Members of the International Centre for Diffraction Data, the world center for quality diffraction and related data, met 20–24 March 2023 for their Annual Spring Meetings. The event was held as a hybrid meeting, with many members traveling to ICDD Headquarters in Newtown Square, PA, USA, and an equal amount attending virtually through the Zoom platform. ICDD's mission of exchanging ideas and information was in high gear as members worldwide joined with the organization's staff to hold various committee and subcommittee meetings related to the identification of materials.
Spring Meetings began on Monday with Committees of the Board of Directors gathering to discuss various ICDD-related topics such as Membership, Awards, and Grant-in-Aid. The Marketing Subcommittee also met to offer a general overview of ICDD products, as a prelude to the Finance Committee meeting that was held immediately after. Bryan Wheaton, Corning, Inc., USA, began his term as Marketing Subcommittee Chair, replacing David Taylor, UK, who had served ICDD in the position for many years. Immense gratitude was shared by all for the time and effort that Dave graciously volunteered to the organization.
A Plenary Session was held on Tuesday morning and began with welcoming remarks from ICDD's Executive Director, Tom Blanton, and ICDD's Chairman of the Board, Andrew Payzant, Oak Ridge National Lab. Both Tom and Andrew were thrilled to see members back at ICDD Headquarters filling the meeting rooms with lively discussions. They were equally excited to greet those members who were unable to travel and joined the session virtually as both speakers and guests. The first Plenary presentation was given remotely by Evgeny Blokhin (Figure 1), who joined the session from Germany representing the companies Materials Platform for Data Science and Tilde Materials Informatics. Dr. Blokhin spoke on Materials Data Curation and Delivery at Scale: Materials Platform for Data Science. The second Plenary speaker, Paul Bartholomew (Figure 2), visited ICDD for the first time as a guest at the Spring Meetings, traveling from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut to deliver his talk, Mainstreaming Raman Spectroscopy for Mineral Identification. The third and final Plenary speaker was Bryan Wheaton (Figure 3), Corning, Inc., USA, a long-time ICDD Active Member and Chair of the Non-Ambient Diffraction Technical Subcommittee, who gave his talk on Industrial Application of XRD. All three lectures were well received by the membership, and we thank our esteemed speakers for sharing their expertise.
Figure 1. Evgeny Blokhin, Plenary Speaker, gives a live presentation through Zoom.
Figure 2. Paul Bartholomew discusses Raman data during the Plenary Session.
Figure 3. Bryan Wheaton examines XRD in the world of industry during the Plenary Session.
On Tuesday evening, members and staff headed to the historic Concordville Inn in Glen Mills, PA for a Poster Session, dinner, and social event – A Carnival Fun Night! Those in attendance took turns playing various carnival games for a chance to win a small prize, and bragging rights when beating their colleagues in competitions like the Basketball Shoot-Out, Pig Racing and Can Smash (Figures 4 and 5). ICDD also provided a Caricature Artist so members could capture the experience in a drawing and keep it as a lasting souvenir (Figures 6 and 7).
Figure 4. Tom Blanton has some fun during Carnival night.
Figure 5. Scott Misture takes his best shot during Carnival night.
Figure 6. Matteo Leoni holds his Caricature.
Figure 7. Can you guess the Caricature of this ICDD Director-at-Large?.
Wednesday morning began with two more meetings from Committees of the Board – Long Range Planning and Scholarship. The Scholarship Committee gave a review of the 2023 Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarships, which gave six aspiring crystallographers $2500 each to help support their education and research. Countries represented by the awardees were Canada, China, Poland, Mexico, and USA.
Thirteen Technical Subcommittees also met on Wednesday. The majority of Subcommittee Chairs were present at ICDD, but some lead their groups remotely, joining from France, the UK, and various locations in the USA. The Technical Subcommittees are divided into three categories: Materials, Characterization Methods & Tools, and ICDD Activities. Active members belonging to a subcommittee are eligible to vote on topics of concern that affect the PDF® (Powder Diffraction File™), which are then brought to the Technical Committee for further consideration.
Thursday was the last day for members to attend meetings, beginning with a New Features presentation by Justin Blanton, Engineering and Design Manager, and Steffen Weber, Senior Software Programmer. Justin and Steffen offered the membership an exciting demonstration of the upcoming 2024 versions of The Powder Diffraction File and JADE®.
Following the New Features demonstration was the Technical Committee Meeting chaired by Robert Dinnebier, Max-Planck Institute, Germany and featuring Keynote Speaker, Dr. Ute Kolb of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Technical University Darmstadt, Germany (Figure 8). Professor Kolb is known as the inventor of an approach for crystal structure analysis using three-dimensional electron diffraction, “automated electron diffraction tomography (ADT)”. She presented her work, Crystal Structure Solution at The Nanoscale – The Power of Electron Diffraction.
Figure 8. Robert Dinnebier (left) and Ute Kolb (right) at the Technical Committee meeting.
Following the Keynote Presentation, the Technical Committee Meeting included reports from ICDD's Technical Co-chairs, who shared current news and events from their region of the world. The meeting concluded with Subcommittee Chairs reporting on their committees' activities, and any motions that were passed during their meeting. Subcommittee motions were then voted on by the Technical Committee for consideration by the ICDD Board of Directors.
Spring Meetings concluded on Thursday afternoon with the Annual Meeting of Members, hosted by ICDD Chairman of the Board, Andrew Payzant, Oak Ridge National Lab. Tom Blanton, ICDD's Executive Director, reported on ICDD Headquarters' activities of the past year and Treasurer, Jim Kaduk, Poly Crystallography, Inc., gave a report on the financial outlook of the organization. The Annual Meeting is a time for members and staff to reflect on the past year and the many goals they accomplished as a team.
The Annual Meeting of Members is also a time when ICDD honors its elite members with prestigious awards, led by Award Committee Chairman, Greg McCarthy. The 2023 Award winners were announced:
• Theo Siegrist, FAMU – Florida State University, College of Engineering, USA (Figure 9) was named an ICDD Fellow, honoring his contributions to the ICDD, in particularly as Chair of the Ceramics Subcommittee, and for his leadership in areas of crystal chemistry, structure–property relationships, and powder pattern development of state-of-the-art electronic materials in the ICDD Database.
• Xiaolong Chen, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People's Republic of China (Figure 10) was named an ICDD Distinguished Fellow, honoring his long and meritorious service to ICDD as Technical Co-Chair for the People's Republic of China; contributor to the Powder Diffraction File (PDF) as a Grant-in-Aid Recipient; Editor for the Powder Diffraction Journal; and having served as an ICDD Board Member as Vice-Chairman.
• J. Miguel Delgado, Universidad de Los Andes, Venezuela (Figure 11) was named an ICDD Distinguished Fellow, honoring his long and meritorious service to ICDD as Technical Co-Chair for the Latin America Region; contributor to the Powder Diffraction File (PDF) as a Grant-in-Aid Recipient; Editor for the Powder Diffraction Journal; and having served as an ICDD Board Member as Director-at-Large.
Figure 9. 2023 ICDD Fellow, Theo Siegrist.
Figure 10. 2023 ICDD Distinguished Fellow, Xiaolong Chen.
Figure 11. 2023 ICDD Distinguished Fellow, Miguel Delgado.
For a complete listing of the past and present winners, please visit: https://www.icdd.com/icdd-awards-and-scholarships/.
Spring Meetings were extra special this year as ICDD was able to open its doors to the membership for the first time since 2019. Although a great deal of work is accomplished during the meetings, it is also an opportunity for long-time friends and colleagues, united in their pursuit for scientific knowledge, to collaborate and build lasting professional networks. Don't forget to mark your calendar for the 2024 Spring Meetings, 11–15 March 2024. We hope to see you there!
