Registration Opens October 1 For Pittcon 2016, The World’s Largest Annual Conference And Expo On Laboratory Science

Tweet: @Pittcon announces 2016 conference will be in Atlanta at the @GWCC_ATL in March! @DiscoverAtlanta #pittcon #science #ATL #Atlanta

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Contact: Molly Stieber, 215-568-2525
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Pittcon 2016 Will Be Held March 6-10, 2016, in Atlanta, Georgia

Pittsburgh, PA – September 9, 2015 – Registration opens October 1 for Pittcon, the world’s largest annual conference and exposition on laboratory science, to be held from March 6-10, 2016, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The event, in its 67th year, will draw 16,000 attendees from 90 countries for the five-day conference, which also features a four-day expo with 900 exhibitors from 30 countries, 2,000 technical sessions focused on the latest research and development in a variety of fields, and 100 short courses for professional development. A high concentration of delegates, exhibitors and presenters from the region, including Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Alabama, are expected to participate.

Pittcon attendees include lab managers, scientists, chemists, researchers, professors and graduate students from industry, academia and government organizations. Presenters and delegates represent an equally broad number of scientific disciplines including analytical chemistry, agriculture, biomedical, biotechnology, bioterrorism, coatings, drug discovery, energy/power, environmental, food and beverage safety and science, forensics, fuel/petroleum, lab management, life sciences, materials science, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical discovery and quality assurance, polymers/plastics, regulations, and water/air/wastewater.

This year’s conference will feature the 2014 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, Dr. W. E. Moerner, the Harry S. Mosher Professor in Chemistry at Stanford University, presenting the Wallace H. Coulter Lecture. Dr. Moerner’s presentation, “How Optical Single-Molecule Detection in Solids Led to Super-Resolution Nanoscopy in Cells and Beyond,” will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 6.
Additionally, after a successful partnership the past three years, the Food Labs Conference, organized by Innovative Publishing and Food Safety Tech, will be held in conjunction with Pittcon 2016.

“We are excited to return to Atlanta for Pittcon 2016,” said Dr. William Sharpe, Pittcon 2016 President. “Laboratory scientists know Pittcon as the premier place to be to see the newest innovations and solutions in the industry, learn the latest research, and network with colleagues across the globe,” he said. “In addition to the expo, technical programs, and shorts courses, Pittcon gives back to the community through Science Week, educating and funding science education, and inspiriting the next generation of scientists.”

The mission of Pittcon is to sponsor and sustain educational and charitable activities for the advancement and benefit of scientific endeavor. Proceeds from the non-profit, largely volunteer-run conference fund science education and outreach at all levels, kindergarten through adult. Annually, Pittcon, together with its co-sponsoring technical societies The Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, donates more than $1 million to provide financial and administrative support for various science outreach activities, including science equipment grants, research grants, scholarships and internships for students, awards to teachers and professors, and grants to public science center, libraries and museums.

To demonstrate its mission, during the conference Pittcon hosts Science Week, a program of teacher and student workshops and a demonstration lecture for students grades 4 through 12, and held at the Georgia World Congress Center. Science Week also features a grant program with science equipment grants of up to $1,000 available to every school within a 150-mile radius of Atlanta that attends a teacher workshop.

More than 500 Atlanta-area teachers are expected to attend half-day and full-day teacher workshops, held Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6, receiving not only continuing education but also supplies and materials so that they can implement the demonstrated activities in their own classrooms. The teacher fee to attend the workshops is $20 before January 29, and $30 after. Free experimentation and discovery workshops are presented for students in grades 4 through 7 from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Monday, March 7 through Wednesday, March 9. Each day, six groups of 30 students each will rotate among six hands-on workshops on astronomy, chromatography, gases, acid/base reactions, electrochemistry, and light and color. In addition, from 10:00 a.m. – noon on Thursday, March 10, 1,000 students grades 8 through 12 will experience a free, interactive demonstration lecture featuring Bob Becker, a nationally recognized science demonstrator and educator who teaches honors chemistry at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Mo. The teacher and student workshops are filled on a first come-first served basis and are often sellouts. Teachers should visit pittcon.org/science-week to register beginning October 1.

The Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates the conference will generate $25 million in economic impact for the region. Grants made in conjunction with Science Week also support the community. When the conference last met in Atlanta in 2011, Pittcon made a contribution of over $50,000 for science equipment and supplies for approximately 20 schools through grants to teachers who attended Science Week activities. In addition, a mobile planetarium valued at $40,000 was donated to the Atlanta Public Schools school district. Through Science Week and its grant-making programs, Pittcon is expected to donate tens of thousands of dollars in 2016 to Atlanta-area science programs and schools.

Conferee registration opens October 1, 2015. For updates, visit pittcon.org/register.

About Pittcon
Pittcon® is a registered trademark of The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, a Pennsylvania non-profit organization. Co-sponsored by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, Pittcon is the premier annual conference and exposition on laboratory science.

Proceeds from Pittcon fund science education and outreach at all levels, kindergarten through adult. Pittcon donates more than a million dollars a year to provide financial and administrative support for various science outreach activities including science equipment grants, research grants, scholarships and internships for students, awards to teachers and professors, and grants to public science centers, libraries and museums.