PMSE 2002 Fall Meeting Preface

I am very pleased to present the proceedings for the Fall 2002 meeting of the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE). The preprints of papers to be presented at oral and poster sessions during the Boston, Massachusetts meeting are contained in these Proceedings. The Proceedings also provide information on future meetings and proposed symposia, awards and grants sponsored by PMSE, membership information and PMSE committee structure. The PMSE program for this ACS Meeting is comprised of 14 Symposia, several of which are cosponsored with other ACS Divisions and other organizations. In addition, PMSE will host three award symposia and is offering a workshop. Below is a brief description of each of the PMSE hosted symposia:

• Particle Size Assessment and Characterization: highlights some new approaches to particle size measurement as well as several approaches for assessing dispersion stability.
• Polymers for Micro- and Nano- Electronics: will present recent breakthroughs and significant advances in patterning, insulating and packaging materials for micro- and nano-electronics including polymers for 90nm and 65nm generations of devices. This symposium will also highlight nanometer-scale transistors as small as 1nm using self assembled organic monolayers.
• Control of Polymer Stereochemistry: The aim of this symposium is to discuss the most recent advances in the development of discrete catalysts for stereoselective polymerization. Heterogeneous catalysis will not be addressed in this symposium. Talks will focus on the polymerization of a range of monomers, including alkenes, lactones, epoxides, and active alkenes such as acrylates.
• Polymers in Orthopaedics: highlights studies associated with polymers used in several orthopaedic applications. A few examples include the structure and properties of polyethylene and poly(methyl methacrylate) based bone cement used in total joint replacement prostheses, electrospun resorbable polymeric nanofibers for cartilage and bone tissue engineering, biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactic acid) as resorbable bone screws, protein and organic-ceramic nanocomposite biomaterials for coating and fixation of orthopaedic implants and hydroxyapatite filled polypropylene fumarate for bone grafts and mandibular reconstruction.
• Polymers in Ophthalmology: is focused on advances in synthetic polymers for opthalmology.
• Shelf-life of Polymers in Medical Devices: emphasizes important aspects of polymer stability.
• Application Rheology of Dispersed Systems: is the first symposium organized jointly between ACS (PMSE/POLY) and FSCT (Federation of Societies for Coating Technology). It relates to rheological aspects of dispersed systems important to various industrial businesses.
• Imaging and Spectroscopic Techniques for Polymer Systems: The symposium aims to provide a broad overview of the wide range of imaging and spectroscopic techniques available for the characterization of polymer microstructures through invited talks by leading experts in various fields as well as contributed papers on a range of spectroscopic imaging applications. Invited talks will be given in the following areas, electron tomography of nanocomposites, scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM), IR imaging, energy-filtered TEM, scanning probe techniques (SPM), spectroscopic imaging using near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), NMR Imaging and application of In-situ TEM techniques.
• Workshop on Imaging and Spectroscopy: The workshop NEW IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR POLYMERS is associated with the symposium in Imaging of Polymers organized by the PMSE Division and will cover INFRARED, RAMAN, FLUORESCENCE, X-RAY, and AFM imaging of polymers. While lectures given by experts in the field will provide theoretical foundations of all techniques, hands-on experiments will allow participants to fully understand advantages and limitations of each technique. Participants are encouraged to bring their problems/questions/specimens to the workshop.
• General Papers/New Concepts in Polymeric Materials: There will be four oral sessions covering "Nanomaterials and Structures", "Biomaterials: Synthesis, Application, Concerns", "Structure and Performance" and "New Concepts in Polymerization".

  Finally, PMSE is proud to offer three award symposia

• ICI Student Award Symposium: presents graduate student efforts from which the best paper will be the winner of the 2002 ICI Student Award.
• Unilever Award: is an award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering and it will be awarded to Kristi Kiick, a leading investigator at the interface of materials and biology.
• Tess Award: The Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings is being presented to Mohamed S. El-Aasser just prior to his concluding address at a symposium organized in his honor. This symposium subtitled "Emulsion and Miniemulsion Polymers" comprises two half-day sessions containing 14 invited presentations being made by prominent members of the polymer colloids community.

  I wish to thank and acknowledge Richard Roesler and Vladimir Tsukruk, the current Program Committee Chairs, and our Symposium Organizers for their contributions to this meeting program. A special thank you goes to Eileen Ernst, PMSE Administrative Assistant, for her perseverance in compiling the PMSE Preprint Proceedings.

  A. Jay Dias
  PMSE Vice-Chair