Pittcon 2011

Pittcon 2011 remains the year’s key event for anyone who works in the laboratory, Pat Carlucci reports.

More than 17,000 people involved in various aspects of analytical chemistry converged on Atlanta, GA, March 13-18 for theannual Conference and Exposition called Pittcon 2011.

The exposition included almost 1000 exhibiting companies occupying over 2000 booths and showcasing their latest laboratory instrumentation, equipment and services across a broad range of applications and technologies. Thirty one countries other than the US were exhibiting as well, continuing the international flair that the conference and exhibition has developed over the years.

The comprehensive Technical Program included more than 2000 individual presentations distributed among Invited Symposia, Organized Contributed Sessions, Achievement Awards, Workshops, and Poster presentations. More than 100 invited speakers addressed topics of global interest, including alternative and sustainable energy, homeland security, food and drug safety, environmental issues, new materials development, and bioanalytical techniques.

“In a time when many other shows are experiencing a decline in attendance, Pittcon’s [attendance] is strong and steady, which tells us the economy is moving in the right direction”, noted president Penny Gardner. Indeed, Pittcon had a total attendance that surpassed last year’s.

One of the greatest advantages to a lab professional looking for new, better, faster, and higher sensitivity instruments that will help accelerate throughput in their lab is theavailability of knowledgeable and experienced professionals to answer questions, make suggestions, and discuss possibilities in person, right attheir booth or after a presentation. Exhibitors make a huge investment in time and talent, which means that this conference is the place to learn a lot and to make a few important decisions.

There also was an associated meeting of the Gas Panel on subjects such as the Standard Reference Materials (SRM) Program, theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) Traceability Protocol, changes in theNIST Traceable Reference Material (NTRM) Program for Gas Standards, and more held on Wednesday, March 16 in the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and EPA participants discussed theabove subjects and others.

If you haven’t been to a Pittcon in a while, please consider next year’s Pittcon 2012 to be held in Orlando, FL, March 12-15, 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center. It is the place to be, if your place or responsibility is inthe lab. Visit www.pittcon.org for more information.

Some ‘friends’ of the Specialty Gas Report that thought it was worth their time to attend or exhibit are indicated below.

Advanced Specialty Gas Equipment

Air Liquide Specialty Gases

Agilent Technologies

Airgas

AMETEK Process Instruments

Analytical Flow Products

Baseline-MOCON Inc.

California Analytical Instruments

CONCOA

Consolidated Sciences

COSA Instruments

Cryofab, Inc.

Delta F

E F Britton

Electronic Fluorocarbons

Global Calibration Gases

Eastern Analytical Symposium

Edwards

Environics

Evergreen Scientific

Gastec

Genstar Technologies (GENTEC)

GOW-MAC Instrument Co.

KIN-TEK Laboratories, Inc.

Kitagawa America

Matheson

Meeco, Inc.

Mettler Toledo

MKS Instruments

MPT Industries

Nextteq LLC

NIST, National Institute of Standards & Technology

Parker Dominick Hunter-Gas Generators

Pfeiffer Vacuum

PID Analyzers LLC

Praxair Specialty Gases & Equipment

Proton Energy Systems

Restek

Rotarex Equipment-Ceodeux

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics

Servomex

Sherwood Valve

Shimadzu

Sigma-Aldrich

Supelco Sigma-Aldrich

Teledyne Hastings Instruments

The Harris Products Group

Tiger Optics LLC

Witt