To be held in Manizales, Colombia, between 11 and 16 September 2023, this initiative seeks to disseminate crystallography in the Latin American scientific and technological community.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques are the most powerful tools available to solid-state scientists for the structural characterization of materials. These techniques are the backbone of crystallography and have been essential for the study of a wide variety of materials, from minerals to biological macromolecules such as DNA and proteins, including semiconductors, catalysts, ceramics, metal complexes, natural products, pharmaceutical ingredients, among other important materials.
In particular, X-ray diffraction techniques on polycrystalline samples are particularly important as analytical techniques in processes in which the identification and quantification of the components of solid aggregates is required. These techniques allow to follow structural changes in materials when they are subjected to various treatments (chemical, humidity, temperature, pressure, etc.). They are also used in the characterization of nanomaterials since they allow the determination of the nanometric size of their crystalline domains as well as other important microstructural aspects of materials. Also, the crystal structure of numerous interesting materials has been determined using X-ray powder diffraction data.
Pan Latin American School
These are the reasons why several specialists from Latin America decided to propose an International School, to disseminate crystallography and X-ray techniques, especially powder diffraction, in the Latin American scientific and technological community. It also seeks to orient research supported by crystallographic methods toward the SDGs, mainly promoting quality education.
In its first edition, this initiative seeks to train (mainly junior) Latin American researchers so that from a scientific approach, they can recognize the contributions of crystallography towards Sustainable Development, where they can identify global challenges that can be addressed through scientific innovation supported by crystallography.
Initially, this school was intended to be a Colombo-Venezuelan School of Crystallography and to be part of a course of the joint graduate program of three universities in the coffee triangle (“eje cafetero”) of Colombia: Universidad de Caldas, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, and Universidad del Quindío. After some consideration, it was decided to take the opportunity of opening the school to students from other regions of Colombia and Ecuador, the other neighboring country. Participants from other Latin American countries are also welcome. The support provided by the IUCr and the ICDD will be used to help students and early career scientists in covering their ground transportation and accommodation expenses.
Topics
- Symmetry in Crystals/The International Tables for Crystallography
- The Diffraction Phenomena
- Fundamentals of X-Ray Powder Diffraction
- XRPD Data Collection
- Practical sessions (X-Ray Lab.)
- Sample Preparation/Phase-ID Indexing and WPPF Structure Determination using XRPD Data
- The Rietveld Method-Fundamentals
- The Rietveld Method-Examples
- Quantitative Analysis using the Rietveld Method
- Crystallochemical Analysis
- Structure Validation/ Analysis/ cif files/ Publications
For more details, see the event page.
