EAS: Celebrating 50 Years of Innovative Science

LCGC recently interviewed Mariann Neverovitch, the program chair for the 2011 Eastern Analytical Symposium, about the upcoming conference, its 50th anniversary, and more.

What aspect of this year’s conference do you think members of the chromatography community will find most appealing?

Neverovitch: There are two special aspects of EAS 2011 that involve celebrating innovations in analysis. The first is our joining with chemists across the world in celebration of the International Year of Chemistry. We are also honoring a milestone — 50 years of EAS. In keeping with the theme of this year’s symposium, we are once again happy to offer a very diverse technical program that covers a range of topics from nuclear magnetic resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance studies of biological systems to multivariate spectroscopy, fast separations, hyphenated techniques, analysis of precious metals, characterization of suspensions and parenterals, cleaning validation, forensic and environmental analysis, analysis in cultural heritage conservation, and much more.

What is your primary area of expertise and how does it relate to EAS? How long have you been attending the conference? How long have you been involved as an organizer?

Neverovitch: I am an analytical chemist with more than 15 years of experience in chromatography. I am member of North Jersey ASC executive committee and I led the North Jersey Chromatography Group in 2006-2007. I joined the EAS board in 2007 as an NJACS alternative delegate, and was involved with several organizational committees. This year I am honored to serve as a program chair. It has been a challenging, but rewarding experience and I am truly enjoying working on it.

What is the most challenging aspect of organizing the program with fresh content for chromatography?

Neverovitch: Chromatography, as an analytical tool, has been commercially available since the 1970s. For the last few years, the technique has improved tremendously and our goal is to keep up with the latest developments and be able to introduce new technologies to the industry and in academia.

Are there any oral sessions, short courses, or poster sessions that you don’t want to miss? Can you give a list of recommendations to LCGC’s readers?

Neverovitch: We have a number of technical sessions dedicated to liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC). They include, but are not limited to, applications, recent advances of fast separation, hyphenated techniques, chromatography for biologic materials, fuel, cosmetics and food products, and a touch of a historical aspect to reflect the 50th anniversary of the symposium. We also will be offering a number of short courses, taught by well-respected industry and academia experts. They will cover practical applications, modern method development, column technology, and high throughput analysis.

The theme of the conference is the “International Year of Chemistry” as well as its 50th Anniversary. Can you tell us how the show will reflect this? What did you do to build a larger international presence or interest? What special events will be held honoring EAS’ 50th year?

Neverovitch: We have planned several events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of EAS. For instance, there will be four special celebratory technical sessions that cover the evolution of the most popular topics in analytical chemistry in the past 50 years: pharmaceutical analysis, analysis of polymers, forensic science, and education. The "Legacy Equipment Exhibit" will be offered, as well.

In addition, we will be hosting a few social events during the show. You may find a detailed list in the preliminary program posted on line at: www.eas.org.

Please tell us why the EAS conference has been a hit among chromatographers over the last 50 years.

Neverovitch: EAS provides professional scientists and students with great educational and networking opportunity in the analytical field through the technical presentations, workshops, short courses, and exposition. It is held each year in a very convenient location of Central New Jersey, the place many chemical and pharmaceutical companies call home. It also gets wide international recognition. Every year we are welcoming more and more speakers from different countries. Our technical program has always been a good draw for presenters as well as for attendees.

In this year’s program, are there any particular areas of focus in the conference programming on chromatography, such as column technology or methods that seem to be gaining increased attention (such as HILIC or multidimensional chromatography)?

Neverovitch: This year we are celebrating innovation in analysis, including innovation in the field of chromatography. We are offering a number of exciting oral sessions where attendees will learn about recent advances in ultra high speed LC, novel applications for supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), new applications for GC, and so on.

The poster session on chromatography will be held on Tuesday, November 15, at the expo area, and will cover several major areas: GC and LC, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC), detections in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), new advances in stationary phases, and supercritical fluids.