We cordially invite the scientific community to participate in the sixth edition of the San Luis Conference on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis to be held in Santa Fe, Argentina.
This meeting provides the perfect environment for interaction between worldwide and latin american scientists on the field. The Conference will be preceeded by a School where all students and junior scientists can benefit from attending lectures by renowned scientists.
Introduction
This event is the sixth in a series of symposia targeted to unite Latin American, US and European scientists in the area of surface science and catalysis. The Symposium is planned to start with a 4-day School for young scientists with lectures and tutorials delivered predominantly by our invited conference speakers and other contributions from local professors and researchers. This will be followed by a 3-day conference that will include a keynote, invited, and contributed talks as well as a poster session. Participation from US and European, as well as Central and South American scientists in all aspects of this Symposium is encouraged.
The San Luis Symposium series has been designed to foster new collaborations between scientists from the US, Latin America and Europe for research in the chemistry of surfaces, with particular emphasis on heterogeneous catalysis. The previous five San Luis Symposia were held in San Luis and Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1994 and 2000, respectively; in Merida, Venezuela in 2004; in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 2007; and in São Pedro, Brazil in 2010, and were all deemed great successes. They resulted in many collaborations, and yielded excellent special issues in the journals Langmuir, The Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical and the journal Topics in Catalysis. A special issue of Topics in Catalysis will be prepared based on work presented in this symposium.
History
The original conference was organized in August of 1994 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city of San Luis, Argentina. This conference, financed primarily by the State of San Luis with supporting funds from the Argentinean National Government, was aimed at bringing together theorists and experimentalists working in the area of surface chemistry, in particular catalysis, to facilitate international communication and expose students working in Argentina to leading international scientists. The conference was a great success, it featured attendees from many nations, including US, UK and Mexico as well as from Argentina, itself. The quality of the work presented there is reflected in the publication of the conference papers in the leading international journal Langmuir. Several new collaborative research projects were also started between Argentinean universities and foreign institutions.
Encouraged by that success, a Second San Luis Symposium was organized in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in April of 2000, and primarily funded by the US National Science Foundation. In this case, there was a substantial increase in international participation, with people attending from the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan. New collaborations were established, and the proceedings were published in The Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical. A few changes were implemented, including a following Summer School on Surface Science. Fellowships were given to a few US graduate students with the intent to foster collaborations with people early in their professional careers.
The Third San Luis Summer School and Symposium on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis was held in Merida, Venezuela in 2004, with 70 attendees and about 40 students from fourteen countries in Europe and North and South America. The proceedings of the conference were again published in The Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical.
The Fourth San Luis Summer School and Symposium on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis was held in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 2007 with 120 attendees from fifteen countries (United States, Canada, Japan, Israel, United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, Germany, France, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela). The proceedings were once again published in a special issue of The Journal of Molecular Catalysis: Chemical.
Finally, the Fifth San Luis Summer School and Symposium on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis was held in São Pedro, Brazil in 2010. It was primarily funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under their PASI program, but additional funding was secured from the Universidade Federale de São Carlos, and from two companies, Kratos Analytical and Specs. Official endorsement was also secured from the American Vacuum Society, which helped with advertising and logistics. It counted with the participation of 55 attendees from 10 countries (United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela) and the proceedings were published in a special issue of Topics in Catalysis.
The increasing success of these meetings attest to the level of maturity they have achieved. To continue with the tradition and to build on our past success, the Organizing Committee is aiming to continue the San Luis Symposium as a periodic event with locations that will rotate among the different Latin American Countries. This Sixth San Luis Summer School and Symposium on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis, will be held in Santa Fe, Argentina.