Welcome

Good morning, fellow Pittcon conferees, and welcome to Day 2 of LCGC North America's ongoing coverage from Pittcon 2006. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like the first few days of the conference have gone by like a blur, but there is still a great deal more to come this week.

We have already seen industry giant Masao Horiba honored with the Pittcon Heritage Award for his immense contributions to the instrumentation community, while Paul Cremer of Texas A&M University received the Pittcon Achievement Award for outstanding achievement in materials analysis. In between have been countless press conferences and receptions, including LCGC's ever-popular annual party, held this year at the City Jazz Nightclub at Universal Studios. As usual, this event stretched on late into the evening, and with the atmosphere, the food, and an open bar, it may have been impossible not to enjoy yourself.

However, yesterday saw one of the conference's most important events in The Chromatography Forum of Delaware Valley's Dal Nogare Award, which is reported on by staff editor Andrew Wiecek in today's issue. The award this year went to Victoria McGuffin of Eastern Michigan University, whose research focuses largely on capillary liquid chromatography and electrophoresis, and as one of the industry's most prestigious awards, it was one of the most heavily attended events of Pittcon 2006. In fact, we felt it was so noteworthy that it will be the subject of an upcoming feature article in LCGC North America, as industry expert and veteran Robert L. Grob of Villanova University provides readers with an in-depth look at this award and the man behind it in the May issue. You can look for it to arrive in your mailboxes in the near future, as this promises to be one of our best features of the year.

Finally, as we all know, it is also true that Pittcon is largely about the exhibit hall and vendor booths, so we invite you to stop by and see us during one of your journeys around the Orange County Convention Center. We're located at booth 3145, and there will always be someone on-hand to assist you, whether you would like a few free issues to take with you, you would like to sign up for a subscription, or whether you would simply like a drink of water. And with 7 million square feet ahead of you (the second largest center in the country) — you'll need it!

Enjoy the rest of the show.

David Walsh

Editor-in-Chief

LCGC North America