Opportunities for young scientists at ACS
symposium on colloid and surface science
Rideal bursar Marie Côte reports from the 80th ACS symposium on Colloid & Surface Science held at the University of Boulder, Colorado, USA, 18-21 June 2006
 I was granted a Sir Rideal Bursary to travel to the University of Colorado at Boulder to attend the 80th American Chemical Society (ACS) symposium on Colloid & Surface Science.
It was a very large meeting, gathering over 1000 attendants and 400 speakers in total. Up to 10 parallel sessions were organised each day to cover the wide range of colloid and surface science topics, both fundamental and applied. This was the first ACS symposium I attended and was impressed by its huge scope!
During the four days of the conference, I was given the opportunity to present two talks, showing the results obtained during my first year and ongoing second year of PhD study at Cardiff University.
The first one, given in the Self-Assembling systems I:Molecular Assembly session, was entitled Gelation of fluorinated liquids by low molecular-mass organogelators. It presented the work done on the formation of supramolecular structures using very low concentrations of a gelator (down to 0.1wt%), in which the small gelator molecules stack upon one another via non-covalent interactions to form a fibrilar network entrapping the solvent.
The second one, Solution properties of polymers in fluorinated liquids, in the General Papers I: Surfactants session, described the phase behaviour of common excipients used in pharmaceutical formulations (such as PEGs and Brijs) in not so common fluorinated liquids, focusing on one fluorinated media that was assessed as a suitable model propellant for personal metered-dose inhalers.
Both presentations were well received and had a good attendance. I was glad to meet both academics and R&D scientists, seeking ideas for the creation of innovative products. Working in industry as a development chemist might be, among others, a tempting path indeed. All were very positive and encouraging, giving fruitful advice on the opportunities open to young future doctorates.
Finally, the conference was held in a beautiful campus, built of Colorado sandstone shadowed by the Rocky Mountains. Once fully adapted to the altitude (5400 feet, quite a difference from sea-level Cardiff) I had the chance to visit the nearby national parks and hike in the spectacular scenery.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Society of Chemical Industry for allowing me this travel bursary, which made it possible for me to take part in this very educational experience.
Marie Côte
Universtiy of Cardiff
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