EDITORIAL

Chemistry Graduate Students' Symposium

The Fifth Annual Chemistry Graduate Students' Symposium, held May 20-21, 1987, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, deserves special recog­nition. Although there is no shortage of chemistry symposia, this one is unique in that it is organized and run exclusively by the Buffalo graduate students, and all of the papers are presented by graduate students from various universities. This symposium may be the first formal meeting to give graduate students the opportunity to organize and present re­search papers to their peers.

Sixty-eight research papers were pre­sented in the fields of analytical, inor­ganic, organic, and physical chemistry, and students from the following nine universities were represented: Case Western Reserve University, Clarkson University, the University of Guelph, McMaster University, Rensselaer Poly­technic Institute, the University of Rochester, the State University of New York at Buffalo, the University of To­ronto, and Yale University. The quality of the papers was excellent; question-and-answer periods were exciting and in­cisive. This is an ideal forum with which

to prepare students for professional soci­ety meetings. In the area of analytical chemistry, 18 original papers were pre­sented, covering such diverse topics as surface and interface analysis, separa­tions, immunochemical methods, bio­sensors, nuclear magnetic resonance, and electroanalytical chemistry.

Many people at SUNY-Buffalo con­tributed to the success of this event. Spe­cial recognition should go to the sympo­sium committee, including John Manka, Mary E. Marmion, Marie Lo Re, and Sally Ann Smesko, for having guided this highly professional meeting. In ad­dition to organizing the technical ses­sions, the students arranged for housing, meals, and social events, as well as for society and industrial cosponsors. Hav­ing personally observed this unique event, I urge students from other univer­sities to participate in this or similar "students only" research symposia. What better way to prepare for the "real world"?

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 59, NO. 17, SEPTEMBER 1, 1987 · 999 A

G. H. Morrison