Pitttsburgh, PA. June 16, 2014. The Pittcon Organizing Committee is pleased to announce its participation in the International Year of Light initiative at the Associate Sponsor level. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly 68th Session has proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015).
In proclaiming an International Year focusing on the topic of light science and its applications, the UN has recognized the importance of raising global awareness of how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health.
John Dudley, EPS (European Physical Society) Steering Committee Chair commented, “We are delighted to welcome Pittcon as an Associate Sponsor of the International Year of Light. Pittcon serves diverse communities including spectroscopy, chemistry, life sciences and pharmaceutical research, and this provides a very clear example of how light science cuts across so many disciplines. Pittcon's support of the International Year of Light shows its commitment to supporting outreach, and we are looking forward to working together to promote the essential message of how optics and photonics and their applications are vital to future advances in all areas of science.“
As an Associate Sponsor, Pittcon and its sponsoring society, Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, will support this effort by offering relevant technical sessions including a special symposium, “The International Year of Light,” organized by Bernard Lendl, member of the Society of Applied Spectroscopy (SAS), student and teacher workshops and short courses. These events will take place during the Pittcon Conference and Exposition, March 8-12, 2015, in New Orleans, LA, Morial Convention Center. Other onsite activities will include a free display in the lobby which will be open to the public. Additionally, the Pittcon Science Week Committee will be conducting a student spectroscopy workshop in a local New Orleans school (TBD) in January 2015.
The 2015 Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Chairman Stephanie Wetzel commented, “Although Pittcon has evolved through the years to include a wide range of disciplines, our core remains fixed in analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy. We are pleased to be a part of the IYL’s effort to help build awareness for optics and spectroscopy. She added, “These initiatives also help us to support our mission, to sponsor and sustain educational and charitable activities for the advancement and benefit of scientific endeavors.”
About Pittcon
Pittcon® is a registered trademark of The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, a Pennsylvania non-profit organization. Co-sponsored by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, Pittcon is the premier annual conference and exposition on laboratory science. Proceeds from Pittcon fund science education and outreach at all levels, kindergarten through adult. Pittcon donates more than a million dollars a year to provide financial and administrative support for various science outreach activities including science equipment grants, research grants, scholarships and internships for students, awards to teachers and professors, and grants to public science centers, libraries and museums. Visit www.pittcon.org for more information.
About IYL
The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015) is a global initiative adopted by the United Nations (A/RES/68/221) to raise awareness of how optical technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to worldwide challenges in energy, education, agriculture, communications and health. With UNESCO as lead agency, IYL 2015 programs will promote improved public and political understanding of the central role of light in the modern world while also celebrating noteworthy anniversaries in 2015—from the first studies of optics 1,000 years ago to discoveries in optical communications that power the internet today. The IYL Global Secretariat is located at the International Centre of Theoretical Physics ICTP. Founding partners of IYL are the American Physical Society (APS), the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), the European Physical Society (EPS), the IEEE Photonics Society (IPS), the Institute of Physics (IOP), the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), the lightsources.org International Network and The Optical Society (OSA).