characterization will be held June 17-19, 2002 at the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

This three-day symposium will consist of invited lectures, poster sessions, discussions and information exchange on the latest developments involving polymer characterization approaches, techniques and applications.

Special sessions will focus on polyolefin characterization, surfaces and interfaces, miniaturization and high-throughput analysis, on-line process control, as well as other areas of polymer analysis.

Session 1 on "Macromolecular tailoring and characterization" will include the following presentations: "The utility of model polymers in understanding structure-property relationships for complex polymers," Jimmy W. Mays, University of Alabama; "Influence of molar mass and composition on the properties of metallocene polyolefins," Willem Degroot, Dow; and "The rheology of metallocene polyolefins," John M. Dealy, McGill University, Canada.

Session 2 on "Surfaces and interfaces" will include the following presentations: "Modification of polymeric surfaces to improve biological interactions," Jan Feijen, University of Twente, the Netherlands; "Surface mass spectrometry of polymers by TOF-SIMS," Alfred Benninghoven, University of Munster, Germany; "Thin films and interfaces at high pressure," Wolfgang Knoll, MPI, Germany; and "Sum frequency generation - vibrational spectroscopy and AFM studies of polymer and biopolymer-liquid and gas interfaces: Surface structure, compositions and bonding," Gabor A. Somorjai, University of California - Berkeley.

Session 3 on "Miniaturization and high-throughput analysis," will include the following presentations: "Development and characterization of porous polymer resin supports for exploitation in high-throughput technologies," David C. Sherrington, Strathclyde University, U.K.; "Towards smaller and faster separations of polymer solutions," Peter J. Schoenmakers, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and "Combinatorial polymer science: What's new since Edison," Eric J. Amis, NIST.

Session 4 on "On-line studies and process control" will include the following presentations: "Polymer melt characterization during processing: Particle contaminants, color and additive monitoring," Steve T. Balke, Univeristy of Toronto, Canada; "In-situ monitoring of polymerization processes using fiber-optic mid-FTIR probes: Kinetic studies and reactivity ratio measurements," Judit Puskas, University of Western Ontario, Canada; and "On-line observation of catalytic olefin polymerizations: Rate profiles and particle growth," Gunter Weickert, University of Twente, the Netherlands.

Session 5 will include a panel discussion with Howard Barth, DuPont; Guy Berry, Carnegie Mellon University; Jos Put, DSM, the Netherlands; and Piet Lemstra, Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

An optional short course on "Accurate polymer distributions" will take place Sunday, June 16. This comprehensive one-day course is intended for chemists, chemical engineers, technicians and graduate students who are either actively involved in the following topics or who would like to gain more understanding of these subjects.

The course will include a review of fundamental principles, instrumentation and methodologies, recent advances and selected applications. The course instructors will include L. Klumperman, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (chromatography, chemistry and structural control); H. Pasch, DKI, Germany (SEC and other chromatography techniques); G. Montaudo, Catania, Italy (SEC-MALDI and MS for polymers and copolymers, sequence distributions); and G. van der Velden, DSM, the Netherlands (NMR and polymer distribution).

Registration for this conference costs $400. Information is available from Julius Vancso, tel. [phone]; fax: [phone].