With New Conference Name, FACSS Emphasizes Offerings for Broader Range of Analytical Scientists

The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS, Santa Fe, New Mexico) has changed the name of its 38-year-old annual conference from the eponymous FACSS to SCIX, with the tagline “The Great Scientific Exchange.” With the change, they hope to attract a broader range of analytical scientists, including those in the separations field.

The driver for changing the name, meeting organizers said, was to reflect the strength of the conference’s core areas in addition to recent expansion to cover a broader range of topics. “Over the past five to 10 years, we have really solidified our programming in traditional topics in addition to developing new areas, such as separation science, process analysis and control, micro and nano fluidics, electrophoresis, forensic field work, and biomedical analysis,” said Mark Hayes, the conference marketing chair. “So we wanted a name that conveys that the breadth of our programming, particularly for new scientists who may practice analytical chemistry or spectroscopy but come out of another discipline, such as medicine, physics, or engineering.”

In an open letter to attendees, Hayes and three other members of the society’s governing board also emphasized that the new name conveys that the meeting facilitates scientific exchange, both within and across disciplines, through a variety of networking events and because the meeting is still small enough to have an intimate feel. “If you see a great talk you can be assured that you can speak with the author — quite a benefit compared to much larger multitopic conferences,” they said.

The change was announced with great fanfare at the opening reception of this year’s conference, held in Reno, Nevada, October 2–7. After the organizers announced the change and showed a video (http://scixconference.org/scix-video.html), they asked all attendees to pick up a new conference name badge and a free t-shirt, both bearing the new conference name and logo.

The newly named SCIX conference is the annual national meeting of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) and starting in 2012 SCIX will also be coprogrammed with the North American Symposium on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (NASLIBS).

FACSS is a federation of seven nonprofit scientific organizations, including the American Chemical Society’s Division of Analytical Chemistry, the American Society of Mass Spectrometry, SAS, the Coblentz Society, the International Society of Automation’s Analysis Division, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Association of Analytical Chemists.